Institutional Racism in the United States :: Sociology Racism Prejudice Essays

The history of the join States is one of duality.  In the words of theDeclaration of Independence, our nation was founded on the principles of equating in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Yet, long before thefounders of the newly declared state met in Philadelphia to espouse the virtuesof self-determination and freedom that would dubiously give a basis for asecessionary war, those same virtues were trampled upon and swept away with infinitesimal regard.  Beneath the shining beacon of freedom that signaled theformation of the United States of the States was a shadow of deception andduplicity that was essential in creating the state. The HSS 280 tell apart lexicondefines duality as a social system that results from a worldview which accepts essential contradictions as reasonable because this is to the believers benefit. The earlyish years of what would become the United States was characterized by asystem of duality that subjugated and exterminated peoples for t he benefit ofthe oppressors. This practice of duality, interwoven into our culture, hascreated an dangerously racialized society.  From the firstborn moment a colonist come on these shores, truths that were self-evident were contingent onsubjective interpretation.  This discretionary performance of rights andfreedoms is the foundation upon which our racially stratified system operates on.                English colonists, Africans, and Native Americans comprised the earlyclash of three peoples. Essentially scotch interests, and namely capitalism,provided the impetus for the relationships that actual between the Englishcolonists, the Africans, and the Native Americans. The colonialization of NorthAmerican by the British was essentially an stinting crusade.  The emergence ofcapitalism and the rise of trade passim the 16th century provided theBritish with a blueprint to expand its economic and political spher e.  TheAmericas provided the British with extensive natural resources, resources thatthe agrarian-unfriendly British isles could not hang on for its growing empire.                When Britons arrived in North America, the indigenous population posedan economic dilemma to the colonists.  The Native Americans were settled on theland that the British colonists need to expand their economic capacity.  Toprovide a justificatory framework for the acoustic projection of Native Americans offtheir land, the English colonists created a ideology that suited their originalneeds.                The attitude of Anglos toward the Native Americans began as one ofambivalence and reliance.  When the English first arrived in North America, theyneeded the Indians to survive the unfamiliar land and acid weather.  Once theEnglish became acclimated to their surr oundings and realized that the Indianswere living on rich land, it was only a matter of time before guns and