| The creation of the United States of America is | | | | that 'while ''race'' distinctions and prejudice exist in |
| the greatest of all human adventures. No other | | | | Spanish America, they do not, nor ever have |
| national story has such tremendous lessons, for | | | | they, taken the form of institutionalized |
| the American people and for the rest of mankind. | | | | discrimination as in the United States' (Kanellos, |
| Academic historians in particular often impose a | | | | 1998, 178). One gathers from the distinction |
| double straitjacket on U.S. history: first, that | | | | herein proclaimed a marked interest in stressing |
| economic issues have been paramount in shaping | | | | the exceptionality of Hispanic racial thought. But, |
| American politics; and second, that government | | | | however, meaningful we may find the distinction |
| intervention in the American economy has been | | | | for inquiries into the epistemology of racial |
| necessary and benign. The creation of the United | | | | classifications (Silvio Torres-Saillant, 2003, 123-151). |
| States of America is the greatest of all human | | | | By the same token, the New York-based Puerto |
| adventures. No other national story has such | | | | Rican leadership that launched the Young Lords |
| tremendous lessons, for the American people and | | | | Party constructed Latino subjectivity based on a |
| for the rest of mankind (Paul Johnson). These 2 | | | | very deep sense of self-differentiation with |
| significant subjects have remarkable effect on | | | | respect to American society's dominant white |
| ethno-racial classifications in American history. | | | | core (Silvio Torres-Saillant, 2003, 123-151). |
| Discourse formation is very important in social | | | | Part of the impasse exhibited by the current |
| sciences and social practices. | | | | conversations on ethno-racial identity has to do |
| After Columbus entrance to new world, a | | | | with the difficulty of harmonizing the often |
| discourse was shaped that Europeans are better, | | | | fractious rapport between the concepts of race |
| civilized, and cultured than Indians. This discourse | | | | and ethnicity. Already 'a great deal of scholarly |
| remains today, and it is a tool for intervention and | | | | attention has gone into studying both race and |
| political goals. When race loosed its influence, was | | | | ethnicity,' but, as Manning Marable contends, 'too |
| added other attribute, ethnicity. As a 'hybrid | | | | often the discussion has been mired in old debates |
| category' that entered 'the ethno-racial imagination | | | | and definitions,' which leads him to recommend 'a |
| of American social life' just over a quarter of a | | | | new and critical study of the relationship between |
| century ago, the classification 'Hispanic' remains as | | | | race and ethnicity' (Marable, 2000). |
| pliable as the very texture of race has proven to | | | | Sociologists have long focused on white ethnic |
| be (Goldberg, 1997: 64). Thus, in the current | | | | identity; considerations of white racial identity are |
| discursive atmosphere surrounding the debate on | | | | more recent. White racial identity is commonly |
| race and ethnicity no existing knowledge or truth | | | | portrayed as a default racial category, an invisible |
| claim commands such authority that it can | | | | yet privileged identity formed by centuries of |
| categorically prohibit the proposal of a fusion of | | | | oppression of nonwhite groups. Whiteness has |
| race and ethnicity as units of analysis. For | | | | become synonymous with privilege in much |
| instance, Latinos cannot escape the | | | | scholarly writing, although recent empirical work |
| preponderance of race in the United States. The | | | | strives to consider white racial identity as a |
| history of the discourse on Americanness and | | | | complex, situated identity rather than a monolithic |
| national belonging consists largely of episodes | | | | one. The study of white racial identity can greatly |
| featuring the dominant white core racializing | | | | benefit from moving away from simply naming |
| marginal groups and the latter responding in varied | | | | whiteness as an overlooked, privileged identity and |
| ways (Silvio Torres-Saillant, 2003, 123-151). | | | | by paying closer attention to empirical studies of |
| The 1790 Naturalization Act restricted citizenship | | | | racial and ethnic identity by those studying social |
| to white landowning males. When they ceased to | | | | movements, ethnic identity, and social psychology |
| be property, blacks became a problem in the | | | | (Monica McDermott and Frank L. Samson, 2005, |
| United States. Public policy condemned the vast | | | | 245-261). |
| majority of blacks to generations of poverty and | | | | Although the main story to tell about white ethnic |
| excluded them from 'the industrial activity taking | | | | identity during the past 30 years has been its |
| place in the rapidly growing cities of the North and | | | | declining distinctiveness and importance, there are |
| West in the aftermath of the Civil War,' even | | | | nonetheless some counter-examples, primarily |
| while European immigrants found here a land of | | | | from small, relatively isolated communities of |
| opportunity (Steinberg, 1981, 198). For the | | | | recent European and Middle Eastern immigrants to |
| so-called persons of color, to speak about race in | | | | the United States. Arab Americans are an |
| the United States has meant necessarily to locate | | | | especially interesting example, as they are |
| oneself in relation to normative whiteness (Silvio | | | | officially considered white by the U.S. Census yet |
| Torres-Saillant, 2003, 123-151). | | | | often have stronger identification with their |
| Communities of color in the United States have | | | | countries of origin than with a white racial identity |
| fought to attain full citizenship, and we cannot | | | | (Monica McDermott and Frank L. Samson, 2005, |
| belittle the fruits that their effort has yielded. | | | | 245-261). |
| Lynchings and Jim Crow prohibitions no longer | | | | Conclusion |
| figure in the menu of sorrows that blacks in this | | | | Today, with the death sentence that the scholarly |
| country have to endure. The overall society no | | | | community has pronounced on the concept of |
| longer condones public aggression against minority | | | | race, the widespread interrogation of the idea of |
| groups to the degree that it did forty years ago | | | | nation as a stable arena within which to configure |
| (Silvio Torres-Saillant, 2003, 123-151). | | | | one's identity, and the general awareness of the |
| Racial minority groups prove their ability and | | | | fragility of ethno-racial ontology in light of the |
| power in social, sports, and artistic opportunities. | | | | disruptive impact of hybridizing crossings, we have |
| Native Americans, for instance, have had to | | | | little justification for hoping that a sustained |
| contend with suffering questions stemming from | | | | exploration of the relation between race and |
| the legitimacy of mixed-bloods or cross-bloods in | | | | ethnicity will break new productive ground. The |
| matters of cultural and communal belonging. | | | | time may have come for us to desist from the |
| Native Americans have occasionally had to deal | | | | effort to distinguish between the two and to |
| with issues of blood quanta to establish | | | | accept their conceptual fusion. Using race and |
| reservation membership eligibility. | | | | ethnicity synonymously may lead us out of the |
| African-Americans have made the political gains | | | | epistemological and political impasse. |
| they currently possess because of a racial | | | | While we may agree that some basic differences |
| self-assertion that galvanizes the community, | | | | exist 'between the way that nonwhites view race |
| lending them a sense of wholeness. Their sense | | | | and the way that race is viewed overall in the |
| of a common history and a shared destiny often | | | | United States,' we might fail to detect any |
| extends to black immigrants whose ancestors | | | | salutary implications in the claim that the |
| experienced their slavery past elsewhere (Silvio | | | | construction of race in American country 'has |
| Torres-Saillant, 2003, 123-151). For example, I | | | | been more fluid, transcending 'the binary division |
| could recall for a moment the big night of 29 | | | | adopted in the United States. Racial paradigms in |
| February 1940, when the Academy Award to the | | | | America, we are told, follow a continuum with no |
| Best Supporting Actress for the role of Mammy | | | | fixed demarcation between categories, and US |
| in Gone with the Wind went to Hattie McDaniel, | | | | ethno-racial groups, coming from a culturally and |
| making her the first black person ever to win an | | | | generally mixed racial background, had to enter "a |
| Oscar (Silvio Torres-Saillant, 2003, 123-151). | | | | biologically based biracial structure" that featured |
| Formulations of community's ethno-racial identity | | | | European Americans at one end of the polar and |
| by Latino spokespersons often boast a superior | | | | African Americans at the other, with Native |
| understanding of the complexity of racial | | | | Americans and Asian Americans occupying |
| codification, stressing the extent to which our | | | | "ambiguous gray positions vis-à-vis the |
| historical experience challenges the black-white | | | | dichotomy" (Rodrı´guez, 1994: |
| binary that has informed thinking on race matters | | | | 131-132). |
| in the United States. Latino scholars often claim | | | | |