Nativism stems from the belief that groups of immigrants will replace or erase people native to a country. One of the earliest examples of nativism happened during the 1840s when a large influx of Irish refugees fled to American cities in the north east such as Boston, Philadelphia and New York city. Many American whites believed that the Irish would multiply quicker and outwork them, until they became the minority. This negative sentiment became so widespread that a successful political party was formed called, “The Know Nothings”. Today nativism still exists and is prominent in many different western countries. In the United states, fear of Mexicans becoming the majority and disturbing acts of violence still permeate into the minds of some American conservatives today. In France today, politicians such as Marine le pen, warn of violence and radical beliefs coming from muslims. Despite this harsh and unfair treatment of muslims in the country such as hate crimes, religiously restrictive laws such as hijab bans.
(A perfect example of Nativist sentiment comes from the movie "Gangs of New York" when Daniel day lewis's character, Bill Cutting express his hatred for Irish settlers.)
Microaggressions are everyday under the table insults or put downs towards marginalized people. These microaggressions usually come from day to day interactions with other people such as, classmates, coworkers and even strangers. Microaggressions come in many forms, however they tend to be on a spectrum of intentional and unintentional. Microaggressions can come in the form of a woman clenching her purse in the presence of a black man or even a slight handed compliment about someone's hair texture. Despite where they stand on the spectrum they are hurtful and only bring discomfort to a person or a room.
( The BBC made a pretty interesting sketch describing how Microaggressions often mask themselves as innocent question.)
Phenotype describes genetic traits that are physical. This can be traits such as skin color, eye color, hair texture or facial structure. Throughout history the main basis for racial
classification has been phenotype. This emphasis on physical attributes however, delegitimizes the genetic similarities between all humans since humans are 99.9% genetically identical to one another.
(The picture below shows the phenotype classifications used years ago to classify race.)
Western Colonization is the source of almost all of the racial isms that plague our society today. Concepts such as whiteness, blackness and hypodescent all come from colonial Europeans wanting to separate themselves from the people native to lands they had taken over. Oftentimes these ideologies often bleed onto native inhabitants. A primary example of this is in countries such as India where skin bleaching is a large industry which wasn't popular until India's colonial period.
( I chose an old educational video from the 1940s showing colonialism during the era. in the video they downplay the miserable existence of being a person living under colonialism.)
Genotype refers to the non visible genetic traits we have. These genes can affect a lot about us such as our health, muscle/bone density and even willingness to take risks. The piece of media I chose is called genotype phenotype.
(The art shows a woman who is drawn by genetic makeup. I thought it was very creative yet insightful.)
During the “Unite The Right” protests in Charlottesville, a horde of white men brandishing tiki torches shouted racially charged chants in protest against the taking down of a confederate statue. Many of these men were affiliated with the white nationalist, Richard Spencer. Spencer's beliefs include the belief that whites are superior to all other races and men such as Galileo, Newton, and Mozart are living proof of white supremacy. Its rallying points like this one that brought the Alt-Right together that day in charlottesville.
(The picture I chose was of the protesters holding there infamous Tiki torches.)
