RACE THE POWER OF AN ILLUSION- THIRD EPISODE

This is the conclusion of a series of three episodes. In this episode, the narrator starts by pointing out that race is all around us. It is one of the things we first perceive in early childhood, i.e. different color, eyes, hair, etc. even at an early stage, children are subjected to racial stereotypes which they reinforce as they grow up. Some people deny any existence of stereotypes, but according to this film, those who deny the stereotypes end up reciting them. There is somehow very limited room to escape these stereotypes because they surround us in everyday life.
One other issue that was raised in this episode is the construction of race and privilege. The narrator states that “being classified Black, Latino, means less privilege than being classified white” (ethnic notions). In this point, we see that there is some form of advantage that comes with being labeled white and this advantage is what Johnson calls ‘white privilege.’ In the film, it was also stated that what makes race are the laws and practices assorted to different physical features e.g. slavery of blacks, conquest of Native Indians affects immigration up to date.
Further, the film points out that immigrants in history times came seeking opportunity in America. Yet they were made to labor in dangerous jobs. They were made to stay in slums due to class difference. Again, the stereotypes were reinforced. Italians were seen as prostitutes, lazy. These poor conditions of immigrants led to disease out breaks among them. However, disease and poor conditions were explained as a result of the immigrants’ racial affiliation.
Laws in the courts were also race biased. For example, an African American man was hung for allegedly killing a white girl without proper investigation. The courts had to play a role in giving citizenship to the immigrants. But according to the courts, citizenship was based on whiteness. This led to a lot of debate of whether Jews were white. It was then ruled that Jews were not white as whiteness was what the white man said it was. In this case, only Caucasians were considered white. Whiteness also played a role in who acquired land. Land was apportioned according to race and citizenship. Only citizens could acquire land. And if only Caucasians were granted citizenship, then it meant that they were the only ones to be land owners. Hence by the way land was apportioned; white privilege was reinforced in the long run. Land was seized from all those who owned it but were not citizens.
Race was also seen in the allocation of houses by the housing administration. Houses were allocated according to different rates that were given colors. I.e. those houses given the color green were of high rate, color red was for the lowest rate houses. The green colored houses were allocated to whites while the red colored ones were allocated to people of color. Therefore, we see that color also played a role in public services.
At the end of the film, the narrator calls for us to be color blind and live as one.
As I watched this film, I was amazed at how the definition of whiteness was twisted around to always narrow it down to Caucasians.