The True American

Written By: Victoria Cuellar

Photographed by Eric Brehm

The sound of freedom reverberated through the 13th colonies and across the world. No one missed the chants and bells of liberty, the white and red stripes, the declaration that all men are created equal, resounding against the oppression of the British crown. However, the same hand that wrote the words “inalienable rights" in the Declaration of Independence, almost like a mantra against oppression, stated that Black people are inferior to whites and that Indians should be properly civilized. This cognitive dissonance, having actions contradict beliefs, is a common theme when analyzing the history of the United States. In the documentary Race: The Power of an Illusion historians, anthropologists, paleontologists, microbiologists and many other experts, discuss how Americans attempted to bring a social meaning to race, connecting with sociological themes like symbolic interactionism and deviance.

In episode one, “The Difference Between Us,” the documentary analyzed how people tried to understand race with science. Pilar Ossorio, a legal scholar and microbiologist, points out that there aren’t "any genetic markers that define race;” in fact, penguins of the same species, despite looking identical, have more genetic differences than humans (“The Difference Between Us,” (00:08:28- 00:09:08). This analysis shows that skin colors can't define whether someone has a difference in their DNA, highlighting a scientific truth– race does not exist biologically. Despite that, influential figures like Frederick Hoffman publicized that African Americans were “inherently infirm.” Hoffman compared the differences of mortality between Black and white populations, failing to account for many factors like poverty. In turn, he came to declare that trying to help non-whites’ “housing, health, and education was futile,” implying they were closer to extinction (“The Difference Between Us,"(00:13:42-00:15:34). Noting the previous findings about genetics, it is clear that Hoffman’s classification of a superior race is entirely cultural, and yet, many white Americans tried to deflect their own beliefs on race to that biological mirage. This phenomenon relates to symbolic interactionism, a sociological theory on how people create meaning through interaction. People aren’t born believing in a racial hierarchy, defining someone as superior or inferior based on their skin color, rather, these are terms taught and learned that are provided by society, giving meaning to something that would otherwise be irrelevant in a social context.

Photographed by Evan Wise

However, in the next episode, “The Story We Tell,” the documentary did a historical analysis on race and how its assigned meaning kept changing and evolving. Historians like Ira Berlin and Robin D.G Kelly discussed how race was not the indicator of where you stood in the social hierarchy when settling in the colonies, rather how much money lined your pockets and what religion you followed (“The Story We Tell” ( 00:05:58-00:06:53). With race not being necessarily correlational to status, it shows that these were meanings that were developed and negotiated throughout the years, like a snowball going down a hill. At one point, racial stratification became so solidified in social structures that it became law. When Andrew Jackson took the chair of presidency, and wanted to give back to the common man, the white male, he ordered for the Indian Removal Act, otherwise known as the Trail of Tears. Jackson robbed Native Americans of their rightful land, setting the precedent to president James K. Polk, who nurtured the idea that the west rightfully belonged to white Americans (“The Story We Tell,” (00:22:23-00:28:45). This chain of events shows how racism became so rampant in America and demonstrates the sociological study of Weber on power and authority. Here, traditional authority is evermore present since racism did not only become a social phenomenon, it became a norm, legitimized because that structure was the way many would claim “it has always been done” as more time passed. People also accepted the power white Americans had because the legal structure legitimized it, like exiling Native Americans of their own homes, and choosing charismatic, harmful figures as presidents. This agreement on how white people inherently received privilege could be seen with poems like the “White Man’s Burden” becoming a national success as it called for America to become an empire and to annex the Philippines (“The Story We Tell,” (00:45:12- 00:48:53). Thus, exemplifying how this authority was not only accepted, but encouraged through the use of the media and entertainment that white Americans consumed.

Photographed by Raphael Assouline

“The House We Live In,” the third episode of the documentary, expands on that, distinguishing the different meanings that race and ethnicity had. When immigration became more widespread in the U.S., as Chinese, Jews, Mexicans, Europeans and many other ethnicities entered the U.S., the country became known as a melting pot, wanting to assimilate them and “Americanize” them. Nonetheless, according to sociologist Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, that melting pot never included non whites, and instead they were the burning wood below it (“The House We Live In,” (00:10:28-00:11:33.) This indicates that despite people of color constituting a large population of America, to the point that it even became part of America’s brand, there was an exclusion on who would be included. For instance, the justices in the Supreme Court never stated “what whiteness was, only what it wasn’t” while denying citizenship to Takao Ozawa and with Bhagat Singh Thind, two immigrants who were fully integrated in American society and that argued their ethnicity was caucasian (“The House We Live In,” (00:14:31-00:20:11). In a sociological context, race is defined by the physical characteristics one possesses, while for ethnicity, the historical and social culture associated with one’s upbringing. However, the ones who give the title to these populations are those in power, and that was the case for the Supreme Court. They were not afraid of Ozawa’s or Thind’s cultural upbringing, but of their race– they were afraid that they would start to be associated with the power and exclusivity that was attributed to whites. In turn, this event highlights conflict theory and how society tried to maintain order through inequalities.

Another example of this is how many Europeans easily found homes in the suburbs,

allowing them to reap the benefits of whiteness, but many Black families faced trouble finding home there since their presence was synonymous with “lower[ing] down the costs” in the neighborhood they moved in (“The House We Live In,” (00:25:11 00:36:47). After president Johnson signed the Fair Housing Act, allowing Black families to buy in the suburbs, real estate agents weaponized that and tried to buy houses in predominantly white neighborhoods below market value and sell it to Black families above it (“The House We Live In,” (00:39:40-00:44:58). Thus, marking a difference between prejudice and racism. Even if white families did not feel prejudice towards Black families, judging them with preconceived notions of how they’ll act, they still participated in the systemic racism that targeted the Black population to improve their finances and amenities that would not be given to predominantly Black neighborhoods.

Photographed by JM Lova

I’ve experienced firsthand how ethnicity can shape one’s opportunities and perceptions. I remember a time in my life where my white math teacher in middle school, Ms. Cardenas, said to me that the gifted math class might not be for me since I still struggled with some English vocabulary words. She assumed that since I did not know the English language well enough, as I had only been in the United States for three years since I left Venezuela, I would not do well in her class. In a sociological perspective, I believe she was trying to label me as deviant in her class for not knowing the language. While that might’ve affected me negatively, I remember working and studying harder than my friends because I did not only want to “do well,” but succeed and be used as an example. I often think about this, too, when it comes to my financial background. My family would be considered lower middle class as we are the first generation to come to the United States. My mom, being a news reporter in Venezuela, could not find jobs when we first came because of the language barriers, so now she works in retail, and my father works as a chef. I would consider my parents, under the deviant definition, to be ritualists, working and not yet quite finding the American dream of financial stability and a white-picket fence. At times I wonder if I am their American dream and if I should be the one to bring financial prosperity. This all relates to my ethnicity as a Venezuelan because I don’t think I would have such fervor to succeed in my career had we not left our country or perhaps not immigrated here in the United States.

My story showcases how the struggle for success is not just individual, but shaped by systems that have historically excluded certain groups from the promises of freedom and equality. Just like when preaching freedom in the 13th colonies and still not extending to all races and ethnicities in the constitution. America is a prime example of how racism and prejudice is malleable by those in power, a place where only a select few could reap the American dream– one promising life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Photographed by Brandon Mowinkel

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Works Cited

Episode 1: "The Difference Between Us" Cheng, Jean, et al., creators. Race: The Power of an Illusion: Episode 1 - The Difference Between Us. California Newsreel, 2003.

Episode 2: "The Story We Tell" Cheng, Jean, et al., creators. Race: The Power of an Illusion: Episode 2 - The Story We Tell. California Newsreel, 2003.

Episode 3: "The House We Live In" Cheng, Jean, et al., creators. Race: The Power of an

Illusion: Episode 3 - The House We Live In. California Newsreel, 2003.