Current Events > One miserable and *intentional* consequence of Black/White classification...

(+) Yeah! (+)

White is the opposite of Black.
Black people and White people are the only ethnic groups which have an "opposite."

Asian isn't the opposite of Latino/Latina. Arab isn't the opposite of Jew. Native American isn't the opposite of Pacific Islander.

When they first started classifying people as White or Black, it was done with malicious intent. It was to show that "White" people were the upper class and "Black" people were the lower class of society. Even as we work to undo systemic racism, referring to two ethnic groups as hot and cold antonyms has the lingering consequence of pitting two groups as part of a binary -- as opposed to allowing each group to exist wholly as their own and without standard for comparison.

it was also used as a color/light metaphor, where white/light was seen as cultured, enlightened, etc. while black/dark was seen as ignorant, primitive, etc.

that's why "Dark" or "Darkest" Africa was used to describe an uncivilized, backwards, place, and so on, even though there are multiple cultures, customs, languages, and histories for each group of people there.

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