Dr. Patrizia Longo Department of Politics
DANTE 116: TTH 9:45-11:20 plongo@stmarys-ca.edu
Office hours: TTH 11:30-12:30 Office: GV 215, x4140
POL 110—RACE in U.S. POLITICS (1.25 units)
America became white—the people who, as they claim, “settled” the country became white—
because of the necessity of denying the Black presence, and justifying the Black subjugation. No
community can be based on such a principle—or, in other words, no community can be
established on so genocidal a lie.
White men—from Norway, for example, where they were Norwegians—became white: by
slaughtering the cattle, poisoning the wells, torching the houses, massacring Native Americans,
raping Black women….But this cowardice, this necessity of justifying a totally false identity and
of justifying what must be called a genocidal history, has placed everyone now living into the
hands of the most ignorant and powerful people the world has ever seen: And how did they get
that way?…By deciding that they were white. By opting for safety instead of life.
By persuading themselves that a Black child’s life meant nothing compared with a white child’s
life. By abandoning their children to the things white men could buy. By informing their
children that Black women, Black men and Black children had no human integrity that those who
call themselves white were bound to respect. And in this debasement and definition of Black
people, they debased and defamed themselves. —James Baldwin, “On Being ‘White’…and
Other Lies”
Course Description and Objectives
This course investigates the impact of race(ism) on US political development.
Hence, the broad purpose of this course is to encourage students to think and write
critically about the manner in which white supremacy, as a modern global system
of thought and practice, came to function as the keystone in the making and
maintenance of America. We will examine the manner in which modern Western
ideas of racial superiority and inferiority legitimized the strategies of conquest,
colonialism, genocide, enslavement, and land expropriation in the establishment of
the United States as a white republic.
We will explore how whiteness has operated as the invisible norm in American
political culture, a transparent, yet ubiquitous frame of reference so pervasive that
even today most whites consider themselves absolved from race matters. We will
investigate how white intellectuals have constructed the national identity as white,
excluding any direct reference to African Americans and other people of color. We
will examine closely how white supremacy operates to protect the power,
privileges, profits, and pleasures that whiteness affords.
Finally, we will examine critically a number of contemporary public policy issues and
the manner in which America continues to deny racial justice to African Americans
and other people of color. In the last analysis, we will want to answer the following
questions: What does it mean for Americans to speak and write about such lofty
principles as freedom, justice, and equality, but then to devalue these values
(historically and presently) by denying them to African Americans and other native
populations? Does America’s racist political culture call into question the United
States as a democratic polity?
This course will also help you develop several of the goals of the baccalaureate
degree: an ability to inquire, think, analyze, write, read, speak, and listen; an
historical consciousness; intercultural experience; and an understanding of human
behavior and human institutions.
The course qualifies for American Diversity, Common Good and Civic Engagement:
American Diversity Learning Outcomes:
1) Students will analyze aspects of social diversity (e.g., ethnicity, race, socio-
economic status, gender, sexual orientation, religion, age, ability, and political
identity) and how they affect society in the United States of America.
2) Students will explain how social categories and structures of power may
affect the human person.
Common Good Learning Outcomes:
1) Students will articulate a critical account of just social order; and
2) Students will demonstrate a capacity for coherent, principled analysis of
concrete social problems
Civic Engagement Learning Outcomes:
1) Students will apply academic methods and/or theories in a way that
promotes collaboration and mutual benefit in a community setting; and
2) Students will demonstrate critical reflection throughout their experience; and
3) Students will express their understanding of the interconnections between
their experience and their responsibilities as members of social or professional
communities.
REQUIRED BOOKS
Carol Anderson, White Rage. Bloomsbury, 2017.
Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, Racism without Racists, 4th edition. Rowman & Littlefield,
2014.
Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of
Colorblindness. The New Press. 2012
EXPECTATIONS
You are expected to read thoroughly and think seriously about all assignments
before coming to class and be prepared to discuss them effectively in class.
Indeed, this course will emphasize active discussion as the major pedagogical
strategy employed in this class. Therefore, you should develop personal syntheses
of class discussions and readings. This course will test your ability to integrate
these bodies of knowledge and to communicate this learning both through speaking
and writing. Hence, simply memorizing isolated facts and regurgitating them are
insufficient in regard to class discussions, papers, and grading.
My intent is to challenge you to demonstrate the ability to think analytically,
independently, and critically about the subject matter of this course. The aim is to
