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Deynaliz Matos Berrios
SPC 4701
Dr. Fine
9/19/2020 History White People Need to Learn
Racism has been gaining attention with the tragic deaths of individuals, such as Breonna
Taylor and George Floyd. This has caused an uproar from groups all over the United States,
resulting in protests for local governments to punish those responsible and gain justices for the
victims. In the process, those of lighter skin color have found it unfair that claiming White Pride
is racist. The problem underlined by Mary-Alice Daniel (2014) in, “The History White People
Need to Learn”, is that the many individuals in the white population are ignorant to their history
of privilege, and how this gift has caused other groups to face hardships economically and
socially still to this day.
Whiteness was introduced in the 17th century to differentiate between the master and the
slave when the Atlantic slave trade became an icon to European colonization. This distinction
allowed the white population to claim superiority over other groups. Looking further into history,
Racism was seen even between the white population. According to Daniel (2014), The original
white Americans were those from England, certain areas of Western Europe, and the Nordic
States. However, individuals that were German, Italian, Russian, and Irish were considered non–
whites, until the 20th century. (para. 4) In the journal “Measuring Radical Discrimination”,
Rebecca M. Blank described the thought process behind discrimination:
Empirically, Ingroup members spontaneously reward the ingroup, allocating
