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As Americans we are generally under the impression that only are our country experiences racist viewpoints. While our country was built on racist values and a lot of our laws and even the Constitution excluded anyone who wasn't white being a free person. It is important to keep in mind that our country and its values originate from Europe. Before America was a free country it was a colony of Britain. This means that a lot of systematic forms of racism translated from the motherland over to America. Racism stems from those who desire power and oppressing those who they deem below them allows them to have stature and rise above those they believe to be inferior.
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White Teeth by Zadie Smith focuses on the racism and underlying disdain that colonized British people face from British people who see themselves as true British people. The characters we follow are a British man who marries a young woman from Jamaica, his friend who is from Bangladesh, the child of the British man and Jamaican woman, and the twins of the man from Bangladesh. They face many rude comments from British people because they don't look British. Millat and Irie in particular face comments from other British people who expect them to have been born from an exotic colony when in reality they were born right down the road.
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The racism that Smith tackles shows that racism's roots stretch far and wide. The people of Britain look upon British subjects who are not white as not being truly British. They think they take their jobs and potential housing. This ideological mindset reflects the American thinking of racism. Racism has been born from Britain and carries across the sea. This has left the American population to battle racism as much as British people. Color blindness, pretending that racism is dead, and systematic forms of oppression are the same in both countries. They just present themselves in slightly different ways, but the root of cruelty is reflected across the sea.
What are your thoughts on the racism presented in White Teeth? Let me know down below in the comments.
See you soon,
Sarah Johnson
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