What's the origin of racism in U.S.?

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Claiming the American soil as theirs alone, white supremacists may have forgotten their history. Their ancestors – Anglo Saxons – were once the outsiders.

Ordinary Americans should have been taught this in high school. But white supremacism is prevailing in the United States anyway, a country which claims an ethos of equality.

A poll by NBC (National Broadcasting Company) and the

Wall Street Journal

found a majority of voters say American society is racist. Seven in 10 believe race relations in the U.S. are bad. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the United States has seen a 55-percent increase in hate groups during the Trump era.

The institution attributes the increase to the president's rhetoric. But white supremacism was not invented overnight. What's its origin?

Some Anglo Saxons insist their pursuit of liberty is incomparable across the world, and thus they are superior to other races. Such ethnicity-based prejudices have been found in several historical documents. This may be the very origin of white supremacism in the United States.

Fast-forwarding into the capitalist society, Social Darwinism started to take ground. Advocating the survival of the fittest, Social Darwinism has been repeatedly used to justify racism. In the logic of Darwinist, the white are more competitive than their Black counterparts and thus deserve better resources.

This led to a vicious circle. Social Darwinism grants the white better access to education, jobs, and thus more opportunities to climb on the ladder of social status. But this is at the sacrifice of Black Americans. Limited access to resources makes the Black population less competitive than the white. This, without suspense, reinforces Social Darwinism over time.

Might becomes the right. The white's colonization of America has thus found its theoretical basis.

To further justify their superiority, racists invented another theory called the White Man's Burden. Namely, white colonizers have the duty to "care for" non-white indigenous people. Under the theory, brutal colonization was glorified as a "mission of civilization" that would eventually benefit colonized natives. Ethnicity-based prejudice was packaged as a special gift for the non-white. Deep-rooted racism has thus prospered in American society.

It's true the U.S. has made strides in eliminating white supremacy in modern times. But realistic challenges in this period have instigated the white's hostility against other ethnic groups. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, all racial minorities are growing faster than whites. The country is on its way to becoming predominantly non-white.

Beyond question, this raised the anxiety level of white Americans. The economic conundrum some of them are facing in the diversified society has catalyzed the anxiety into their hatred toward other ethnic groups. This contributes to the scene where white supremacists were blatantly chanting the American land as theirs.

No snowflake is innocent in an avalanche. The same goes for racism in the United States.

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