Categorizing People by Color

The chapter recounts an encounter with the author’s half-Japanese nephew, highlighting the awareness of racial differences and the challenges of categorizing individuals by physical traits, which can lead to discrimination. The chapter examines eugenics rooted in Social Darwinism, promoting Aryan supremacy and discouraging racial mixing, drawing parallels between Nazi Germany’s Nuremberg Laws and the Jim Crow laws in the US that enforced white supremacy and economic disparities, including practices like redlining. Social Darwinism used color charts for selective breeding and categorizing people. Nazi concentration camps used color-coded badges for sorting. Inspired by an editor’s question, a discussion on resolution leads to a section on “silence is violence” and tennis player Naomi Osaka’s advocacy by using masks with black victims’ names during the US Open. This chapter explores the power of film, including Nazi footage, and analyzes the White Savior Industrial Complex, highlighting the need for more complex character portrayals beyond black/white stereotypes.