Joe R Feagins white racial frame

Explain Joe R. Feagin’s white racial frame. Where did it come from? How is it perpetuated?
This white racial frame is four centuries old and it entails various racial theories and ideologies such as stereotyping and bigotry as well as other aspects of communication such as interlinking interpretations, sounds of language, and emotions. Also covered is people’s inclination to be discriminative in everyday life (Picca et al 2).
The existence of the white racial frame has made it part and parcel of the American experience in both American institutions and minds. The wide perspective it encompasses has made it one of the tenets of the legitimization and maintenance of racism in the country. For many years, extreme racist practices such as slavery were part of the American experience (Picca et al 3).
Enslavement practices began officially in 1607 on the founding of the first English colony at Jamestown. The English would go on to make their first purchase African slaves in 1619 from a Dutch ship. Extreme racism against people of African descent would run for 350 years between 1619 and 1969 when segregation was ended by the civil rights law. Not many people appreciate the fact that for most of the nation’s history, slavery was legal (Feagin 1).
Further, a study of the demographic distribution of the United States reveals that African Americans mostly reside in 15 states with most of the states being in the South or the states that border the South. The reality on the ground is that most of these states are still heavily segregated with Blacks living in their own communities. Some of the communities still have infamous landmarks such as railroads and highways separating black and white communities. The landmarks are not recent creations and can be traced to the years before the civil rights movement. They are landmarks that have been kept in existence over the years by state administrators who are mostly white (Feagin, 3).
Given the reality of America’s history, racism is still practiced overtly or covertly through different ways that seem to stick to negative stereotypical models that align with the biases of powerful decision makers. Studies looking into discriminative practices, for instance, are modeled according to the wants of the powerful elite who already have their own biases. It is interesting to note the irony of this situation since U.S. researchers working in other countries and jurisdictions often stress on the importance of uncovering empirical evidence that disproves the norm and that debunk preconceived myths about communities. It is hypocritical that such in-depth research is rarely done when the subject is minority communities in the United States (Feagin, 3).
Moreover, in the writings of many social scientists, there is a tendency to balance comments about the roles of slaveholders with positive statements. The authors somehow feel the need to convince the reader that some of the slaveholders were good people even when there is no scholarly need to include such details in their writings. A recurring theme is the tendency to compare and contrast ‘bad slaveholders’ with ‘good slaveholders’. The case of George Washington, a slaveholder, is a notable case. Historians portray him as an impeccable moral man who was a ‘good’ slave master. Seldom is his role in the bloody extension of the slavery ecosystem discussed. George Washington harshly treated his own African American slaves and did heartless acts such as whipping, removal of teeth, meting out harsh punishment to runaway slaves, and raffling. The need for some historians to stress that he was not a racist when evidence shows that he was cruel to his slaves is counterproductive (Feagin, 6).
The white racial frame is something that people still experience in daily life. It can be subtle or overt. Professors, being unaware of their own biases or how their framing can affect their students, may make statements that their students can classify as racial mistreatments. Here is a video link of an example of racial mistreatment: https://youtu.be/o3r3mOo4LmY.
Works cited
Feagin, Joe R. The white racial frame: Centuries of racial framing and counter-framing. Routledge, 2010.
Picca, Leslie H., and Joe R. Feagin. \"Two-faced racism: Whites in the backstage and frontstage.\" (2007).