U.S Imperialism

The American history consists of many twists and turns that include the issue of color line. Though it has been resolved to a great extent..its remains are still prevalent in the American society...here's what i wrote after reading its  articles...The mixed American public is suffering from the color-line issue due to imperialistic policies. Color line is a terminology which was coined for the first time by Frederick Douglass in his article “The Color Line” in 1881. Later, it re-emerged as a controversial phrase used by W.E.B. Du Bois. It actually means the division of races on the basis of the skin color i.e. ethnicity of the foreigners residing in the U.S.

Du Bois said in his writing, “The problem of Twentieth Century is the problem of color line,”. Though the Civil War (1861-65) has ended and America apparently signed treaties and pacts with various nations regarding “friendly-relations” yet an inevitable question is raised, that why the issue of color-line is still observed in the U.S. in the present era? The interrelation of America with Asian, African and other ethnic groups is deemed to be quite biased on the behalf of the Americans.

The issue of race is not just due to color but it has become a social term, used to define differences between the “superior” whites and the “inferior” blacks. There are numerous reasons for the racial discrimination. Most important are the economic and demographic factors. The three kinds of job levels in the U.S. are white-collar (high class office job), pink-collar (high class women’s jobs) and blue-collar (low class labor work) jobs. Approximately 8% of the total U.S. population is non-American; which is rapidly increasing, and getting most of the blue-collar jobs, giving a strong competition to the Native Americans. The color-line, an unseen but greatly felt territory formed against the foreign-Americans, thus served the purpose of retaining the best jobs for the “white-skinned” ones, depriving the deserving “colored” ones. This also resulted in the severe reaction of Labor unionists in depriving the “whites” from the employment opportunities.

Another reason for the bias is the superiority complex of the American natives due to their skin color and so-called “race”. The Civil War included the cause of slavery, and even after it is over, the Americans consider the Negroes their slaves or low-class people. The issue of color-line not only offended the blacks in the economic field, but for immigration and settlement too, through various pro-immigrant policies. In the earlier 16^th Century, the first Africans reached America. They were gradually increased in number, but lowered in ranks. A large number of these afro-Americans were turned into slaves, which was a result of Capitalism. Their population ratio increased to such an extent that they had to do every job they got for living. The Americans felt the need to repress them as they as strong workforce and intelligent minds, were taking over the American population.

From then onwards, such imperialistic policies have been formed in the U.S. which deprived the “colored ones” of their basic rights. After the Civil War, Reconstruction movement was started, but even it could not bridge the gap between the slave Afro-Americans and the Native-Americans.

Today, even though the Black president of the U.S., Barrack Obama, claims to have presented the most non-imperialistic policies in the country, yet the issue of racism remains upright in the States. Today, most of the quota-system policies, employment policies and nationalism policies are clearly depicting the racism issue in the U.S.; where the rights of half of the world are being denied by the American policy makers. The Negroes living in the U.S. for three or more generations are still not considered a part of the U.S. and can claim no privileges which the Constitution provides for and secures to citizens of the United States.

Today, the international policies and ideas regarding racism are quite supportive for the anti-racists, yet these laws can not be fully implemented as the domestic and local idea of “citizenship” and equality is still a discriminative one. The American policies have influenced the international policies as well, America being the all in all Super-power. Thus, the problem of color-line has not been eradicated from the country, or the world.

Though racism cannot be justified by any policy, it is considered unavoidable in the global capitalist system which has to preserve the resources for the U.S. as a priority. This is one reason why the labor movement in the US has both adopted a strongly pro-immigrant for challenging corporate power and protecting the living standards of American workers; because only those countries succeed in the world where the benefits of shared rights are equally provided to all.