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Race is used as a mechanism of social stratification and the main form of human identity is quite a recent concept in human history (Smedley, 998) the ‘white race’ was invented after the Bacons’ revolution in 676, which was made by the ruling class as a social control mechanism. The ruling elite deliberately instituted a system of racial privileges it establishes the white race however, this was the downfall of African Americans and other ethnic groups (Allen, 202). This highlights the formation of white privilege and how from the start it was imposed to hinder those from other ethnic backgrounds. This idea of race then developed even more into the seventeenth century with the rise of the slave trade. For two centuries slave labor became the engine of The economy (Britain’s forgotten slave owners: profit and loss, 205), slave owners weren’t just aristocrats they were people from the middle class or even the lower middle class. However, the majority of slave owners were white as they were the more ‘superior’ race and had the power to control the black slaves. This idea of power becomes prominent in the concept of race, in particular the idea of white individuals having more power than other ethnic groups. When this idea of race came into human history it brought a hence of powerful importance to the meanings of physical differences (Smedley, 998). Some Europeans were fixated on pointing o

ut the differences between the different races and even exaggerating their finding. For example, Sarah Baartman’s (Venus Noire) was a subject of objectification in the 800s, when white men would parade her around Europe so that white individuals could stare at and mock her body (Ashley, 202). By showing her around Europe it was meant to highlight the differences between the black and white species. This then created the idea that those from different racial backgrounds were lesser forms of human beings and they were inferior to those from white backgrounds (Smedley, 998). These individuals were enslaved in relation to the lowest-status groups within the society. Highlighting how the idea of ‘them and us’ came into existence, which is still very much seen in today’s society the view of seeing those from different racial backgrounds as inferior is still ingrained into white individuals’ minds, which can relate to where this idea of All Lives Matter comes from.
White individuals have never had to pay attention to race they were not the norm or the odd one out in society. Being white is not an issue because it blends into the cultural background of society (Halstead,206) it also only exists because of historic racism and biases (Collins,208). However, this is not a privilege that black or ethnic individuals get to experience as they are constantly reminded about their blackness within society.