Member-only story
Unraveling Whiteness: The Psychological and Sociopolitical Implications of Racial Identity
by Lauro Amezcua-Patino, MD, FAPA.
The United States has always been a country of selective inclusion. We allow many races, ethnicities, and nationalities into our country. They provide us with workers, skilled and unskilled labor, and technical expertise. They fill an economic necessity and allow our universities and tech firms to flourish.
However, they are truly welcome only if they “act American,” speak our language, and allow the traditional stewards of our nation, white Anglo-Saxons to continue to run the show. Otherwise, they are vilified, oppressed, taken advantage of, and scapegoated for all the ills we suffer. And why? Simply because they are not white.
In the current political climate, the complexities around racial identity, primarily the construct of ‘whiteness,’ warrant an in-depth exploration. This construct holds profound implications for individual stress levels, mental health, and broader sociopolitical dynamics, including the potential for political manipulation.
