Authorized scholar Cheryl Harris’s groundbreaking 1993 article, “Whiteness as Property,” argues that whiteness has traditionally been handled as a type of property in the US, conferring tangible and intangible advantages to those that possess it. Like different types of property, whiteness has been constructed, outlined, and guarded by the regulation, enabling its homeowners to regulate, switch, and profit from its worth. This idea manifests in varied historic and modern examples, together with redlining, racially restrictive covenants, and disparities in entry to training, healthcare, and employment alternatives.
Harris’s evaluation gives a vital framework for understanding how racial inequality is just not merely a product of particular person prejudice however is deeply embedded in authorized constructions and social establishments. Her work highlights how the authorized system has traditionally performed a pivotal function in creating and perpetuating racial disparities by affording authorized protections and benefits to whiteness. Understanding this framework is essential for addressing systemic racism and dealing in the direction of a extra equitable society. The idea gives a strong lens via which to investigate the persistence of racial inequality and the challenges in reaching true racial justice.
