I Bring the Voices of My People: A Womanist Vision for Racial Reconciliation (Prophetic Christianity)

by Chanequa Walker-Barnes

Bonilla-Silva’s concept of a triracial caste system is crucial to understanding race and racism in the United States for several reasons. First, it highlights the variability in experiences of racial privilege and oppression among nonwhite groups, even among those who might be broadly categorized in the same racial group. In other words, racism is not one-size-fits-all. It does not impact all people of color in the same way. Nor does it necessarily impact all people within one racial-ethnic group in the same way. A light-skinned Mexican American who can “pass” for White will likely have a quite different experience of racialization and racism than a dark-skinned Mexican American. “Racism deniers” will often use the relatively privileged racial perspectives of “honorary Whites” in order to dismiss claims of racism by those within the “collective Black” group.