Racial Fault Lines

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Racial Fault Lines According to Tomas Almaguer‘s book Racial Fault Lines, he introduces his main concept studying in depth the historical and social formation of race, arguing that in California in its early formation race was primary, thought never ignoring class, language, gender, and religion, he argues that there are required for any understanding of California’s history. What stands out most clearly from this comparative history is that European Americans at every class level sought to create, maintain, or extend their privileged access to racial entitlements in California. The sinister consequences of this bald proclamation are painfully captured in these chapters that document the treatment of the Mexican, Indian, and Chinese immigrant’s experiences in white supremacist California. One ethnic group with a unique experience with the European Americans was the Mexicans who were here before the U.S. annexation of California. Mexicans were given land grants and were to be offered citizenship as well as other rights as “free white persons” (Almaguer 54) in California under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1849. Upper class Mexicans, known as the Rancho elite, were more accepted because they had mixed European ancestry, Mexican’s religion was catholic as the Europeans Americans, the Spanish language came from Spain, Mexican’s vestment were appropriate to the European American’s eyes so accorded to that Mexicans were considered “half civilized”. Mexicans as citizens were able to politically challenge Anglo control in California, upper class known as “gente de razon” were accepted as whites and given all the rights while working class Mexicans were considered “greasers or gente sin razon—literally, “people without reason”), on the other hand were viewed as “nonwhite” (Almaguer 55) and not suitable for the new Anglo society. Anglo Americans had no choice than to

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