Quotes from Ali Rattansi

In the light of the history sketched out above, it should be clear, counterintuitive though it may seem, that 'whiteness' (and 'blackness') is as much achieved as ascribed.

Constant complaints that Muslim communities are not 'integrating' properly into Western values and ways of life shade into the idea that they are permanently 'outsiders' in relation to the West. Again, the huge variation in the secularization and 'Westernization' among younger generations of Muslims is simply swept away.

Whites simply do not experience either what have come to be called the 'micro-aggressions' of everyday racism—habitually being followed by security guards in department stores is one extremely familiar experience; noticing the discomfort of white people in your presence is another

Colourblind racism asserts that there are no real problems with racism in our society, that challenges stem from individuals rather than our institutions and collective thinking and behavior.

the populations being discussed as 'Muslims' were already racialized as 'Pakis' and 'Arabs'. So the point about whether Muslims are a race or not is somewhat beside the point. 'Muslims' have only appeared in the frame of 'race' after they had already put in an appearance in the framework of racialization, but under another guise, before they themselves began to assert the Islamic aspect of their identities,

The non-white person therefore stands accused of a perverse form of racism: 'reverse racism'.

She remarks, in particular, how white people simply fail to understand how they might be complicit, unwittingly, in shoring up structures of white dominance.

The colourblind view was grounded in the perception that blacks, whites, and non-white Hispanics now operated on a level playing field, and that no special consideration was to be given to the 'racial' background of, say, applicants for jobs or college admission.

Several overriding issues emerge from all this research. White people tend to have a sense that racism is a thing of the past, and when minorities of colour bring up issues of racism they are perceived as bringing in racialization where none existed before, hence the defensiveness and anger with which white people react during discussions of race and racism.

Essentialism' denotes the view that members of a group share one or more defining characteristics which are innate and unalterable.

In other words, the idea that there was, in 1980s America, more and more of a level playing field in housing, educational resources, and employment opportunities was a myth.

the proliferation of schemas of racial classification was one reason for the demise of 'scientific racism'.

the question of racism and its scientific basis had to be confronted at an international level as part of the attempt to build a successful post-fascist world order.

Anthropomorphic measurements and detailed genealogies were conducted, which showed that hybrid populations resulting from 'mixture' between blacks and whites displayed a homogeneity which was even greater than that found among those of 'pure' European descent.

northern blacks had outperformed southern whites. They also undermined the belief in the existence and significance of 'pure' races.

practically each racial scientist came up with a bewildering classification of human races. For instance, in 1933 von Eickstedt had come up with a scheme which included three main races, eighteen sub-races, three 'collateral' races, and three 'intermediate' types.

the concept of race simply refused to provide unambiguously different types. To put it differently, no 'pure' races could be identified.

no matter whether the individual motivations and behaviour of ordinary white people were racist or not, all whites benefited from social structures and organizational patterns that continually disadvantaged blacks, while allowing whites to stay well ahead in living standards, including housing, health and life span, neighbourhood amenities and safety, educational facilities and achievement, level of employment, and income and wealth.

By the 1970s and 1980s, the concept of 'phenotype'—which refers to surface features of humans such as skin colour, shape of nose, texture of hair, shape and size of skull, and so forth—on which those attempting to develop a tenable concept of race and a hierarchy of races had relied, had been compellingly refuted as a guide to genuine human variation.

there was only a 15 per cent genetic variation across 'racially' and geographically classified populations.

the collective failure of an organization to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture or ethnic origin. It can be seen or detected in processes, attitudes and behaviour which amount to discrimination through unwitting prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness, and racist stereotyping which disadvantage minority ethnic people.

encounters between police and young black and Asian men are not solely defined by racialization; they become contests of masculinity. Racialization is interwoven with other forms of identity, as we shall see in the discussion of 'intersectionality'.

all humans are descended from an original population in Africa.

in the Cheddar Gorge area of Somerset, revealed that these Britons were far from the light-skinned, straight- and fair-haired humans that they had been supposed to be.