Khyati Joshi: Making the Invisible Visible: Religion, Race and Whiteness in America

 THE ROLE OF RELIGION IN SHAPING WHITENESS & PRIVILEGE

• Christians have privilege
• Jewish ppl may have white priv. while not religious priv.
• Black Christians may have religious priv. while not racial privilege
• Presenter experienced bullying for being Indian (from India)
• National Geographic played a role in exorcized presentation of other cultures 
• Religion is often invisible, so intention is to make it visible within our culture and experiences
• Immigration policy: 1917--Asian Barred Zone Act: From parts of Asia, ppl are no longer able to immigrate the the US (on top of the Asian Exclusion Act)
• These were largely non-Christian populations
• With a critical lens, we can infer the intension of the act
• Immigration act of 1924 on top of this helped shape the demographic of a white Protestant population
• Schools have avoided teaching about the Black and Asian American experiences which alienates the people who are living those experiences; dominant culture then dictates how those stories are told
• Christianity and race supremacy are baked into our laws
• Important cases on religious freedom: Goldman v. Weinberger; "Peyote Case"; Lane Case
• Facially neutral option assumes Christian normativity so that other religious customs are abnormal 
• We cannot enact change through the same patterns of thought and function
• One pattern= More religious diversity less talk about religion
• When prayer was taken out of school, schools also stopped talking about religion, which prevents students from understanding the influences of religion on their lives
• People should acknowledge the specific religions that people practice, understand the various holidays that people celebrate
• Increase religious literacy around what different religions value
• Scientific racism has been used to prevent citizenship within the US
• Ozawa Case
• 1923: Thind (a Sikh) Case tried to use race to prove his eligibility but was denied