A statement about Moral and Immoral Whiteness in immigration Politics from Dr. Yalidy Matos.
I am a 1.5 generation immigrant. Although I am not white, whites’ policy preferences and vote choice have a direct impact on me, my family, my friends, and my community. I am personally impacted if Congress or the President alter green card eligibility as people in my family hold green cards. The criminalization of immigrants matters to me because I come from a family of immigrants. Hence, whites’ political behavior as it relates to immigration is deeply personal and consequential to me.
We all live under a white supremacist system. There is no escaping that, at least not yet. And we are all capable of being complicit in white supremacy, by either not speaking up or actively believing in particular norms of hard work and egalitarianism that do not serve communities of color and in fact maintain white dominance in institutional political systems. For me, this project serves as a reminder that it is easy to be or become complicit in a system that tokenizes people like myself. As an immigrant and a first-generation Bachelor and Ph.D. student, the American norms of individualism and egalitarianism can be easily weaponized. I am an example of these norms but these norms do not contend with structural racism and a history of slavery and oppression of Black Americans. My success is in no way is an example of the myth that we all have equal opportunities (and we all certainly do not have equality of outcomes) because of the conspicuous weaving of white supremacy in all of U.S. institutions. I actively work against the idea that it only takes hard work to succeed while excluding power, white supremacy, and structural racism.
Delving into unknown territory can counteract shortcomings that lay outside our peripheral vision. I join a group of scholars of color in writing about whiteness from a particular vantage point. Those most implicated in whiteness’ draconian, and often deadly, consequences have a stake in the disillusionment of white supremacy, and it is from this stance that I write.
“For me, this project serves as a reminder that it is easy to be or become complicit in a system that tokenizes people like myself.”
—Yalidy Matos, PhD
Yalidy Matos 