Islamophobia and Acts of Violence

Book excerpt: Within this sociopolitical crucible, racial identity, acceptance, or rejection are determined and managed as commodities or indicators of social worth. Both then and now, the social construction of group identities, such as the 'Other,' is designed to benefit White majority groups in various ways that yield cumulative advantages. However, to those groups deemed 'Other,' the process yields corresponding disadvantages. The process of labeling the Other and the structural systems in place to maintain these designations and their subsequent effects continue to strongly impact communities of color and those groups viewed as substantially different from the White Male Christian Heterosexism hegemony long established in the U.S.A. (Cadinu et Rothbart, 1996; Tajfel, Billig, Bundy, et Flament, 1971; Branscombe, Wann, Noel, et Coleman, 1993). The U.S. .