down with the man

This time around Takaki went into a lot of depth and detail about the arrival of the Chinese and their personal experiences as strangers from a different shore. Not only was I distrubed by the length of the chapter (it was a lot of detail) but why does it seem like capitalism is the route of all our problems?

On the topic race and economy, Takaki concludes that "in America the Chinese were forced to become "strangers" by economic interests-the demands of white capitalist for a colonized labor force and the "ethnic antagonism" of white workers- as well as by an ideology defining America as a homogenous white society." Exploitation is the basis on which capitalism thrives. This greed-based economic system breeds racism and furthers that very ideology that America was founded on: if white people are virtuous, what they do is virtuous therefore enslaving and degrading other races is acceptable, and cannot be unethical or immoral. It's a very circular, disgusting ideology, yet it is so ingrained that people cannot see it and it is necessary for the success of capitalism. The few prosper on the backs of many, only the many are told that they have a fighting chance in a system the institutionalizes discrimination and depends on their second class status. Is economic equality the only way out?