By Chauncey DeVega

The idea of “whiteness” as a strict racial category superior to others is an invention of Europeans, who needed to legitimate and normalize a system of white on black chattel slavery, global empire, and colonialism as being preordained by nature and God.

Yet the “common sense” belief that the racial ideology known as Whiteness has always existed is one of the greatest tricks in human history.

In all, Whiteness is a new invention. The ways in which it has been naturalized signals to its powerful role in an American society that was built upon a foundation of white supremacy, and that continues to maintain institutionalized systems of white advantage over people of color in the 21st century.

Of course, all white people do not benefit in the same way from the racial ideology known as Whiteness: class, gender, sexual orientation hugely impact their lives, among many other identities.

Of course, all white people do not benefit in the same way from the racial ideology known as Whiteness: class, gender, sexual orientation hugely impact their lives, among many other identities.

Read More The Murderous Scam White Elites Have Perpetrated on Blacks and Whites for at Least 4 Centuries | Alternet.