Others of Color

This chapter considers how persons of color who are not primarily identified as either Indigenous to this land or of African descent have been incorporated into the American settler state, and the roles they play within it. It looks at how various groups have been included by virtue of territorial expansion, immigration, and the granting of refugee status. It also examines their exclusion through the racialization of citizenship and immigration laws to ensure a predominantly White population. This history allows us to understand how, even today, the settler class is intent on constructing a labor force that is “othered” in the interest of keeping its low-wage workers both accessible and disposable.