N
nomadologist
Guest
Not always: in pre-statehood, post-U.S.-conquest California, the hierarchy went Anglo whites, Mexican plantation owners (typically "whiter" but very messy of course), Italians/Irish, Chinese and Mexican laborers, blacks on the bottom. These statuses changed around as the racial makeup and socio-economic situation changed.
True, was thinking more broadly of the general "Western" racist hierarchy, as continues to be displayed in, e.g., Bell Curve-style thinking, where Asians are "closer" to Europeans/whites in terms of the level of "civilization" exhibited in their cultures, though this is broad and probably has exceptions, too.
I'm sure we did a good job of painting the Chinese (edit: and the Japanese of course!) as "savages"/"heathens" at several points when it was politically advantageous to do so.
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