White Metropolis
recounts the history of Dallas, Texas from with emphasis on race, ethnicity,
and religion. Michael Phillip’s book
White Metropolis exemplifies many themes, but the theme of “whiteness” stands
out among the rest.
Whiteness
is not something that is defined by skin color. In White Metropolis Phillips
describes “whiteness”, “by what it was not: it was not black, communal, or
socialist.” There are people that are Mexican-American and
African-American that have characteristics of whiteness. Phillips traces
whiteness in Texas back to from the founding of the state when he says, “The
founders of Anglo Texas envisioned a race-based society in which Indians would
be driven out, blacks exploited as slaves, and Mexicans reduced to the role of
surplus labor. “ Whiteness is almost a superiority or arrogance
over the working class. The term whiteness according to Phillips in some cases
referred to races that were not white. To put it in simple terms if you were a
non-elite or non middle class you were non-white. Like Phillips says, “To be
classified as "non-white" in cities like Dallas, on the other hand,
was to be assigned low-wage jobs and to have few opportunities for economic
advancement.”
The
group pushing for whiteness in Dallas was the elite or wealthy. Like Phillips
says in White Metropolis, “With the Dallas commercial elite firmly in charge of
their city, neighborhoods increasingly segregated not just racially but also by
economic class.” I
see this in many towns in the Sunbelt as well as many towns today. The elites
in the community want to control the politics and how the towns future is being
shaped. Many times they do so very successfully because of their enormous
amounts of money and power. An example of this is when Phillips says, Elites
battled to convince a skeptical population that the interests of the wealthy
were synonymous with the needs of the entire city’s.”
I
highly recommend Michael Phillips book White Metropolis. With his innovative
perspectives on whiteness in Dallas, Texas between 1841 to 2001, he portrays
Dallas in a new light. I agree that there was an issue with whiteness in
Dallas. My favorite line from the book was, "Dallas is unlike Chicago -it
doesn't know about its fire," Farmer said. "... It's like a family
going through a trauma but suppressing the memory.” This line sums up the entire book, it address the issues of Whiteness and the
elites attempt to cover it up.