ABSTRACT
Race is a method of categorizing humans based on the false belief that human groups, "races", are biologically distinct from each other. Race has influenced the definition of rights and privileges, the distribution of resources, and the ideologies and practices of subordination and oppression. Racism is one form of oppression and oppression is always connected to power, systems, structures, and institutions. The Racism Machine is so powerful and complex because interlocking forces of capitalism and patriarchy operate within it to preserve the status quo and protect the interests of the elite. In 1924, the Virginia legislature passed the Racial Integrity Act, which prohibited interracial marriage. In addition to involuntary sterilization and bans on interracial marriage, American eugenicists also looked to immigration laws as a way to shift the American population to become a supposed biologically superior white population, and these eugenicists were influential and powerful.
