The male/female binary is not the only binary opposites with a contentious relationship between the two identities. There is also a separation within the male identity that gives authorial power based on race. The male identity splits itself by race to focus power on white identity and then devaluing what it means to be black. The white/black binary reflects white as seen as the center and black being associated with the peripheral. The white/black binary represents a long struggle between the races in the United States of America. The institution of slavery and placement of it in American society began in the colonial period and lasted until 1865 with the passing of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution. However, it was not until the mid-1960s that the Civil Rights Movements ended the oppressive laws instituted during Jim Crowe. The white/black binary is influenced by the race relations of the United States because of the assumptions created about what it means to be of either race. White oppression and maltreatment of black people included creating false narratives about what black identity is like. Negative stereotypes formed over time of what and have become so ingrained in our current understandings of race that they are now hegemonic. These negative portrayals, such as being impoverished and not properly speaking Anglo-American English, are still the baseline from which mainstream media and literature present the African-American experience. The white identity continues to have power over defining black identity and shaping how they are viewed in society.
Word Count: 251
Polar Opposites: A Study of the Binaries 
I agree and this is especially true when we think about the patriarchal society, which has really been, in the Western world, about white men, white supremacy over women AND African Americans. As you mention in your blog, the white versus black issue goes back
several centuries and has everything to do with slavery, especially on the plantations of the south. I also agree with your thoughts that these stereotypes or stories that some white people believe of blacks become ingrained and are difficult to break, even today. For many years the people in charge created those stories. This specific blog made me think about our Erasure text and how poorly displayed the African American community was in it. I look forward to reading your later blogs that focus on Erasure and the white/black binary.