The Lie That Invented Whiteness

Bry Willis shares an essay from "Philosophics" titled "The Lie That Invented Whiteness," that argues that race, specifically "whiteness," is a modern social construct, not a biological reality. It explains that Gomes de Zurara, a Portuguese chronicler, fabricated the concept of "the Blacks" in the 15th century to justify the slave trade, effectively creating a marketing tool for a new economic model. The essay critically examines how this invention occurred at the dawn of Modernity, the Age of Reason, highlighting the hypocrisy of "Enlightenment" ideals which promoted universal equality while implicitly excluding non-white individuals. Ultimately, the text asserts that racism persists not as a misunderstanding, but as a deliberate and profitable system integral to the political economy of empire and colonialism, suggesting that dismantling it is a form of "debt repayment" rather than philanthropy.