American racialization of slaves ran on labor and land, not on religion

Evidence

However, Islam was not the primary source of racialization in the colonial and antebellum period. Modes of racializing black slaves and indigenous people in policy and the law focused more on their labor (slaves) or land (Native Americans) rather than their religion. Black Muslims were not racialized in ways that differed from their non-Muslim sisters and brothers. If anything, GhaneaBassiri argues, they were depicted as better than non-Muslim slaves. Enslaved African Muslims occupied a liminal space where they were made “exceptions to the prevailing negative stereotypes of blacks and Muslims” [the Ottomans], with “shifting communal boundaries defined by race and religion.” In seventeenth century Virginia in the context of the codification of chattel slavery, black slaves were turned into property. As a consequence, they were denied all rights including the right to practice religion. There is no evidence to suggest that during this period there was an attempt to criminalize Islam or to cast Islam as a security threat (see Chapter 6). — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 207

Categorization

• QUESTION: When did Islam shift from being incidental to becoming the defining axis of Muslim racialization in America? The chapter gestures at post-1970s consolidation but the precise tipping point is worth chasing.
• XREF: connects to: Americans condemned white enslavement while justifying African slavery on racial theology. — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes…, 510; Racist theological ideas sanctioned and made American slavery acceptable to Christian churches — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning: The…, 20; North American plantation slavery was maintained by force and property, not cultural hegemony — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 2082 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• North American plantation slavery was maintained by force and property, not cultural hegemony #corroborates (0.85) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 2082
• Racist theological ideas sanctioned and made American slavery acceptable to Christian churches #contradicts (0.80) — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 20
• Slavery was rationalized as punishment for sin and barbarism, not race #corroborates (0.80) — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 77
• US government has used religion to justify racial subordination throughout history #contradicts (0.80) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 1068
• Antiblack prejudice in America followed slavery rather than preceding it #expands (0.75)
• Racist ideas softened slavery’s religious scruples to preserve enslaver interests #contradicts (0.75) — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 105