Federal courts treated polygamous family norms as racial threats to democratic society

Evidence

In Mormon Church v. United States, a similar sentiment is expressed in dicta, reinforcing the notion that civilization consisted of the two indispensable ingredients of Christianity and Whiteness/Europeanness: … The organization of a community for the spread and practice of polygamy is, in a measure, a return to barbarism. It is contrary to the spirit of Christianity and of the civilization which Christianity has produced in the western world. The question, therefore, is whether the promotion of such a nefarious system and practice, so repugnant to our laws and to the principles of our civilization, is to be allowed to continue by the sanction of the government itself, and whether the funds accumulated for that purpose shall be restored to the same unlawful uses as heretofore, to the detriment of the true interests of civil society. As a result of relentless legal action against polygamy by the federal government, the Mormon Church eventually abolished plural marriages. The public campaign against it was replete with the kind of racist caricaturing one would expect depicting polygamists as foreign, woman-enslaving, dark-skinned barbarians. Most definitely not respectable, enlightened Europeans with a paternal duty of care to one wife. — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 147 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Consider how the racial state defines, manages, and regulates family formation: who can form a family racially, who can belong to a family, who can marry, how the offspring will be defined and designated racially and so what the life opportunities are for them. Women thus are implicated in reproducing the nation-state’s population, its citizenry (though even this might become contested technologically before too long). — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1707 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Polygamy jurisprudence racialized Islam by treating the practice as foreign and treasonable; Racial states regulate family formation to control who reproduces the citizenry — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1707; Court condemnation of polygamy treated Christianity and whiteness as joint markers of civilization. — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 147 (+6 more)

Related

• The Supreme Court framed monogamy as the racial foundation of democratic society (similarity 0.90)
• Court condemnation of polygamy treated Christianity and whiteness as joint markers of civilization. (similarity 0.88)
• Legal vilification of polygamy racialized non-monogamous religious groups as foreign barbarians (similarity 0.88)
• Racial states regulate family formation to control who reproduces the citizenry (similarity 0.81)
• Supreme Court racialized Mormons by associating polygamy with Asian and African peoples (similarity 0.80)
• The US Supreme Court itself declared polygamy ‘Asiatic’ and ‘African’ in origin. (similarity 0.79)
• Polygamy jurisprudence racialized Islam by treating the practice as foreign and treasonable (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Court condemnation of polygamy treated Christianity and whiteness as joint markers of civilization. #corroborates (0.88) — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 147
• Racial states regulate family formation to control who reproduces the citizenry #corroborates (0.85) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1707
• The racial state shapes subject formation by defining who can form families and marry #expands (0.82)
• Colonial rule enforced privilege hierarchy through legal control of mixed-race parentage #corroborates (0.80) — Ann Laura Stoler, Along the Archival Grain_ Epistemic…, 976
• Courts distinguished biological whiteness from culturally acceptable whiteness for citizenship #expands (0.75) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 539