Heterogeneity does not disqualify a group from holding racial identity.

Evidence

Robinson’s work is a magisterial exploration of race, its evolution from pre-capitalist to capitalist eras, and the Black radical tradition. As noted above, he theorizes that racism applied specifically to Africans produced anti-Black racism to extract labor much as it produced anti-Indian racism in the so-called “jewel in the crown” from which it extracted several trillion dollars. The point is that races reflect the ideological needs of the racist. As such, it stands to reason that new races will coalesce and emerge as part of a complex interaction between racism and a subject population based on a history of being set apart from whiteness. This is what has happened with Islam. The practice of racism, particularized against Muslims as Islamophobia, has given rise to the identity of Muslims as a racial group and Islam as a race. Furthermore, one of the reasons scholars have preferred to refer to Muslims as racialized rather than as members of a race is because the group is heterogenous; many in it already have other ethnic characteristics. Yet surely “Muslim” can be a racial identity because identities based on race are always an amalgam and assemblage of constituent parts for any group. — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 61

Categorization

• XREF: Directly relevant to the reader’s MOC question: if all racial identities are amalgams, American Islam’s fragmentation need not block identity inversion on heterogeneity grounds alone. — connects to: Racism predates anti-Blackness and produces each distinct race.; Islamophobia has coalesced Muslims into a distinct racial group and Islam into a race. — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 61; Racialization analysis targets groups marked by race, not prejudice itself. — Nasar Meer, Racialization and Religion: Race,…, 37 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Visible phenotype is not required for a group to become racialized #corroborates (0.95) — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 526
• The race-ethnicity distinction is not a culture-versus-nature divide #qualifies (0.80) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 723
• Social practice, not genetics, assigns mixed-ancestry persons to racial categories. #corroborates (0.80) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 675
• Race and ethnicity are analytically distinct categories, not interchangeable terms #qualifies (0.75) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 725
• Racial classification as White does not shield Middle Eastern Americans from Islamophobia. #exemplifies (0.75) — Goleen Samari, Islamophobia and Public Health in the…, 38