In Mill’s book of “The Racial Contract,” he discusses how race affects the world we live in and how whites are portrayed superior to black. He claims that according to multiple epistemologies and moral codes, white are supposed to act immoral. He states, “To the extent that those phenotypically/genealogically/culturally categorized as white fail to live up to the civic and political responsibilities of Whiteness, they are in dereliction of their duties as citizens” (Mills 14). Overall this means, whites were not to treat non-whites, or blacks, as equal. Non-whites were described as “savages” or “animals.” It is said that non-whites do not even have the capacity or potential to be civilized. This can be explained by the saying, “You can’t take the savageness out of the savage.”
This idea of not treating blacks as equals can be described into further detail. For example, if a white man taught a slave to read or write, that white man could possible have been killed for his actions. During this time, there was a lack of moral obligation between blacks and whites. One, meaning a white person, should help people who are in trouble. However if they are a black person who needs help, you should not help. If you were to help that black person, you’d be acting immoral. White people strived to be moral, so technically a white person should be moral, but also should be immoral; in the idea that not helping a slave is the moral thing to do.
Another way to explain this idea of race affecting the world is how different races view how our world came to be. Western society renders that its history as “beautiful.” However, there is another perspective of our history and it’s the opposite of beautiful, “horror.” This can best be describes using this timeline: