Slavery

The rise of slavery in the United States came despite initial inclinations of colonizers to use white indentured servants (and therefore, hopefully, maintain more racial homogeneity).  In the beginning, enslaved Africans were a minority, but slowly began to make up more and more of the workforce.  They were also increasingly singled out, being denied weapons and considered lifelong slaves.  As servant populations became increasingly opposed to their treatment and began organizing, laws that had previously singled out black populations as being unable to own weapons became reasons for increasing enslavement of Africans in the U.S., since weaponless people are easier to control and less likely to rebel.  It became more "safe" and profitable for people to enslave African Americans (whose children they also entitled themselves to) than use indentured servants of European origin.  Inherent in the treatment and decreasing value and rights afforded African Americans was the idea that, like American Indians, African Americans were a "lesser" race that was inherently less intelligent, hard-working, and beautiful-- Thomas Jefferson was an example of the popular view at the time that it was "nature" (as opposed to environmental factors) which made people of African heritage lesser (which, of course, they were not-- they were being measured by Western standards that did not apply to them).

In today's world, we still hear unfair stereotypes that portray minority populations as lazy, dishonest, and deceptive.  African Americans are often portrayed as criminals (consider coverage of Black Lives Matter movements) and Latinos are often portrayed as "living under the law" as tax-evaders and thieves of "American" jobs, despite a reality in which U.S. government policy has been heavily responsible for conditions which lead Latin Americans to seek livelihoods in the U.S. and policy which often prohibits them from doing so through legal channels.  This blindness to responsibility and mistreatment parallels both treatment of American Indians and African Americans under the institution of slavery.  Additionally, white beauty standards continue to dominate our media and culture in ways that continue to suggest that bodies of color are not as beautiful as white bodies.