ned with Lipsitzs descriptions of the implications of social and economic investments in whites which provide the basis of my argument.Finally, my theory is proved in everyday life in the American Society with an example of a young black boy who faces the struggles of growing up in America, where integration is a difficult, never-ending battle. This example is the autobiography of Nathan McCall. Through his example, McCall shows how past political policies continue to affect the present, shaping his identity through the differentiation of the other.The three categories of past political policies that Lipsitz presents clearly effect Nathan McCall, proving that history is a crucial factor in the development of racial identity. He grows up in an all black neighborhood during the 60s and 70s. This neighborhood was so nice that McCall noted that itwasnt the kind of neighborhood [he] associated with black people, (217) yet the residents were still simply members of working-class. (216) There were signs of the lack of urban renewal programs (Lipsitz, 201) such as the big, ugly ditch. (McCall, 219) The form of employment his father is able to get is so low that he is forced to hold two jobs one of which is working as a gardener for a wealthy white neighborhood.(McCall, 221) Moreover, McCall attends a white school where he is the only African American in most of [his] classes. (McCall, 224) In these classes he faces such harsh discrimination from whites (due to the possessive investment in whiteness shaping their identity) that he is forced to leave the school. (McCall, 225)The policies affecting black status serve to shape McCalls racial identity by creating an outside group through which he learns what he is not. As McCall notes: It seems that there was no aspect of my familys reality that wasnt affected by whites (216) McCall is reminded of [his] shaky place in the world (219) by the resentfulness of the poor neighboring white comm...
