"Brown as Dirt"

"Zimring shows how the discourse of urban hygiene dovetailed perfectly with old-fashioned American racism. Whiteness and cleanliness—now a major civic virtue— were construed as one and the same...

After reading Zimring’s account, it becomes hard to avoid spotting the resonances of that racist assumption everywhere in contemporary America. Think of it next time you hear talk of “white trash” or “dirt poor.”"

http://www.psmag.com/books-and-culture/how-the-language-of-racism-is-related-to-the-language-of-cleanlinesseven

Related: peak whiteness