Abstract
Contemporary Reflections
SECTION I: Historical Foundations: The Modern World-System
Coloniality, Americanity and White Supremacy
Founding of the Americas
Founding of the United States
Centrality of Ethnic and Racial Hierarchies
Twentieth Century Challenges
Migration and the “Third World Within”
Racism without “Racists”
SECTION II: Dream Matters
Desperately in Need of a Dream
Nation of Immigrants
A Dream Emerges
Structural Implosion
The Racial Wealth Gap
The Crumbling of U. S. Exceptionalism
SECTION III: Conclusion - The Moral Exhaustion of "'America' the Beautiful"
Tensions in the American Dream