Many scholars investigating sociology have paid much attention to the inter-relation between race and space. Indeed, the common values and beliefs about race dominating a particular society or neighborhood define the ways in which space is created, adjusted, and used. Despite the claimed and actively popularized ideas of racial and ethnic equality in the USA, the long-lasting segregation on the basis of race still invades American society. In particular, the opposition of the black and white population in the USA brings a two-fold perspective to the perception of space. Therefore, the attitudes toward people of different races functioning in the same space would vary depending on the assumptions dominating the society in relation to that race. Namely, the ongoing discrimination against African Americans and other racial minorities imposes significant bias in relation to space.
The ideas of the racialization of space and spatialization of race were introduced by Lipsitz, who claimed that American urban neighborhoods deflect racial inequality. The term of white spatial imaginary is defined by the author as the belief that black people fail to contribute to the development and are incapable of using opportunities for their benefit. This assumption leads to the racialization of space, which relates to creating neighborhoods based on the racial features of its residents. For example, there are exclusively Latino districts or black neighborhoods. Similarly, there exists a notion of spatialization of race, which entails the assertion of the particular space-related attribute to a defined population. Indeed, affordable housing, safe neighborhoods, and a clean environment are less observed in spaces where racial minorities reside. Lipsitz’s ideas have some similarities with those of Frantz Fanon, who described the colonial world as a world cut in two. The spatial division between colonialists and the native population was also based on racial differences as attributes of dominating or subordinating statuses. Similarly, Saito defines settler colonialism as a type of colonialism that separates the oppressed native population from their free habitats and places them in strictly defined settlements.
In such a manner, space and race are two intertwined phenomena that demonstrate the discrimination and inequality in a society based on racial segregation. Prominent scholars have argued for the identification of the inter-relation between space and race, which implies white spatial imaginary as a form of discrimination of minorities through the construction of unequal neighborhoods and landscapes. The historical perspective allows for identifying common patterns in the segregation of Native Americans and African Americans in the USA. In particular, the colonial era was marked by the division of colonialists and natives and the attribution of settlements to particular populations for separation from the dominating majority. Modern society continues to live under the same circumstances where minorities are subject to implied discrimination due to white privilege.