But the workers produce much more than the value of the wages they get. This is the source of all profits. Let' say it requires four hours of labor for the worker to produce what he needs to live and work. However, in most cases the worker works an eight-hour day. We can see how important this law is when we translate hours into dollars to measure surplus value or profit.
Surplus value is, therefore, the gross profit of the capitalist class.
It is profit before dividing it up among the stockholders, the banks, landlords and corporate executives. U.S. capitalism has been racist from its very inception. Its origins coincided with the bloody genocidal campaign against the Native American Indian peoples. It accompanied the forcible uprooting of people from Africa to work as slaves. When slavery was abolished, racism was integrated into the system of capitalist exploitation.