WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE WHITE

1
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE WHITE?

• 42-year old White businessman
• A Frankly, I dont know what youre talking
  about!
• Q Arent you White?
• A Yes, but I come from Italian heritage. Im
  Italian, not White.
• Q Well then, what does it mean to be Italian?
• A Pasta, good food, love of wine (obviously
  agitated). This is getting ridiculous!

2
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE WHITE?

• 26 year-old White female college student
• A Is this a trick question?.Ive never
  thought about itWell, I know that lots of Black
  people see us as being prejudiced and all that
  stuff. I wish people would just forget about
  race differences and see one another as human
  beings. People are people and we should all be
  proud to be Americans.

3
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE WHITE?

• 65 year-old White male retired construction
  worker
• A Thats a stupid question!
• Q Why?
• A Look, what are you Oriental? You people are
  always blaming us for stereotyping and here you
  are doing the same to us.

4
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE WHITE?

• Q When you say us whom are you referring to?
• A Im referring to Americans who arent
  colored. We are all different from one another.
  Im Irish but there are Germans, Italians and
  those Jews. I get angry at the colored people
  for always blaming us..when my grandparents came
  over to this country, they worked 24 hours a day
  to provide a good living for their kids. My wife
  and I raised 5 kids and I worked every day of my
  life to provide for them.
• No one gave me nothing! I get angry at the Black
  people for always whining.they just have to get
  off their butts and work rather than going on
  welfare. At least you people (reference to Asian
  Americans) work hard. The Black ones could learn
  from your people.

5
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE WHITE?

• 34 year-old White female stockbroker
• A I dont know (laughing), Ive never thought
  about it.
• Q Are you White?
• A Yes, I suppose so (seems very amused).
• Q Why havent you thought about it?
• A Because its not important to me.
• Q Why not?
• A It doesnt enter into my mind because it
  doesnt affect my life. Besides, we are all
  individuals. Color isnt important.

6
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE WHITE?

• 29 year-old Latina Administrative Assistant
• A Im not White Im Latina!
• Q Are you upset with me?
• A No.its just that Im light, so people always
  think Im White. Its only when I speak that they
  realize Im Hispanic.
• Q Well, what does it mean to be White?
• A Do you really want to know?Okay, it means
  youre always right. It means you never have to
  explain yourself or apologize.. You know that
  movie, Love Is Never Having To Say Youre Sorry?
  Well, being White is never having to say youre
  sorry. It means you think youre better than
  us.

7
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE WHITE?

• 39 year-old Black Male Salesman
• A Is this a school exercise or something?
  Never expected someone to ask me that question in
  the middle of the city. Do you want the
  politically correct answer or what I really
  think?
• Q Can you tell me what you really think?
• A You wont quit, will you (laughing)? If
  youre White, youre right. If youre Black,
  step back.
• Q What does that mean?

8
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE WHITE?

• A White folks are always thinking they know all
  the answers. A Black mans word is worth less
  than a White mans. When White customers come
  into our dealership and see me standing next to
  the cars, I become invisible to them. Actually,
  they may see me as a well-dressed janitor
  (laughs), or actively avoid me. They will search
  out a White salesman. Or, when I explain
  something to a customer, they always check out
  the information with my White colleagues. They
  dont trust me.
• When I mention this to our manager, who is White,
  he tells me Im oversensitive and being paranoid.
  Thats what being White means. It means having
  the authority or power to tell me whats really
  happening even though I know its not. Being
  White means you can fool yourself into thinking
  that youre not prejudiced, when you are. Thats
  what it means to be White.

9
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE WHITE?

• 21-year-old Chinese American male college
  student (Ethnic Studies major)
• A My cultural heritage class was just
  discussing that question this week.
• Q What was your conclusion?
• A Well, it has to do with White privilege. I
  read an article by a professor at Wellesley. It
  made a lot of sense to me. Being White in this
  society automatically guarantees you better
  treatment and unearned benefits and privileges
  than minorities. Having white skin means you
  have the freedom to choose the neighborhood you
  live in. You wont be discriminated against.
  When you enter a store, security guards wont
  assume you will steal something. You can flag
  down a cab without the thought they wont pick
  you up because youre a minority. You can study
  in school and be assured your group will be
  portrayed positively. You dont have to deal
  with race or think about it.
• Q Are White folks aware of their White
  privilege?
• A Hell no! Theyre oblivious to it.

10
WHITE REACTIONS TO WHITENESS

• White folks
• (1) often find the question perplexing,
• (2) would rather not think about their whiteness,
  
• (3) are uncomfortable or react negatively to
  being labeled White,
• (4) deny its importance in affecting their lives,
  and
• (5) seem to believe that they are unjustifiably
  accused of being bigoted by virtue of being
  White.

11
BEING HUMAN IS BEING WHITE

• People are people. We are all human beings.
  Were all Americans. Were all the same under
  the skin.
• We should emphasize our similarities, not our
  differences. I dont see color at all. We
  should be a color-blind society. Everyone
  should be treated the same.
• We should all learn to blend in. If you
  immigrate to this country, you should assimilate
  and acculturate. When in Rome, do as the
  Romans do. We are a melting pot.

12
WHITENESS AND COLOR BLINDNESS AS A DEFAULT KEY

• The pretense by White Americans of not seeing
  color is motivated by the need to appear free of
  bias and prejudice, fears that what they say or
  do may appear racist, or an attempt to cover up
  hidden biases.
• To be color blind not only denies the central
  importance of racial differences in the
  psychological experience of minorities (racism
  and discrimination), but also allows the White
  person to deny how his or her whiteness intrudes
  upon the person of color.

13
WHAT IS WHITE PRIVILEGE?

• White privilege is the unearned advantages and
  benefits that accrue to White folks by virtue of
  a system normed on the experiences, values, and
  perceptions of their group.
• White privilege
• (1) automatically confers dominance to one group,
  while subordinating groups of color in a
  descending relational hierarchy,
• (2) owes its existence to White supremacy,
• (3)) is premised on the mistaken notion of
  individual meritocracy and deservingness (hard
  work, family values, etc.) rather than
  favoritism,
• (4) is deeply embedded in the structural,
  systemic and cultural workings of U.S. society
  and
• (5) operates within an invisible veil of unspoken
  and protected secrecy.

14
COMPONENTS OF WHITE PRIVILEGE

• 1. Automatically Confers Dominance vs. I Made
  It On My Own

15
COMPONENTS OF WHITE PRIVILEGE

• 2. Exists on White Supremacy vs. Im Not
  Responsible For The Oppression Of Others

16
COMPONENTS OF WHITE PRIVILEGE

• 3. Predicated On Favoritism Rather Than
  Meritocracy vs. The Most Qualified Ought To Get
  The Job

17
COMPONENTS OF WHITE PRIVILEGE

• 4. Embedded Systemically In Society vs. The
  Cream Always Rises To The Top

18
COMPONENTS OF WHITE PRIVILEGE

• 5. The Unspoken and Protected Secret vs. We
  Should Be A Color-Blind Society

19
AWAKENING TO WHITE PRIVILEGE

• In his own racial awakening, Robert Jensen, a
  White professor of journalism writes
• I know I did not get where I am by merit alone.
  I benefited from, among other things, white
  privilege. That doesnt mean that I dont
  deserve my job, or that if I werent white I
  would never have gotten the job. It means simply
  that all through my life, I have soaked up
  benefits for being white. I grew up in fertile
  farm country taken by force from non-white
  indigenous people. I was educated in a
  well-funded, virtually all-white public school
  system in which I learned that white people like
  me made this country great. There I also was
  taught a variety of skills, including how to take
  standardized tests written by and for white
  people.

20
AWAKENING TO WHITE PRIVILEGE

• There certainly is individual variation in
  experience. Some white people have had it easier
  than me, probably because they came from wealthy
  families that gave them even more privilege.
  Some white people have had it tougher than me
  because they came from poorer families. White
  women face discrimination I will never know.
  But, in the end, white people all have drawn on
  white privilege somewhere in their lives.

21
BARRIERS TO UNMASKING WHITE PRIVILEGE

• 1. The White Out Phenomenon
• 2. Conspiracy of Silence or Pretence of
  Innocence
• 3. Living a False White Reality

22
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE WHITE?

• Being socialized into a world of White supremacy.
• To inherit and benefit from a world of White
  privilege.
• To knowingly or unknowingly have a stake in the
  perpetuation of White racism.
• Denying the reality of people of color and
  defining it from a White perspective.
• To be oblivious to your own biases and prejudices.

23
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE WHITE?

• To be right.
• To possess the luxury of not exploring yourself
  as a racial/cultural being.
• Being able to equate a human being with being
  White.
• Being an oppressor with the power to force your
  will upon persons of color.
• More importantly, being a White American means
  living in a world of self-deception, a world in
  which your skin color is an asset while all other
  colors are a liability.