When I was ready to launch this challenge at work, I had a colleague of color reach out and express concern about the first week of the challenge on whiteness. She and other colleagues of color have had backlash in the past when speaking of whiteness. My question was "how can we learn about or talk about racism without talking about being white?" Why are we so uncomfortable thinking about or talking about being white, after all, that's what we are or at least what society has deemed us to be (it is white people after all who established and set this system in motion). There cannot be people of color without the implication that there are people without color. Race is a social construct, not a biological one, but as our society has deemed this distinction as essential - how can we not explore who we are? Being white is part of our identity even while many white people would deny they have a racial identity. Too often I've heard white people say they are just "normal" without recognizing that the standard of normal they are speaking of is white, that social/behavioral/cultural norms in America are rooting in white culture and expectations. What does it mean to be white in America? I hope you met the challenge this week and explored this notion a little deeper. What did you hear and what do you think? Please leave a comment.
There are clearly numerous advantages to whiteness, but one that's easy to overlook is that I could go the rest of my life only thinking about my race while filling out the occasional form. Even worse, the only time I consider it could be while watching Tucker Carlson scrunch up his little weasel face, pretend like he's confused and ask why the deck is stacked against white men these days.
There are plusses and minuses, but the advantages are huge, and many of them I'll never even discover. I've never had an HR person look at my resume and toss it aside because my name sounds too German. I've never had a bank refuse a home loan because I w…