Whiteness

(Yes indeed, today we’re talking race.)

Yesterday I saw someone online describe herself as “half Canadian”, which has to be the lamest self-proclaimed heritage I’ve ever seen. We all know White People who self-identify as “one quarter Irish” or “one third German” or whatever.

Hello, folks: you are WHITE.

If you are of European ancestry, and most of your family has been in the US more than 2 generations you are white.  Go celebrate Casimir Pulaski Day and wear green in March all you want, you are white. End of story.

Is there a name for when white people (>3rd generation American) describe themselves as like “quarter Irish” or “half German” or whatever

— Louis Potok (@louispotok) August 24, 2016

I got an amazing response that made me think about this more deeply:

@louispotok what you’re getting at is the privilege to not self-identify as white lets white people not engage with their own whitness

— jø (@jdiedrick) August 24, 2016

Johann makes a great point: by identifying themselves with a specific national heritage, white people free themselves from the implications of Whiteness — free themselves from having to think about race. Because when white people are just French/Irish/German/Swedish/whatever, race doesn’t matter and there’s no point in talking about it. “We all have our identities, we’re all something-Americans, and everything is great.” But if you are white you have to grapple with what that *means*, what kind of treatment you get in the world, what your individual culpability is.

A similar point is made at greater length in the paper that Johann linked to. There’s a bundle of worldview that white people have which allows them to exist in a de-racialized world — and they/we react negatively to attempts to re-racialize the way they see things (the paper calls this “white fragility”). Because whiteness is unmarked in our society, white people walk around with a view that “I’m just a person, other people have races.” Or people appeal to universalism — “we’re all people” — or individualism — “we’re all our own individuals” — which is closest to the heritage approach.

Of course, turning an eye inwards, I see myself doing the same thing. I think of myself primarily as Jewish, not as white. My dad is an immigrant, my grandparents were survivors of genocide and then displaced persons and then immigrants twice over. But of course I **read** as white in the world, which for many intents and purposes is what whiteness is all about.

:siren: Inner conflict alert :siren:

 

Anyway, what’s the right name for white people being a little too proud of their ethnic/national heritage?