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Research Paper On Whiteness

304 Words2 Pages
Whiteness can be defined as a social condition where it secures privilege over 'others'. Whiteness gives us a historical scope it highlights the idea of a group of people with light colored skin. Throughout history, white people have used “white supremacy” to oppress other ethnicities, in group versus outgroup. The significance of its meaning is a definition that reminds us of the idea of that it has been imbedded in our culture, society and political world that continues to progress. Whiteness significantly displays the idea that we, as a society, still have not figured out on a construct built on binary oppositional thinking. Why do the powerful exist over the powerless, or why “white” are superior to other ethnicity, why being poor is
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The major thesis in this book, are broken down into two components. The first is how we define racism, and the impact that definition has on how we see and understand racism. Dr. Beverly Tatum chooses to use the definition given by “David Wellman that defines racism as a system of advantages based on race” (1470). This definition of racism helps to establish Dr. Tatum’s theories of racial injustice and the advantages either willingly or unwillingly that white privilege plays in our society today. The second major thesis in this book is the significant role that a racial identity has in our society.

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In his article “White Ignorance, ” Charles Mills argues that ignorance has largely contributed to the creation and segregation of racial and gender groups. He supports his case by identifying the “originally solitary Cartesian cognizer,” which is the imperialistic British state of mind where whites, especially white males, were dominant, and the historical implications of that state of mind, specifically the idea that all non-whites were inferior in thought process and mannerisms therefore do not deserve the time of day required to be understood. Although he labels this ignorance “white ignorance,” he does not limit this intentional ignorance to just white males or the repercussions to racial separation. Instead he designates it as a specific way of thinking that encourages ignorance in favor of the dominant party in a given situation. At the end of his article, Mills comes to the conclusion that ignorance, in general, is damaging to society, specifically interactions between people, and comes up with

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Indentured Servitude and Removing the “Indians” Although it was true that the Christian belief that all men were possibly “breathen in the family of God,” it was not always enough to keep Europeans from differentiating themselves from the people they encountered. The origins of American “race” relations, Bulmer examined, appeared as a result of three highly significant events in history, which he said were “the conquest of the Indians, the forced importation of Africans, [and] the more or less solicited coming of Europeans, Asians, and Latinos” (Lyman 1977:25-37).

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Fahad Albrahim Response 1: Review/Summary: “Whiteness as property” is an article written by Cheryl Harris, in which she addresses the subject of racial identity and property in the United States. Throughout the article, professor Harris attempts to explain how the concept of whiteness was initiated to become a form of racial identity, which evolved into a property widely protected in American law (page 1713). Harris tackles a number of facts that describe the roots of whiteness as property in American history at the expense of minorities such as Black and American natives (page 1709). Additionally, Harris describes how whiteness as property evolved to become seen as a racial privilege in which the whites gained more benefits, whether

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White are attached to their own identity and violate the civic solidary of others because they expect others conform to these ideas or be oppressed and have to feel unwelcomed. Many people like Sam Huntington “calls for immigrants to assimilate into America 's “Anglo Protestant culture” (Song). If this culture seems to be violated then people can become defensive of it and violent. As Lorde says, “there must always be some group of people who, through systemized oppression, can be made to feel surplus, to occupy the place of the dehumanized inferior” (Lorde). This group was blacks for many years and in the future any other minority could take the mantle as the oppressed because it violates one’s ideals and expectations of others.

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In my understanding of this concept based of off class lecture etc. and accompanied readings, this concept appears to be one that can be shown in various way because of its broad scope. There are situations in where this term can be describing, white dominance and a strong Eurocentric focus on films within the movie industry. Simultaneously, this term can be used to describe the concept of the white hero, or the replacement of intended ethnic actors and actresses by their white counterparts. Often times as described in class when talking about “Gods and Kings.”

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At the heart of whiteness studies is the invisibility of whiteness and white privilege (Ahmed, 2004). Whiteness is thought of as the hidden criterion to which every other race is measured against. Through the lens of whiteness, the “other” is seen as deviant (Ahmed, 2004). The invisibility of whiteness, however, is only from the perspective of those who are white (Matthews, 2012). To people who are not white, it is pervasive and blatant.

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The author uses dichotomous thinking to classify white people as being the dominant party as they enjoy what she terms as "white privilege". She explains the privilege by noting that she was not forced to expose her children to the existence of racism and her certainty that the person-in-charge is often white “I did not have to educate our children to be aware of systemic racism for their own daily physical protection” and, “I can be reasonably sure that if I ask to talk to ‘the person in charge,’ I will be facing a person of my race” (McIntosh 89).   Our ability to realize the privileges that we get to enjoy allows us to notice the people who do not get to enjoy such privileges. Learning about privilege becomes vital as it allows human beings to be more considerate of individuals who do not get the same privilege. White privilege, as a form of privilege, often goes unnoticed.

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The authors explore the notion of a white gaze which is hegemonic, historically established in material relations of white power where women and minorities are blamed for taking away their undeserving privileges. It boils down to resentful entitlement or privilege. The school shootings perpetrated by middle-class white male students, the men’s-rights movement, white supremacists, the fathers’-rights groups, etc. There is a deep-seated impression, among some white male Americans, that they are being deprived of their space in society. The era of privilege, when the reputable jobs and the best possessions was the white male American’s merit, has degenerated and is being succeeded by a society where white males are being systematically marginalized and overlooked in patronage of minorities and women.

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