White people don't want to talk about it

[apnu]

418. I'm white, I have no problems talking about race. I suspect whites are uncomfortable because...

... white people don't think of themselves as white.

Here are my observations:

As I go about the white world, whites I know don't talk about being white or racially identifying as white. Granted I live in the North so the racism I see every day is a very different animal from what happens down South. Whites I know identify racially by whatever ancestry they are, or if they are mixed, which ancestry they like best. Nobody I know says "Hey I'm white" they say "I'm Italian" or "I'm Irish" or "I'm German"

(full disclosure, I'm very european mixed. According to family genealogy, I have a bit of everything in Europe in me, I am text book generic white, as such I don't have a European ancestry I can call "mine" There is no major dominance of a white race encoded in my genes.)

So I think whites are confused about discussing race. They have trouble lining up as just "white" and they can't conceive not knowing where they "come from" Unlike many African American's in America who know all too well what its like to have their history erased forever.

Whites will and do speak freely about race, but broken down by European (or whatever else) ancestry they claim to be. I frequently hear endless ribs and jibe about "the Irish" or "the Italians" or "the Polish"

White discrimination runs way beyond simple skin color. Whites not only discriminate on that but there is a whole class of "good" ancestry and "bad" ancestry. Good are any British Isles choices. Germans are good too. French are OK, weird, but OK (unless Republican then they're worthy of scorn). Dutch and Scandinavian peoples are OK too. Polish and Italian are on the "bad" list, so are Greeks. (unless the "good" whites want some nice food, then the "bad" list is suspended long enough to eat). Irish have been on the "bad" list for most of America's history, but recently they've moved to the "good" side. Spaniards are kind of up in the air.

Generally, however, if the skin starts getting a little darker the probability of being on the "bad" list of whites grows. There was a time, in America, where the only place Italians could live was the ghettos reserved for African Americans.

Here's a real life example: My job hired an Italian student for a while until his visa ran out after college. His family was from a northern section of Italy and his skin was very fair. White men (the women had more sense I presume) would come up to this guy and say things like "you don't look Italian" and "you're very pale, are you sure you're Italian" The guy would become very annoyed and embarrassed. I was embarrassed too.

So white people differentiate each other based on ancestral origin. But that stops when being white stops. Anybody else is generically lumped together. All asians are the same, all African Americans are the same, all Latino people are "Mexicans"

Its built into white culture to do this stuff, and so now that people, rightly, are forcing a conversation about it, whites are uncomfortable. Its tough to learn that what you've learned is wrong. Its tough to confront the possibility that one is not as awesome as they've been taught to believe. Its even tougher to consider with the idea that if the culture is wrong about race, what else could also be wrong. Is everything they know about race, class, creed, and sex also wrong? (The answer to that is "yes" and its the source of white guilt)

Of course, this tough slog whites need to do to get over race pales in comparison to the struggles non-whites have every day in America. I don't blame non-whites for being frustrated and fed up with white's bullshit.

Its true there is bullshit in the non-white world. But none of it compares to the Mt. Denali sized pile of bullshit whites give to everybody to sort through. Whites are, for the time being, the dominate culture and race in America. So the river of discrimination that runs through America begins with whites.

For myself, I used to fret and worry about being generically white, having no ancestry to pin my racial identity on was disconcerting and confusing. I thought there was something wrong with me for not being this or that. But now in my middle age, I've come to realize that I'm out side of all that stuff. I put it down and walked away from it. Its much better traveling without that baggage. I'm content to be outside the white world.