Whiteness as a Social Phenomenon

Whiteness is ownership of the earth. -- W.E.B. Du Bois

Some wholesome, good-old American radicalism. Update: Ally Work blog asked if this article could be included in the blog carnival called "Erase Racism." It looks like she has some nice stuff there, so do check it out if you're interested.

Black advocate Mark Haley tells a story about Malcolm X. Both men are in an airport together. A plane lands and a group of bright-eyed Eastern European children take their first steps on American soil. Malcolm turns to Haley and says, "Pretty little children. Soon they're going to learn their first English word: nigger."

Broadly, Malcolm might be right. The viral permanency of “race” as a social concept is a uniquely American phenomenon. America is the one nation in the world that imported a group of people half-way around the world, bred them and then enslaved them. Resultantly, no facet of modern American society can escape the ever-presence of race, no social progress or economic betterment or political victory is achieved independent of race, and no action, personal or institutional can be made outside the framework of race, who is advantaged and why. Of course, the word “race” refers to much more than biology. It must be seen as much more than skin colors. “Whiteness,” specifically, is a social construction, aptly conceptualized as cultural property. It is a possession that provides tremendous material and symbolic privilege. It is a constellation of norms, ideologies, economic factors and social predisposions that gives rise to a hierarchical system of existence, created at the birth of this nation for the expressed purpose of power and subjugation. The 2005 academy award-winning movie Crash provocatively and unflinchingly examines this concept of whiteness, in essence, the concept of ownership over society.

American progressives work to inculcate children with the truth that racism exists in society. They weave the familiar narrative that oppression puts people down, and that American culture has nurtured – even today – this oppressive dynamic. The story, however, is not complete. Importantly, the accepted concept of racism neglects the reciprocal relationship between oppression and profit. Whiteness is not just about the elevation of the value of one culture, but depends fundamentally on the devaluation of other culture. Thus, the existence of “Black disadvantage” necessitates the existence of “white advantage.” This unacknowledged privilege, enjoyed by every single white person in society, is the essence of “whiteness” as a social construction.

Read the entire essay here.