(1) Normative race privilege; (2) a
standpoint from which white people look at themselves, others, and society; and
(3) a set of cultural practices (Martin 2012, p. 194) The previous statements provide a 3D view of
“whiteness.” Being biracial (black
father/white mother) I get a unique view of whiteness from multiple
angles. I had a stereotypical version of
a wealthy white man for a grandpa. He
was a highly respected vice president of Mutual of Omaha, drove a Cadillac and
lived in a nine-bedroom home. My mom and
dad have been together since they were 15, which was in the 70s. Those were harder times for interracial
couples due to people like my grandpa.
Growing up as a very race privileged man my grandpa’s standpoint towards
blacks was very racist. Though it is an
extreme example it does give some support to Ruth Frankenburg’s theory. .”
However can all whites be generalized into the category or act of
“whiteness”? Similar to the student in
Chapter 3 who questioned, “Whose version of a shared and common culture are we
talking about?” (Martin 2012, p.93)
Whose version of whiteness are we talking about?
When the
book talks about being aware of “whiteness” I immediately think about an outing
with my friends from school. I went to a
school where, out of our graduating class of about 640 only 50-60 of those kids
were black. Needless to say most of my
friends were white and didn’t have a lot of exposure to black people. When we went to a football game at a school
where the majority of the kids are black my friends made a comment about being
the only white people there and feeling out of place. I find this interesting because that is what
I go through everyday but because it is my norm it doesn’t seem like something
worth saying out loud. They began
counting out the white people, which I found humorous, but it is also very
telling of our current culture. Even
though we’ve come such a long way some places whiteness is still evident.
I feel like
after observing how my friend’s change in opinion since we very first began
hanging has changed drastically. We would have really good talks about race which
ultimately changed their stand points and how they felt about stereotypes and
preconceived misconceptions. It was nice
to be able to communicate both sides of the matter. Because I feel like it is a real life sample
it makes me hopeful that these changes will eventually become more widespread.
In this video below is from 'What Would You Do?' I think it shows two types of people: the man at 2:53 and the woman at 3:53.
References
Martin, J.N. & Nakayama, T.K. (2009). Intercultural
Communication in Contexts, (5th edition). Boston, MA: McGraw Hill.
I think it's very interesting when you talk about your friends feeling out of place at the football. The majority of my friends are white and they say the same thing. I totally agree with you as well when you say that's a feeling you have to deal with constantly. I'm fully African American myself and I deal with being the minority on many occasions here at UNL. Most of my classes I'm the only African American. So I just find it interesting how white people get so "out of place" as they say when they are in situations where that are the minority. But they can easily go back to being the majority when they leave the venue. But we as African Americans can't simply go somewhere else and no longer be the minority. I can go on an on about this haha but for the sake of not writing a novel I'll stop. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThank you to both of you for sharing. These are important points to make to really reinforce the importance of continuing discussions on this concept.
DeleteI think it's interesting you have a bit of background being white and black when it comes to the races and "whiteness". I also feel like you have a good grasp/idea on the matter because of your grandpa and interracial parents. I admire your hope in the changes becoming more widespread.
ReplyDeleteExcellent blog! Thank you for being so open and willing to share your personal experiences with us. It's really wonderful that your parents have been together as an interracial couple for so long. I am sure that it wasn't easy especially starting out in the 1970s. I also appreciate your comments about feeling out of place. This is a very insightful and powerful blog.
ReplyDeleteGreat start with the blog assignment. Moving forward think about how you can bring in more visuals to enhance your points. Also make sure that you explicitly engage the blog prompt questions in your post as well.