white in america

i wrote parts of this piece years ago, but it's since become increasingly relevant.

A little while ago in a predominantly rural city in Idaho, I was grabbing some produce and an Odwalla at the grocers, when a kind older woman stopped me. She noted there was something different about me from the typical resident. “Free,” she said. I was taken back by this observation, but after some thought, acknowledged it.

You see, she was feeling beat down; misunderstood and perhaps a bit overlooked. We spoke for about 30 minutes more in the bakery section, there, and at one point she pled, “No one knows what it feels like here to be an African American, here.”

As you could probably gather, this kind woman and her small family were black. She explained people try hard in this small town America, but don’t get what it’s like for a black family living in Rexburg. “It’s hard, there are no supports. People just move along, not fully aware of their privileges and the cost it has on others,” she said.

At one point, this kind woman broke into tears and needed some reassurance from both me and her sweet family. We eventually parted ways, but i’ll never forget the conversation, and her strength.

This got me thinking about culture, what we take for granted, and of course white folk.

Disclaimer: I’m white.

In a predominantly white community, and the country at large, it may seem as though there is an absence of white ethnic culture. this would be wrong, and its shows great privilege. But as many studies have shown, that is only because this white culture permeates all aspects of American life — locally, regionally and nationally.

A few years back, a grad school dropout, Christian Lander, published a book entitled, “Stuff White People Like.” It contained such things as religions their parents don’t belong to, having black friends, awareness, international travel, David Sedaris, marathons, 80’s night, snowboarding, renovations, Netflix, public radio, irony, apologies, knowing what’s best for poor people and socks with sandals.

The read is surprisingly funny, but more importantly, it gives substance to the apparently illusive white culture.

The white race has accomplished some wonderful feats in its long run. Namely Greece, Rome, the enlightenment, the industrial revolution and the foundation of the West as we know it.

But unfortunately, all but one of these accomplishments were built on the backs of slaves, or exploitation in one form or another.

Being white in the Americas has brought many fruits and spoils that no other race has enjoyed so fully.

What defines whites as a race, in large part, is its influence on the peoples around it, especially in the present.

A dear friend of mine grew up in the Ohio version of Compton. She is black, and whenever she ventured out and saw white people, she wouldn’t actually look at them — she downcast her gaze with a realization she was a stranger in her own country, even her own neighbourhood. She is a member of a second-class citizenry.

Similarly, another friend remembered as a teenager, “I thought every white person wore L.L. Bean.”

Mass white influence in the U.S. was sadly achieved through exploitation and genocide. The majority of early immigrants to the U.S. were bullied by reigning oligarchies in Western Europe, and as a result they bullied those they came into contact with in the new world. It’s classic psychology.

We don’t need a full history lesson here, but just think of the indigenous peoples of North America, Aztecs, the slave trade, the civil rights movement and equal treatment laws, child labor, anti-semitism and the like.

It is true, there were some incredible pacifists throughout history, but they were the exception, not the norm.

The effects of racism are very real and can be seen most starkly in elected governmental post percentages. When it comes to real sway and influence, America is still very racist.

But what of President Obama, he’s black. Doesn’t that mean racism is dead?

Not even close. Racism isn’t an illusion, society is not equal, and it never has been. Liberty and freedom are just words for too many minorities in self-proclaimed free nations.

The unemployment rate for black males now is still almost 14 percent, double the white unemployment rate. The unemployment rate for black male college graduates 25 and older in 2009 was nearly twice that of white male college graduates — 8.4 percent compared with 4.4 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

I won’t even touch the immigration debate, yet.

A study published in the American economic review found that, “applicants with black-sounding names received 50 percent fewer callbacks than those with white-sounding names.”

In an experiment in 2013 by the National Bureau of Economic Research, found on average, it takes a black person 15 resumes to a white person’s 10 to get a call back, with the exact same resume, just a changed name. Again, that is another 50 percent discrepancy in call back rates.

In New York City, a black man was stopped 148 times in front of his work by police over the past year, and detained a dozen more. The police’s claim, “He looked suspicious.”

But why bring up all this ugly past, and unseemly present?

By far, it was the white race who has led in the cultural and policy battle, who really are the guilty party, and this will forever define part of white identity, and the subjugation of broader white guilt. There is a reason people have guilt or shame.

A look at popular culture throughout U.S. history also provides an insightful lens. Stephen Colbert deftly points to the “Lone Ranger,” and that he was actually not alone. Remember Tonto?

Yet there it is, the “Lone Ranger.”

The popular TV show, Kung fu, which was pitched by Bruce Lee to the WB studio had a large and loyal following the subsequent years after its release. But before it aired, the studio infamously chose a white guy over Mr. Lee.

Bruce Lee, if not the greatest, then one of the greatest martial artists of all time, was turned away because of his race, by privileged white men, on a show about martial arts in Asia.

Hollywood is still struggling to be representative, having minorities and races be played by people from those races. The Oscars just this past year were boycotted with the rallying cry, "Oscars-so-White." This may have more to do with just who is casting the ballots for great performances, but nevertheless, its systemic racism.

At the turn of the 20th century, Italians and Irish (which are white ethnically speaking) weren’t even seen as white, they were seen as a sub-species. They were actively persecuted and avoidance was used in jobs they desperately needed.

This begs the question, “Can the achievements of Western culture truly be great if built upon such dark practices?”

Answer: I don’t know.

What’s been accomplished truly is amazing, and should be given credit, but would this have been possible without the grim reality attached? Would this have been possible without oppression?

On occasion, one hears the call to ‘go back to the good ol’ days,’ when America was the land of the free, and the home of the brave. Which usually means the 1950’s. The problem is, they weren’t the good old days for anyone but the upper-middle and upper classes, a.k.a., white men with a swath of subjugated women, and oppressed minorities. For everyone else, by and large, they were extremely difficult days.

Traveling a bit further back, in the Great Depression, unemployment rates didn’t even include black men, women, etc. There was rampant dehumanization and othering.

When it comes to American history and race, it has been a hard go to say the least.

In the land where all men are created equal, it sure isn’t laid out in the numbers that way.

This is our collective history, but it doesn’t have to be our future.

I hope the sweet woman I met in the grocers now knows there are many people that are pulling for her, and i wish her the greatest of happiness.I hope she feels appreciated and is finding fulfillment in her persuits.

Racism and bigotry aren’t black issues, or white issues or latino, swedish, gay or muslim issues. They are humanity’s issues, founded in the moral question of dignity, and who has the right to it.