David Roediger, Professor of History at the University of Illinois, once stated whiteness is not merely oppressive and false, it is nothing but oppressive and false. As James Baldwin said, "So long as you think you are white, there is no hope for you." Let the depth of that observation sink in. Whiteness is not a culture. There is Irish culture and Italian culture and American culture - the latter, as Albert Murray pointed out, is a mixture of the Yankee, the Indian, and the Negro; there is youth culture and drug culture and queer culture; but there is no such thing as white culture. Whiteness has nothing to do with culture and everything to do with social position. It is nothing but a reflection of privilege, and exists for no reason other than to defend it. Without the privileges attached to it, the "white race" would not exist, and the white skin would have no more social significance than big feet. Many of the interviewees in this short but informative documentary are acutely aware of the value placed on whiteness in American culture & see how the odds disfavor those who do not possess it. Immigrants soon catch on to the game & disfigure themselves in speech, manner, style & attitude for acceptability. Those who don't do so risk marginalization. What a madhouse!
Absorb.....
OneLove
:::MME:::
