I was gonna say some of these people look pretty white to me. But then we’re getting into the arbitrary question of who counts as white which is probably way beyond her understanding.
Part of being “white” is getting to decide who is “white.” This is only possible because “white” is a completely made up category. We shouldn’t even engage with the term.
I’ll just let my comment above stand as an example of how I think it should be engaged with. You can recognize that it’s a fantasy people have without participating in the fantasy.
It’s true that white is a made up term made to justify owning slaves and on that front it’s a meaningless way to group many different ethnicities. On the other hand as a white person I have to acknowledge that I am lumped in that group. I have privileges, and responsibilities because of it and there are social groups and spaces that are not for me. I can’t absolve myself of being white by saying white isn’t real.
I agree. It’s not about absolution. It’s about breaking down a culturally constructed instrument of oppression by refusing to participate in it. I can’t tell the world to stop treating me better because they think I’m white, which I believe is part of your point. But we do what we can, when we can, with knowledge of what we can and can’t.
It’s entirely in the eye of the beholder, as white is an ephemeral western social in-group and not an ethnicity. If you think you see white people in this photo, then you do.
I was gonna say some of these people look pretty white to me. But then we’re getting into the arbitrary question of who counts as white which is probably way beyond her understanding.
Part of being “white” is getting to decide who is “white.” This is only possible because “white” is a completely made up category. We shouldn’t even engage with the term.
Fair point but it’s so deeply rooted. Don’t we have to engage with it to some extent in order to eliminate it?
I’ll just let my comment above stand as an example of how I think it should be engaged with. You can recognize that it’s a fantasy people have without participating in the fantasy.
It’s true that white is a made up term made to justify owning slaves and on that front it’s a meaningless way to group many different ethnicities. On the other hand as a white person I have to acknowledge that I am lumped in that group. I have privileges, and responsibilities because of it and there are social groups and spaces that are not for me. I can’t absolve myself of being white by saying white isn’t real.
I agree. It’s not about absolution. It’s about breaking down a culturally constructed instrument of oppression by refusing to participate in it. I can’t tell the world to stop treating me better because they think I’m white, which I believe is part of your point. But we do what we can, when we can, with knowledge of what we can and can’t.
Old English saying “The wogs begin at Calais.”
Meaning if you aren’t English you really aren’t White.
Irish immigrants, of all people, weren’t considered white until like the mid 1900s.
Now playing NOFX - Don’t Call Me White
It’s entirely in the eye of the beholder, as white is an ephemeral western social in-group and not an ethnicity. If you think you see white people in this photo, then you do.
To that person, “there are at least 3 people who are clearly at leat white passing”