Is Whiteness Solely About Having White Skin Or Is it Something More?

Writing about race, you learn pretty quickly a lot of people believe Whiteness is only skin deep. Skin color can’t be easily changed and so White folk who think like this tend to find quick offense anytime White is mentioned in a less than stellar light. They feel attacked and react to imagined fears of being persecuted due to the color of their skin.

Now, those of us who view Whiteness through a different lens struggle to understand why these people just don’t get it. We find it difficult to communicate with folks like this because we’re operating from completely different frameworks. If we can’t agree about what Whiteness is, we can’t every properly address racism as we’re not even looking in the same places.

So, today, I want to focus on Whiteness primarily from a White perspective. All are welcome and even encouraged to chime in, but I really am foremost interested in White people’s thoughts on a few things.

I am also challenging White people reading this to resist the urge to examine Whiteness in comparison to Blackness or to attempt to redirect the focus of this conversation solely to Blackness. For some, it may be necessary to mention Blackness in order to understand if or how Whiteness uses Blackness in building itself. But let’s refrain from centering Blackness in an effort to avoid examining Whiteness.

With that said, let’s have a little discussion, shall we?