Читать книгу Understanding Racism - Hephzibah Strmic-Pawl - Страница 47

To understand White privilege requires an explanation of the meaning behind “White” or what Whiteness represents. Whiteness is the power accorded to those deemed White. In the United States, Whiteness originated with plantation slavery, when “White” became synonymous with free and “Black” with slave. Policies in the United States then continued to place power, resources, opportunities, and achievements in the hands of Whites. Such practices and ideologies have given Whiteness special status, so that being “White” has been the way toward success. People from all racial and ethnic groups have fought to be identified as White, including Irish, Italians, Mexicans, Chinese, and Blacks who had a light enough skin tone that they could “pass” as White.⁶ For those who were denied White racial status, many sought White approval. George Lipsitz explains this “possessive investment in whiteness” in how “the power of whiteness depended not only on White hegemony over separate racialized groups, but also on manipulating racial outsiders to fight against one another, to compete with each other for white approval, and to seek the rewards and privileges of whiteness for themselves at the expense of other racialized populations.”⁷

Another defining aspect of Whiteness is the lack of awareness of race, of power, and of privilege; “to be an American and to be white is to be told a million different ways that the world is your oyster; it is to believe, because so many outward signs suggest it, that you can do anything and be anything your heart desires.”⁸ The constant and consistent valuing of Whiteness leads most Whites to understand this treatment as “normal,” and they are therefore unaware that their racial status is according them benefits. Yet the relationship between Whiteness and privilege is of a constitutive nature; “without racial privilege there is no whiteness, and without whiteness, there is no racial privilege. Being white means to be advantaged relative to people of color, and pretty much only that.”⁹ Thus, there are direct reinforcing links between “White,” “Whiteness,” and “White privilege.” White is the term used to identify a group of people who share phenotypical features understood as “White,” Whiteness refers to the power given to Whites, and White privilege denotes the benefits that Whites receive because they are White.