...as an older white woman who stood for civil rights and remembers the "whites only" signs and the segregation as well as the redlining that occurs to this day, I wonder why people are so upset at being called "Whitey." While we no longer have signs proclaiming our racism, it does not mean racism has gone away. I do not think this name is actually being used around we Whites much, I just wonder why, when it is a fact that we live in a racist society that favors white people, we are so surprised that this term might be privately used by people who are decidedly not so privileged.
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So when a freaking rumor that wasn't even true about someone using the term "Whitey" came into the news and caused a whole bunch of lily white talking heads to implode, I just could not see what the hoo ha was all about. C'mon Helmet Heads, aren't you downright certain that those ghettos in your city could not possibly be because of the color of a person's skin or the class they reside in? Haven't you come to the conclusion that this is because "only losers" live there and it is their own choice/fault?
Don't you actually believe poverty is all the fault of the person who is poor and has nothing to do with the color of their skin or the class they were raised in? Otherwise why don't you speak up about it and listen to the ones who are trying to tell you it is? Can you actually say you never laughed at someone making fun of an immigrant's accent or said an aside to someone about that accent or even mimicked it, or thought privately someone was being a little TOO touchy-wouchy because they felt (and were) discriminated against? I mean you never heard anyone use the "N" word or anything soooo ...
I have raised children who were not white ~ or though half white, they experience the "one drop" rule imposed upon them. As their mother and because I did not experience what they did and the expectations they lived when it was nothing like who they really are, it took me a long time to see what they endured in their childhood. Nor because I did not know it, did they understand or see the subtleties of racism when they experienced it in their tender years, thank God. I say this because when I became more aware of it, it broke my heart ~ as I know it breaks the hearts of every parent when their children get seriously hurt over things they did not cause and did not make. My silence taught them not to use it as an "excuse" yet I see in so many ways the color of their skin set them in a wholly different path than if they didn't possess that drop of blood. It is far more difficult to get a "leg up" when you and the great friends who you have that are as smart and funny and just plain cool, are not invited to sit with the white kids in the lunch room, which is often just as segregated as the nice neighborhood these kids live in.
Because of my privilege and unlike a mother who is of color, I did not know enough and I could not warn my kids about racism, nor help them learn how to address it when it hit them in the face. Even though they were with me every day of their childhood, racism is so insidious that I missed a great deal. It took me years to understand there is a vast difference between being 'racist' (taking for granted the privileges of being white and assuming 'everybody' had the same privilege)and being prejudice. Then like the elephant in the living room and as the mother of kids of color, it just became obvious to me that we have a problem here that really should be faced squarely for what it is. As a white person because of the society I live in I am a racist, I cannot help but be one because I enjoy those privileges whether or not I want them to be in place. As a low income single mom because now classim is the new metaphor for racism since then we can pretend it is all about a person's "choice" and has little to do with the racism and classism that will now encompass anybody who is poor, I got some of it. Still even so, I do not live nearly what people of color live in this country of any class. I know now that people who are not white can be prejudice against other races than themselves, but they can never be a racist because most people of color do not enjoy the same privilege as we whites do.
Do you really think that the people getting rich off of poverty somehow deserve it more than the poor they exploit? Don't you actually believe that the wealth and privilege they have is because they "worked hard" as if the poor do not work as hard and are not as smart? Do you actually believe that crime NEVER happens in YOUR neighborhood, it only happens in the lower income areas? Don't you just pretend that you or your next door neighbor are not as apt to be addicts or alcoholics as the people in the barrio across town. Let's just pretend that both of you have a statistically less chance of being caught since police presence is not watching you as closely, and even if you are caught you will not suffer as harsh a penalty, ok? Why don't you just admit you truly believe that your friend who you saw burning papers to cover up his white collar crime in the marble fireplace in his nice house in order to destroy evidence, well he is less of a criminal than the poverty-stricken kid who stole a bike and then will spend the rest of his life in and out of institutions, huh?
C'mon now admit it, don't you kind of admire the rich man who stole millions of hard earned incomes because well, he is just not as bad as the meth addicted woman who has to prostitute herself to eat? Nah you don't need to examine very closely as to who is REALLY the more heartless and immoral of those two will you? After all SHE prostituted her body, you couldn't possibly believe he actually pimped all those people who lost their pensions because of his greed ... Why a bunch of powerful white men even made laws that legalize it and then well, what is legal is just more moral, isn't it? After all when you are white and upper income, well it just isn't as bad to do all those things is it?
Just don't think for one moment those thoughts are not written all over your perfectly made up face mugging at the camera, they permeate into your words and ooze out of your sky blue eyes! Whitey indeed!
I do not like being "Whitey." I just know I am Whitey. I do not like it, but it is time for we Whites to not be "shocked, shocked I tell you," when someone uses the term and points to us. How about you, Mr. or Ms Mainstream Media? Rather than getting all veclept at the word "Whitey" it is time to look in the mirror and start thinking about what you have that you take for granted and even promote when you pretend racism does not exist to your benefit. Maybe it is time to face that, as long as you remain silent, "Whitey" is who you are. Because Whitey does exist. I hate to inform your wide eyed little selves that, Whitey is us.
Cat In Seattle