“White” is a word that makes people uncomfortable, mostly white people, as a white person I can understand that word making people uncomfortable, and in the past year it no longer makes me uncomfortable. The quote itself portraits the idea that if you are “white” you are a racist, which is not fair to people, I am kind person and I try not to harm someone or make them feel bad, but maybe I am not a racist but I am part of a system that was built on racism. I believe and the idea of “white” needs to be separated from racism.
Out of habit most white people feel the need to defend their whiteness, it is nothing that we did it is what our ancestors did and we can’t change it and we shouldn’t justify their horrible actions, white is a colour but it leaves so many people ahead. When we first started discussing white privilege in class I honestly was made me feel uncomfortable to think that maybe I got something in my live because of my colour not because I earned, I felt the need to defend, and I assume other have the same urge. Disrupting this white privilege is a need of our newly developing society, we are in a time of change but everyone has to be open to it and welcome it, and this privilege will be hard for white people to ever let go.
This article helped me understand white fragility, and it does exist in everyday life, I seem to even have these feelings, but it is important for me and others to be able to move past it. The quote is that white fragility is “the inability to cope with conversations about race that don’t protect individual white people’s sense of innocence.” I feel that race makes white people feel guilty when conversations happen and nobody wants to feel guilty, and we try to protect are innocents by neglecting the issues of race. The word white brings up those feeling of guilt and that is why people shy away from the word itself one quote from the article that seems to be the most important is, “The solution to white fragility, she says, is to build up stamina; just as with exercise, that involves doing the painful task over and over again until you get better.”
Sorry in advance I have an edusites blog so your comments might not show up right away, Audrey knows about the issue, sorry for the inconvenience.
Response to Paityn’s reading response #2:
Paityn, your very first comment “ “White” is a word that makes people uncomfortable” I hesitate to agree with given that so many Whites are benefiting in many ways from White Supremacy. This puts White people in a position of power and authority so it makes me wonder why White people would feel uncomfortable with the word “White”. White people may be more uncomfortable with the idea of being told they are “racist”, as you stated well: “if you are “white” you are a racist” and “feel the need to defend their whiteness”.
I really appreciated your comment “…helped me understand white fragility, and it does exist in everyday life.” I agree white fragility is there every day, all day long. Change can occur when everything is put on the table in an honest and respectful manner where defensiveness can be set aside. I suppose White people do “try to protect are (sic) innocents (sic) by neglecting the issues of race.” However, White people should not feel “guilt and that is why people shy away from the word”. History can be learned from!
Your paragraphs have some grammatical errors, mis-punctuation’s and spelling errors that, at times, make this difficult to read. Good job though. I find this a difficult concept to grasp and discuss.
Thanks!
Paityn, thanks for your courageous conversation starters. I can tell that you really put a lot of thought into your piece of writing. You made me think hard about some privileges I have been given in my life because I’m white. I agree with you, it’s hard to think about myself being given things because of the colour of my skin not because I earned it. The whole idea leaves me feeling ignorant that for so many years growing up I was blind to white supremacy and that I just believed everyone was equal. I truly believed the normative norm of I’m a good person and only bad people are racist. I have found all the readings about racism being a systematic problem not an individual one very eye opening.
Paityn, I like your blog post; it is informative. I agree that the term “white” is a word that makes white people uncomfortable, myself included. Before taking this class, I did know what being “white” meant and how often I see “white” in my daily life. Everybody should be kind to each other and spread kindness. Everybody should try to understand racism and take positive steps to change negative perspectives of race.
I recently watched a video from BuzzFeed called, “People of Colour Around the World Respond to “White”” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZFY0dqC0Ks). Multiple people of colour describe what they think “white” means. It is an interesting to see their different perspectives. A few of the people defended their own race by comparing what has been done in the past and how they feel presently. The people in the video mention that they are a person of colour and they can not change this, and some wouldn’t want to be any other race, because they are proud of their race and comfortable with themselves. I think it is important to understand these other perspectives and compare it to our own daily challenges. We must acknowledge and understand race and racism, so a difference can be made.