Separating Whiteness from Privilege is too radical for some and too conservative for others.
My introduction to the world of racial identity development was through the study of Multicultural counseling and psychological models of racial/ethnic development. Most of the models that focus on White identity development include a final, ongoing phase or stage in which the developing White person sees and understands White dominance, ethnocentrism, and/or racism in his or her life and the broader world, but also has a sense of the value of White culture for himself or herself and society as a whole. Whites are a group that is dominant, and that dominance is in some ways central to Whiteness while not being the entire content of Whiteness. Actual White culture is viewed as a value-neutral culture that, in its dominance, is imposed unfairly on others.
I had the good fortune to study under Derald Wing Sue who uses the example of ethnocentric White psychotherapists who judge Asian and Asian American people as being underdeveloped if they have a more collective and intense connection to their families than an individualistic White person may have. In a multicultural perspective individualism and collectivism are two worldviews, each of which has benefits and drawbacks. Ask one of my Japanese friends living in the US about the relief of not needing to worry so much about the collective, or come with me to visit their families in Japan, and experience the warmth that a stronger collective can offer, and you’ll understand my own experience of the two opposite and valid worldviews, each of which encompasses some tradeoffs.
Or another example: the White dominated academy may hold European and Euro-derived art forms above other art forms as the standard by which all art is judged. A multicultural perspective is that there is a White artistic tradition that is value neutral and it is the dominance of that tradition that makes it a destructive, dehumanizing force for people who hold other cultural traditions.
Or a final example: Whites who do not believe in White Privilege might see any perceived inability to succeed on the part of Non-Whites as stemming from some kind of racial, ethnic, or cultural deficiency. The multicultural perspective is that Whites often do not see how their own successes are often much more dependent on the goodwill of other Whites who hold power than they would like to believe . Multiculturalism would say that growing up culturally White bestows upon a person the types of behaviors and attributes that other Whites find familiar and therefore value. It’s not the behaviors and attributes themselves that are oppressive; it is the system’s (often unconscious) use of those behaviors and attributes as selection criteria that makes them oppressive. It's not only White people, but the system itself, created by Whites, that reinforces Whiteness as "the way things should be."
Of course, this is not only an "either/or" proposition. White cultural preferences themselves can play a role in perpetuating White dominance. For example, the White preference for individualism is not only a cultural attribute, but also a reinforcing mechanism that helps allow Whites to see only individual causes for failure and success when there are often systemic contributors as well. Individualism in and of itself plays a role in oppression, but this is still within the context of individualism being a trait of the dominant group. If Whites were not dominant, there would be no dominance to reinforce.
I am White person who sees racial significance everywhere and believes that White Privilege is central to success or failure in the US. Whites who do not share my perspective often see me as misguided. They hold to belief that the U.S. is the land of equal opportunity for all and they point to successful Non-Whites as proof. They see Non-White exceptions to the norm as proof that the exception IS the norm.
As a racial activist who sees White culture as being more than oppression, other activists who often believe that Whiteness is only racism often view me as an apologist. Some would have me seek out cultural identity in the immigrant experience of my grandparents and great grandparents, an experience that holds little power to the way I make meaning in my daily life.
Whiteness was created in the US by English settlers trying both to differentiate English bonded servants from African bonded servants (and oppress the latter more fully) AND to hold on to an English identity in their post-English lives. The process of assimilation to which subsequent immigrant groups have been subject is no less than oppression. But, though I am the descendent of non-Anglo immigrants, I am not and immigrant myself. I was born into Whiteness and for better and/or worse, I was not assimilated but socialized to Whiteness. I have very little desire to seek out identity in the national or ethnic identities of my ancestors. In fact, it is in and of itself a trait of Whiteness to break with one’s ancestors in matters of identity and as I am often heard to say: I am White and I have White cultural preferences for my personal life. While being forced to assimilate by the dominant group is oppression, and was oppression to my grandparents and parents, to have my own desire not to seek identity in their experiences devalued by anti-racism activists risks what Paulo Freire might call a continuation of the oppressor mindset.
It tends to be People of Color who give me permission to remain culturally White as I engage in dialogue and action aimed at dismantling White Privilege (or perhaps BECAUSE I do so). As I once heard Peoples Institute co-founder Ron Chisolm say, “White people doing this work will tear each other apart.” Of course we will. It often feels like we Whites are so busy trying to distance ourselves from our own unconscious racism that we begin to project it onto other Whites and start to act as thought-police for each other.
I don’t police my thoughts. I know I often make bigoted assumptions. I have come to believe that there are no such things as bad thoughts or feelings, only constructive or destructive actions. What I try to do is manage my words and deeds, to decide what attitudes merit action and which merit continued silent repose within my psyche. As Zen Master Shunryu Suzuki says, “If you want to control your cow, give it a large pasture.” This is the mechanism by which I build a White identity that doesn’t oppress and still allows me my cultural identity.
