Alanabit, here's some off the cuff thoughts on this subject:

I've heard {and read} that White Americans don't consider their race to be as important to them as do Black Americans and other people of color in this country.

Perhaps that is true on a conscious level. But if this is so-and I'm not sure that it is-I think that it's because White people take their race and the privileges it affords them for granted.

I believe that poor White people in the Southern USA and elsewhere-as a group-if not as individuals-may look down on Black Americans-as a group if not as individuals-because some people have to feel that there's someone worse off than they are. In that sense, some poor White people and other White people do consider their racial identity to be important.

I believe that the cultural matrix of the United States is now and has since its founding been Eurocentric. Actually, I should qualify that to say "Western Eurocentric". In this beginning part of the 21st century, most ideas, and things, and people are still measured using the yardstick of Western Europeans. Western Europe has been considered the norm {in physical beauty, way of thinking, ideas about what constitues folk music, and classical music etc etc etc}.

On the Internet for instance, it seems to me that White racial identity is the default race on the "world wide web"{meaning that if people don't mention their race, folks automatically think that they are White}. In the same way, I think "male" is the default gender on the Internet, and probably elsewhere.

Also, I think that public school curriculums are still very Euro-centric. Too little is taught about the geography, history, current events, traditional cultures, and contemporary cultures of non-Western European nations. For example, I believe that many Americans probably don't know that there were ever any kingdoms in Africa before White people came there in the 15th century or so. Some information about Western African kingdoms has trickled down into the consciousness of some African Americans as a result of the 1970s Black power {Black Nationalist} movement. At least, because of African arts festivals when some African Americans wear kente cloth sashes, and/or other African attire and African inspired attire, it sems to me that most Black people know that before European colonization, many Africans wore clothes. When I was growing up {in the 1950s} in what I call the Tarzan years {since Tarzan movies were on television quite a lot}, I think few Black people and few White people knew this.

I believe that some Black people look down upon poor White people for at least one of the same reasons why poor White people look down upon Black people {regardless of economic class}-because they feel the need to look down upon someone else. Some Black people call poor White people "White trash". I'm aware that some White people call poor White people this too. Another insulting phrase that is used is "trailer park trash". I've not heard Black people use this phrase but maybe some Black people do use this. Also, I seldom hear Black people use the term "redneck", but maybe that's because of the Black people I hang around with :o)

However, it's important to note the critical distinction that I made in that paragraph-some Black look down on "poor Whites" {and yes, there are some Black people look down on all Whites}. But it seems to me that far more poor White people look down on all Black people, regardless of our economic status, than the number of Black people-poor or otherwise-who look down on all White people.

It seems to me that since the 1960s-spurred on by the independence from colonization of so many African nations-more Black people are less likely to accept the view that we are inferior to White people when it comes to accomplishments-past and present or the ability to accomplish intellectual as well as artistic things. {I think that most Black people think that we are more innovative artistically than White people. In this way many of us look down on White people for constantly-throughout the centuries-stealing our artistic words, and music, and dance, and dress}.

But I think that making broad generalizations-such as Black people as a group are better dancers and singer and are more artistically innovative in speech or otherwise-is problematic. And I hate it when people point out an individual and say that she or he is "the exception to the rule" that they believe is operable.

I believe that when people are confident and secure in themselves they will have much less of a need to have someone or some group to look down upon. That's why I think that more poor White people than well to do White people are more prejudiced toward Black people and other people of color. But maybe that is not so. Maybe poor White people who are prejudiced vocalize and act out their prejudice on a personal/interpersonal level, and well to do White people who are prejudiced act out their prejudice through by creating and maintaining economic inequality and institutional racism.

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Here's one example of how words are used {consciously or unconsciously in American schools and in the American mass media to teach and reinforce White racial superiority: Seldom if ever do children, youth, and adults read or hear about and see images of historical African kingdoms and African kings, African queens, or African princes and princesses. Instead we constantly read, and hear about and see images of European {particularly English, French, and German} kings and queens and kingdoms, and African {and Indian, meaning Native American} chiefs. Are things better in this regard than they were in the Tarzan years {1950s-mid 1960s} when I was in public school? Yes, but this is because of Black {amd other folks} efforts in the Civil Rights and Black Power movements, meaning it did not happen without a great deal of pressures. But imo, the public school curriculum throughout the USA and not just in the South is still decidedly Euro-centric.

This means that many Black children still have problems with their group identity and their self-esteem. Almost 40 years after R&B singer James Brown wrote & recored "Say It Loud, I'm Black And I'm Proud", I've heard Black kids taunting other Black kids by calling them "Blackie".


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Notice that throughout this post, I'm qualifying my statements with words like may and some. I do so because I think that it's wrong to assume that everyone in any population group thinks or acts the same. For that reason, I prefer not to use terms like "the Blacks", the Whites, the Black community". Also, I grew up at a time when there were a lot of public efforts to get the "n" in the word "Negro" capitalized the same as other referents for groups of people were/are capitalized {such as German, French, Italian, Indian}. The position that many Black people took at that time, and still to this day, was that not to capitalize "Negro" implied that we were of lesser value as a population and as individuals than all other peoples whose group referents were/are capitalized. Since the 1970s, "Black" has been used as the informal referent for the people who used to be called Negro, and Afro-Americans and "African American" is the formal referent. The "As" in the group referent "African American" is always capitalized. However, it appears to me that standard practice is usually not to capitalize the "B" in Black {though I think you'll find more Black people capitalize it than White people}. All this to say, since I capitalize the "B" in Black, I think it is only fair that I also capitalize the "W" in White.

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I wish you and your students well, alanabit.


Ms.Azizi