| Ha, that's great. Funny how even that's a negative, though. We like being white because of things we don't have to put up with. That part of the book really hit me. The more I thought about it, though, the more I realized that white people are not supposed to come up with things they like about being white. We're pretty much taught to be a little ashamed of it for all of the horrible things white people have done throughout history. And growing up in the generation we grew up in means that we're used to celebrating everyone's heritage but our own. Not that I think we should have a White History Month or anything silly like that. Tim was right when he said that being white is like having no heritage. If we thought of ourselves as Welsh Americans or German Americans or fill-in-the-blank Americans, we might be able to feel like we have some sort of culture.So, what would happen if we did call ourselves Welsh-Americans (which is completely ridiculous, by the way) or German-Americans or what-have-you-Americans? Do you think we'd be even more separated, or do you think we'd still lump ourselves like we lump black people from all different parts of the world?Isn't lump the weirdest word?If our ancestors hadn't tried so hard to assimilate themselves, do you think it would've eventually happened, anyway as a sort of band-together-against-the-blacks thing? |
Here's what I thought you were going to say about music:On page 144, Tim talks about the seminar where whites and blacks had to talk about "what they liked about being wherever they were". He says that the people of color listed things they liked about their color–the customs of their cultures, the strengths of their families, the perseverance of their ancestors, etc. The white people all listed reasons they were glad to not be black–getting suspicious looks in shopping centers, having to disprove negative stereotypes, etc.Before I read the lists, I stopped and thought about why I like being white, and my first thought was, "I don't have to listen to rap music."Mwahaha.