The Origins of Whiteness

Defining whiteness is like defining air; it is all around, you are so accustomed to its existence that you mostly pay no attention to it except on a particularly windy day. It is typically benign, but during a tornado or hurricane, it can cause considerable damage or death. Whiteness is usually unnoticed; in America, it is the status quo. Whiteness is taken for granted; it is the baseline; whiteness just is.
If there is one thing you should know about whiteness, it is this: Whiteness is not inherited; it is learned. There are no inherent characteristics, and whiteness cannot exist in a vacuum. Whiteness is a trait solely dependent on interaction with other people, whether people of color or other white people. Whiteness can be an attitude, a set of beliefs; sometimes, it presents itself through group consciousness or individual conclusions. Though often influenced by the environment one grows up in; whiteness is not inherited; it is learned.

Little children have no concept of whiteness until they are trained to heed it. While they may have some curiosity about differences in color, it is not until someone supplies them with a reason for those differences that judgment occurs. That reason may or may not have any basis, but a belief system begins all the same.

Whiteness is embedded in American history: the first colonists, the founders, those that compiled our laws and developed our policies did so with whiteness in mind. The Constitution never explicitly mentions race, yet its Articles are filled with provisions to constrain. Article 1, Section 9, provided that Congress would continue to permit the “migration or importation of such persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit,” for at least twenty years. Translated, it said that Congress could not block the importation of enslaved people because slaveholding states needed them for their economy. The plan was never to end slavery after twenty years but to replace enslaved people from other countries with homegrown domestic enslaved people, often the result of forced breeding or rape. Slave labor camps (plantations) also served as breeding farms; at a time when tobacco was depleting the nutrients in the soil in Virginia, Maryland, and other states, they turned to another crop — enslaved people that they sent further south and west, which soon became Virginia’s leading export.

The Electoral College was established in Article II, Section 1; it is a mechanism that kept the less populous slaveholding states from being outvoted by the other states to outlaw slavery. While technically, the slave states may have had more people, the enslaved themselves could not vote. However, they were counted as three-fifths of a person for Congressional representation. The Electoral College was a check against the pure will of the people to attain a more predictable result. It is how we get presidents who lose the popular vote yet reflect the choice of the less populated, mostly white states.

America’s borders reflect whiteness. To the north, the Canadian border results from white countries dividing up the land between themselves that was not theirs. When expanding westward, America adopted “Manifest Destiny,” the position that God directed America to take possession of all land extending to the Pacific Ocean (later amended to include Hawaii and, in some minds, the Philippines). Senator Albert J. Beveridge said it most clearly in 1900. “God has not been preparing the English-speaking and Teutonic peoples for a thousand years for nothing but vain and idle self-admiration. No! He has made us the master organizers of the world to establish a system where chaos reigns . . . He has made us adept in government that we may administer government among savages and senile peoples.” To be clear, when Beveridge said “English-speaking” and “Teutonic peoples,” he meant white.

America’s expansion also caused southern considerations when it came to Texas and Mexico. There was great debate about how much of what was Mexico to take into our Union. The problem with absorbing too much of Mexico was too many Mexicans. South Carolina Senator John C. Calhoun, whose towering statue was only recently removed from its Charleston, South Carolina perch, said this in a January 4, 1848 speech to Congress. “We have conquered many of the neighboring tribes of Indians, but we have never thought of holding them in subjection or of incorporating them into our Union. They have been left as an independent people in the midst of us or have been driven back into the forests. Nor have we ever incorporated into the Union any but the Caucasian race. To incorporate Mexico would be the first departure of the kind, for more than half of its population are pure Indians, and by far, the larger portion of the residue mixed blood. I protest against the incorporation of such a people. Ours is the government of the white man. The great misfortune of what was formerly Spanish America is to be traced to the fatal error of placing the Colored race on an equality with the white.” History shows us the essence of American whiteness, that the nation is, of, and for white people. And it is ordained by God.

If only whiteness were something relegated to the past. One of the arguments whiteness uses as a defense is that the racially repugnant aspects ended after the Civil War, the Civil Rights Act, or the Voter Rights Act. Most people are not aware that throughout American history, there have been multiple civil and voter rights act, and each and every one has ultimately been rejected, limited in scope, or found wholly or partially unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, whose primary purpose is to interpret laws according to the Constitution. The Constitution was established to protect white interests, specifically the interests of white male landowners.

Whiteness and maleness have much in common, but that will remain a subject for another day. Whiteness has had a staunch protector in the Supreme Court that constantly requires the justices to consider the “intent of the Founders” as the basis for their rulings. Whiteness is propped up by the courts, Congress, and schools that teach revisionist history and make heroes out of heathens. Many of our schools mandate “American exceptionalism” be taught; students pledge allegiance to a flag and Republic that has always favored white citizens. American exceptionalism is thinly veiled white exceptionalism, especially when taken in the context used. Whiteness is like the air; it is everywhere.

In defining whiteness, it is essential to understand what whiteness is not. The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture recently issued guidelines for talking about race. One of their graphics discussed “Aspects and Assumptions of Whiteness in the United States.” It said white values included “rational thinking” and “hard work.” White people were also assumed to “put hard work before play,” utilize “objective, rational, linear thinking,” and apply “quantitative emphasis,” among other traits. When asked to comment, the museum declined and removed the graphic from its website. Something that still stands and is inarguably correct is the following: “White dominant culture, or whiteness, refers to the ways white people and their traditions, attitudes, and ways of life have been normalized over time and are now considered standard practices in the United States,” the introduction to the section reads. “And since white people still hold most of the institutional power in America, we have all internalized some aspects of white culture — including People of Color.”

Whiteness demands that children of all minorities learn to talk white, act white, and even think white to fit in. Except for one month a year, we are taught white history from a white perspective. Historical figures are whitewashed, and we are rarely informed of their mistreatment of slaves, broken treaties with Native Americans, abuse of Asian railroad workers, and no more than a brief mention of Japanese internment camps. Every institution is designed to promote the message that white is right, which gets to the heart of what whiteness is.

The one thing you were asked to remember about whiteness is that it is learned, and therefore, it can be unlearned. The belief in white superiority is at the core of white supremacist groups and most white racist behavior. I can’t entirely agree with the premise that only white people can be racist; that trait can exist in all races. Systemic racism, however, can be attributed only to those who control and design the system, which in America leaves white people standing alone. Because white people manage the system, they must be part of the solution to rooting out the beliefs attached to whiteness. And those not part of the solution are part of the problem.

As ubiquitous as whiteness is, a high percentage of white people at least claim to be unaware of the problem. These are the white people who “don’t see color” or believe racism ended long ago. They are blissfully unaware of the history that has granted them general economic advantages that were given and not earned. They may know that the G.I. Bill helped establish the middle class by creating a path to homeownership for veterans. Homeownership for most families greatly increased their net worth and in some cases over time led to generational wealth. What they missed was that the G.I. Bill was almost universally denied to Black veterans; even when determined eligible, lenders stood in their way to keep them from taking advantage of homeownership. Whiteness does not require acknowledgement of how things came to be. Whiteness often teaches that being white makes one entitled to certain privileges and, conversely, not being white may be a disqualification. But whiteness can be overcome, just as it can be unlearned.

The first part of unlearning whiteness is a strong dose of truth — not just for white people because all Americans have been fed the same misinformation. The purpose of teaching the truth about how America came to be is not to induce shame or guilt, but to promote a true understanding of how things came to be and that other people were denied opportunities reserved for whites alone. At least some of the newly enlightened will recognize the need to strive for equality and understand that doing nothing is not really doing nothing, but helping to maintain the status quo — and whiteness is the status quo.

There are those always seeking to dialog or begin having conversation on subject as if talking alone is a cure. The steps to eradicate whiteness include erasing the laws and policies that support it. If we do not accept the challenge of a total overhaul of the present system, then we can at least work within it to require change. It means taking the time to vet people before electing them and not rewarding intransigence with an additional term. We should require that our elected officials work together instead of just saying no. The Senate should perform its role to advise and consent in confirmation hearings as opposed to simply following party lines. The current process gives us judges selected on their ideological views as opposed to their ability to fairly apply the law. A nominee that relies on “original intent” should be immediately rejected as the original intent of the Constitution promoted whiteness.

The Supreme Court should no longer be allowed to do its work behind closed doors. Part of their ability to construct decisions that uphold whiteness is their ability to ironically do what they do in the dark. Oral arguments should be televised like other courtrooms so that excesses can be exposed. I support justices having to face questions about their decisions as do politicians and other judges without lifetime appointments.

Voter suppression must be eliminated. Republicans are doing now what Democrats did earlier. Each has quashed minority voting when it served their needs and always to support whiteness. Voter suppression is not simply requiring a photo identification to vote (although it can be). It is making polling places inconvenient for minority populations to access or creating four to six-hours long lines in urban locations. It is reducing early voting days and times; it is creating unconstitutional poll taxes as another barrier to placing a vote. It is gerrymandering and redistricting and any other method designed to produce a result other than the will of the people.

Whiteness is not inherited, it is learned. It is however influenced by peer pressure, one’s environment, and one’s willingness to acknowledge its existence. Even acknowledgement is not the cure. Whiteness is dependent on most of those who recognize it, doing nothing to stop it. Irish statesman Edmund Burke is credited with saying, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” But that is not all he said. He added, “When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.” It will take good men and women of all colors to eliminate whiteness, because the bad men have already combined.

Whiteness is not inherited, it is learned. It is also a choice that can be walked away from at any time. Like quitting smoking, it is never too late to benefit from stopping a bad habit that is hurting you. Whiteness is not the same as being white. There is nothing wrong with being white or any other color. The harm comes from believing that whiteness includes superiority and entitlement. That is what must be ended.

There is one last thing to consider, “What must happen when whiteness is gone?” Nature abhors a vacuum and when whiteness is eradicated, it follows something will take its place. That something need not be something equally unpalatable based on a different template. While the entire human family has reason to be proud of their culture; blackness, redness, or yellowness is not the replacement desired. Let concepts like equality, kindness, and respect take the place of whiteness.

Instituting these values cannot be government mandated and you don’t need a large group to begin. Let each of us open our hearts and minds and try to see our neighbors, friends, co-workers, and strangers as something more than their color. Making the world a better place starts with making your neighborhood, school, or workplace better. It begins within each of us, tossing aside the remnants of whiteness using oneness in its stead.

Oneness is a far better principle to use as a belief system. Where inequality exists, look for a solution that promotes oneness to rectify the situation. Oneness implies fairness which is hard to argue against as something any group of people deserves.

One last word to anyone either knowingly or unknowingly stuck on whiteness. Whiteness is an unsustainable model and demographics is not on your side. Recent estimates project white people will become a minority in America by the year 2025. Perpetuating whiteness while in the minority will no doubt prove problematic. A far better use of your time would be looking for ways to be inclusive rather than exclusive. Sharing power instead of using force to maintain it. You’ll find the voluntary riddance of whiteness preferable to any other way.

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This post was previously published on MEDIUM.COM.

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