Whiteness Studies

I have been in Japan and Hong Kong, but have only knowingly seen a few Koreans. I contemplated marrying a Japanese girl who worked at an embassy in Tokyo. And, my next door neighbor is from Japan. From what I have seen, Asians, even in their own countries, vary considerably. There are some big differences in certain Japanese, because of differences in ancestry. As big as China is, I am certain many or most Chinese do not look like the ones I met in Hong Kong. Bearing this in mind, I tried to associate the faces with people I have actually seen more than a couple of times. Turned out good.

Sorry; I removed this post for personal reasons.

Has he told you he's being standoffish because of your momentary mixup, or has that whole drama happened in your head? Maybe he just doesn't like you? And if what you describe is the reality of the situation, you have an excellent opportunity to be the bigger person, pull the black guy aside who's being friendly with the Nazi memorabilia collector, and just tell him what is going on. Unless, of course, you're enjoying all the juicy irony - in which case I guess you'll all continue to work there in a sort of surreality.

Well, I didn't score because I couldn't take the test. I signed up three times and got errors. So let's say I did perfectly, but then so what?

I have to say I don't understand racial distinctions, in terms of forms. I would be for not having it matter on forms, if only it didn't, re certain redressing situations... When I was in my late teens in the late 50's, I worked as an admissions clerk in a hospital in California, typing up admissions pages as people checked in. We checked boxes for race. We had four choices, which are hard to remember, but I think they were Caucasian, Negro, Oriental, Indian (as in american native). I know for sure there was no choice for Hispanic. I'll have to ask a friend if she remembers anything further. There was a level of guessing about it, and I cannot conjecture what the reason at the time would have been for having that on the admissions form. Nothing to do with room allocation or anything like that because I did that too, a year later; the beds were allocated on a system about the doctors and their ratings re surgical beds, etc. The doctors were all white men, except for one or two.

That fifties' form was pre-ethnic checkboxes in the US.

All these years later I am well aware that the world population makes up one big feuding family. I wish we would stop feuding generally, hate to see hatreds keep roiling on. I'd rather have that come to pass by education of us all about each other than by consecutive demolition.

I do know history has been skewed in our classrooms. Not to whitewash it, eh!, but winners usually do the scriptwriting, though of course, not always.

I have removed this post for personal reasons.

I think it would be a terrible idea to tell the black guy about the Nazi collector. Let them interact as they do. It would cause a brouhaha of awful proportions.

Maybe the friendship will change Nazi collector's mind. Even if not--edgar would come off looking like he was trying to start something.

Sweetcomplication-- What do you think should have been said in this thread that wasn't?

I hear you, edgar, and sorry if I pushed a little, there. I have some dramas going on at my workplace, as well.

All is never as it seems.

Sofia asked:

Sweetcomplication-- What do you think should have been said in this thread that wasn't?


uh oh, so Sofia is the only one not to let my emotions just slip by w/o comment . . . Sofia, thank you for asking. As usual, my feelings seem to carry the day for me; all heart, no brains, I guess. What I wanted to see was a truly deep back-and-forth discussion about race relations, especially regarding black/white, since that is how I interpreted the initial post here. What I saw was a lot of joking digression, almost no on-topic interplay, about a subject I find extremely important to us all: our attitudes, how conscious and how subconscious they are; perhaps some open, even vulnerable, posts regarding the addressing and redressing of various problems in the U.S. regarding "whiteness".

Well, you asked . . . and, on balance, even if I get jumped on, I'm grateful that you did!

That's true. There are very few "typicals" in that test. I think for some reason they want you to think they all look the same.

I don't think anyone will jump on you, sweet.

The lack of deeper discussion may be due to how often the subject is entertained here. I think most posters agreed with the need for true history to be intergrated in to the main curriculum, and thought Whiteness Studies would help with racial sensitivity. I guess there wasn't much else to say with all the agreement. Just my take.

But, hey. Pick an aspect of the topic, and go with it. :wink:

To each their own opinion, for sure. Sofia thinks the lack of heartfelt exchange is due to over visiting the subject. I think it's reticence because of underlying issues, and that the subject hardly ever gets breached.

Well, instead of talking about why it's not talked about...talk about it.
What do you want to say?

There are many subjects centering on racial issues.

Breach it any way you like, snood. Let's see how the discussion progresses. c.ii.

I have "breached" it, and will again- exactly when and exactly how I want to. - and I was answering SC's post,Sofia. Your first post in this thread was to challenge me to answer my own opening post. and then we went through the "no, you tell your opinion first" thing. Now you're commenting on my answer to another poster about why the posts haven't seemed to come up to what she wanted. I sense control issues.

That is pretty much what I meant to say when I used the following words: that I wished we had delved into "our attitudes, how conscious and how subconscious they are; perhaps some open, even vulnerable, posts regarding the addressing and redressing of various problems in the U.S. regarding "whiteness". "

Thank you, Snood.

It's not easy being Green.
by the Little Green Guy

I think I ate my family tree
while still a wee little broccoli,
at this political party I attended
so g'leafily!

Now I've grown into a big floret
with my own seeds of government,
even if the tree bears no crop
just yet.

May the race go to the colorful end,
so yes, most affirmatively spend!
It's not what you do, but what digests you,
my good vegetarian friend.

You are what you eat
and your words, like me, are such broccoli,
for we are all Green
in the leafy end.

Consider, if you will, that you came here expecting a certain response--either you did not get the response you wanted, and are aggravated as a result; or, what i consider more likely, you have gotten the response you expected, that response is unsatisfactory, and you are now please to be confirmed in the expectation. I rather believe you came here expecting that people would not show what you consider an appropriate enthusiasm for the subject, and now that you are gratified to learn it, you will offer various interpretations regarding the "reticence because of underlying issues."

And that kind of expectation is never satisfied. c.i.

I think Horowitz is wrong, as he usually is, about what a whiteness study does. What it does do is make the white person aware of the power and influence of appearance. Merely being white offers advantages that your average white guy doesn't even think about, as being able to enter any store without scrutiny, as applying for a loan with the expectation of acceptance, as having the ability to get decent service at Denny's.