What does it mean to be white?
Thirty-five students attempted to answer this and other questions relating to race Tuesday night at "Conceptualizing Whiteness," a dialogue sponsored by the Center for Race Relations. The dialogue is the second installment in a series of events that comprise The Center for Race Relations Week.
The center's co-director Charisse Williams began the dialogue by setting ground rules to help promote respectful yet open-minded discussion. Hollen Reischer, a coordinator of the week's events, then organized a warm-up exercise where students were asked to show whether they agreed or disagreed with a number of statements about racial issues, such as "My race is a source of personal pride."
Guest speaker E. Polly Weiss, a cross-cultural relations specialist for the Duke University Health System office for institutional equity, then provided a personal anecdote as a lead-in to a discussion of the implications of forming a white identity.
Weiss provided several examples of how she became aware of her identity as a white, Jewish, American and how it influenced her life. She once worked for an AIDS group in the South Bronx and stood out so much that she would shout "white lady coming through" as she walked to work. She described her experience in Madison, Wisc., where she was told not to look for housing in a particular neighborhood because black people lived there.
"It's really important for white people to think about the significance of being white," she said.
The discussion then turned to America's involvement in racial issues. Weiss drew a large circle representing the white population of America which enclosed three much smaller circles representing white supremacist groups, critical race theorists and anti-racism activists. "These three groups are doing something about race, but what about all these people?" Weiss asked, shading in the large mass of empty space outside of the small circles. "[Race] is just not something we're encouraged to think about."
One student asked where a person should be placed on the diagram if they have thought about race and have anti-racist thoughts but choose not to take a side. Weiss responded by saying that that non-action was no help to alleviating problems of racism. "I don't think people who are staying in their comfort zone are morally repugnant," she said. "But the bottom line is unless we actively try to end racism, it is not going to end."
Weiss then had students break up into two groups, one of students who felt they benefited from "white privilege" and one of students who did not. The non-privilege group discussed the pressure of conforming to a minority society, discovering problems with racism at Duke they did not find at home and whether people who do not see themselves as white still benefit from "white privilege."
The "white privilege" group discussed the difference between "white" and "black," inequities in contemporary society and how "white privilege" could lead to "white guilt."
Senior Dinah Hannaford, a facilitator for the discussion, discussed the difficulties associated with privilege. "It's hard to find pride in your privilege because what privilege means is you haven't earned it," she said.
Williams, a sophomore, said she appreciated the perspective Weiss provided, but she added it did not represent the center's views. "She's a controversial speaker and she served as a catalyst for discussion," she said.
Co-director Jason Webster, a senior, provided his own opinions on the status of race relations at Duke.
"It's like a sixth grade crush where two people want to talk to each other but no one wants to make the first move and then they don't talk," he said. "This could be a first step towards improving those relations."
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