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Does your whiteness make you uncomfortable?

(Multiple choice options) As a white person. . .

  • being white is uncomfortable for me.

    Votes: 1 2.2%

  • as a white person I need help to discuss social issues.

    Votes: 1 2.2%

  • I would appreciate a seminar to teach me how to discuss social issues.

    Votes: 2 4.4%

  • none of this ever occurred to me.

    Votes: 29 64.4%

  • Other that I will explain in my post.

    Votes: 15 33.3%
  • Total voters
    45
AlbqOwl

AlbqOwl

DP Veteran
Joined
Jan 12, 2005
Messages
23,580
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12,388
Location
New Mexico
Gender
Female
Political Leaning
Independent
Sometimes I think academia has lost its mind.

Now I don't get up in the morning thinking about being white, nor does that cross my mind at all during the day unless I happen to read or watch something about race. It certainly never occurred to me that I needed help with dealing with my 'whiteness'.

But nevertheless, there is this piece re the University of Michigan this month:

Excerpt:
[FONT=&quot]A two-day professional development conference held recently at the University of Michigan included a training session that aimed to help white employees deal with their “whiteness” so they could become better equipped to fight for social justice causes, according to organizers.

[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Participants who took part in the “Conversations on Whiteness” session, held December 5 during the university’s Student Life Professional Development Conference, were taught to “recognize the difficulties they face when talking about social justice issues related to their White identity, explore this discomfort, and devise ways to work through it,” the university’s website states. . .​
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/40145/

So how about it you folks who check 'white' or 'caucasian' on your census form? Does that bother you a lot? Do you feel a great deal of discomfort being white and at the same time talking about social justice issues? Would this seminar appeal to you?[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]

[/FONT]
 
AlbqOwl said:
Sometimes I think academia has lost its mind.

Now I don't get up in the morning thinking about being white, nor does that cross my mind at all during the day unless I happen to read or watch something about race. It certainly never occurred to me that I needed help with dealing with my 'whiteness'.

But nevertheless, there is this piece re the University of Michigan this month:

Excerpt:
[FONT="]A two-day professional development conference held recently at the University of Michigan included a training session that aimed to help white employees deal with their “whiteness” so they could become better equipped to fight for social justice causes, according to organizers.

[/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#333333][FONT="]Participants who took part in the “Conversations on Whiteness” session, held December 5 during the university’s Student Life Professional Development Conference, were taught to “recognize the difficulties they face when talking about social justice issues related to their White identity, explore this discomfort, and devise ways to work through it,” the university’s website states. . .​
[/FONT]
[FONT="]http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/40145/

[FONT=Verdana]So how about it you folks who check 'white' or 'caucasian' on your census form? Does that bother you a lot? Do you feel a great deal of discomfort being white and at the same time talking about social justice issues? Would this seminar appeal to you?[/FONT][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#333333][FONT="]

[/FONT]
Click to expand...


I never check any of those boxes as anything at all.

If you're uncomfortable, don't attend.
 
AlbqOwl said:
Sometimes I think academia has lost its mind.

Now I don't get up in the morning thinking about being white, nor does that cross my mind at all during the day unless I happen to read or watch something about race. It certainly never occurred to me that I needed help with dealing with my 'whiteness'.

But nevertheless, there is this piece re the University of Michigan this month:

Excerpt:
[FONT="]A two-day professional development conference held recently at the University of Michigan included a training session that aimed to help white employees deal with their “whiteness” so they could become better equipped to fight for social justice causes, according to organizers.

[/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#333333][FONT="]Participants who took part in the “Conversations on Whiteness” session, held December 5 during the university’s Student Life Professional Development Conference, were taught to “recognize the difficulties they face when talking about social justice issues related to their White identity, explore this discomfort, and devise ways to work through it,” the university’s website states. . .​
[/FONT]
[FONT="]http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/40145/

[FONT=Verdana]So how about it you folks who check 'white' or 'caucasian' on your census form? Does that bother you a lot? Do you feel a great deal of discomfort being white and at the same time talking about social justice issues? Would this seminar appeal to you?[/FONT][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#333333][FONT="]

[/FONT]
Click to expand...

I'm white. My whiteness does not make me uncomfortable. I just happen to be white. That's it.
 
I voted Other: totally makes me uncomfortable when I sunburn.
 
AlbqOwl said:
LOL. I think you missed the point of the conference. :)
Click to expand...

They don't seem to care what you think, they're not asking you to attend, you're going to have to find a way to go on apparently.
 
the day i have to apologize for my skin color is the day i think i give up on the human race

i was taught that it isnt the packaging, but the ingredients that count

and i have met and worked with good people all of colors

and i have met and worked with bigots that were white and black

some traits we can control....compassion, kindness, and such

some we are born with and have zero control over....skin color and basic intelligence

lets all use the intelligence part....the rest becomes easier
 
Fenton Lum said:
They don't seem to care what you think, they're not asking you to attend, you're going to have to find a way to go on apparently.
Click to expand...

Again you seem to be missing the point.
 
gdgyva said:
the day i have to apologize for my skin color is the day i think i give up on the human race

i was taught that it isnt the packaging, but the ingredients that count

and i have met and worked with good people all of colors

and i have met and worked with bigots that were white and black

some traits we can control....compassion, kindness, and such

some we are both with and have zero control over....skin color and basic intelligence

lets all use the intelligence part....the rest becomes easier
Click to expand...

So I take it you don't see your skin color as a handicap when it comes to discussing certain issues?
 
I also do not check any boxes for race in census or wherever... though I am fairly confident I would be classified as white by most if not everyone.

I don't give myself the slightest thought in reference to me being white, unless it's a race discussion is specifically brought up... I do not have any pride for being white... I do not find other white people my allies just because they are white....I actually do not "identify" with being white, the term means nothing to me... though I do know what it means

If I was standing next to an complete stranger asian person, black person and a white person... I wouldn't feel any less or more comfortable to any one particular person, unless there is some sort of obvious language barrier. In the end I just really, to the core of my being don't give a **** when it comes to my skin color and personal interactions... and people who do, are annoying...

And I find that's how people should be, and if you are not like that, you should strive and work hard to be. In my experience, a lot of minority ethnic groups , like black people, have a real hard time with this... they even have their own vocabulary they regard each other with based entirely on skin color... Though I understand why culturally that has come to be.... doesn't make it any less wrong in my eyes..
 
Last edited:
AlbqOwl said:
So I take it you don't see your skin color as a handicap when it comes to discussing certain issues?
Click to expand...

never has been....but who knows

maybe i havent had the right conversation yet
 
I was born white; guess I'm stuck wit dat ............ no, doesn't make me uncomfortable .................
 
AlbqOwl said:
Sometimes I think academia has lost its mind.

Now I don't get up in the morning thinking about being white, nor does that cross my mind at all during the day unless I happen to read or watch something about race. It certainly never occurred to me that I needed help with dealing with my 'whiteness'.

But nevertheless, there is this piece re the University of Michigan this month:

Excerpt:
[FONT="]A two-day professional development conference held recently at the University of Michigan included a training session that aimed to help white employees deal with their “whiteness” so they could become better equipped to fight for social justice causes, according to organizers.

[/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#333333][FONT="]Participants who took part in the “Conversations on Whiteness” session, held December 5 during the university’s Student Life Professional Development Conference, were taught to “recognize the difficulties they face when talking about social justice issues related to their White identity, explore this discomfort, and devise ways to work through it,” the university’s website states. . .​
[/FONT]
[FONT="]http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/40145/

[FONT=Verdana]So how about it you folks who check 'white' or 'caucasian' on your census form? Does that bother you a lot? Do you feel a great deal of discomfort being white and at the same time talking about social justice issues? Would this seminar appeal to you?[/FONT][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#333333][FONT="]

[/FONT]
Click to expand...

My white friends and relatives don't have a problem with me being white. My son's black girlfriend doesn't have a problem with me being white. My Japanese sister-in-law doesn't have a problem with me being white. Her kids don't have a problem with me being white.

I guess it's a good thing I don't have a problem being white.
 
gdgyva said:
never has been....but who knows

maybe i havent had the right conversation yet
Click to expand...

LOL. I think you've been around on DP alone long enough to have pretty much had all the conversations anybody can think of on the topic of race. But this one was a new one on me. It never occurred to me that my skin color should make me uncomfortable talking about anything. :)
 
AlbqOwl said:
LOL. I think you've been around on DP alone long enough to have pretty much had all the conversations anybody can think of on the topic of race. But this one was a new one on me. It never occurred to me that my skin color should make me uncomfortable talking about anything. :)
Click to expand...

In the eyes of the whiteness police.... You should feel uncomfortable because you have the original sin of your ancestors being mean in the past.... so these classes are for you to realize, yea you are a piece of **** for just existing... but we'll give you a chance to right your existence by kneeling before those who do not share your skin color and fight other white people who don't realize they are pieces of **** for breathing.
 
Lursa said:
I voted Other: totally makes me uncomfortable when I sunburn.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's the one downside I have from the Irish in me. But I'm the luckiest (several generations removed) son of the Emerald Isle that's ever lived. I could teach the leprechauns a thing or two about being wonderfully, stupidly lucky.
 
AlbqOwl said:
So I take it you don't see your skin color as a handicap when it comes to discussing certain issues?
Click to expand...

Good grief.

When is my skin color a handicap when discussing issues? When it comes to knowing what it's like to BE a different color, to be a downtrodden racial minority in a nation that treated me first as a slave, then as a second-class citizen, and then only for the last quarter of its existence allowed me to be equal to everyone else. And then America elected a white nationalist to the White House.

Does it offend you that non-whites might see things that way?

However - and to more directly address your question - when it comes to my own "whiteness", it's made things much easier for me - I've experienced "white privilege" many times. Travel overseas and it's even harder to miss. That's just how it is. BUT it does give me one great advantage - I'm able to use that privilege to help build other people up, to give them opportunities and outlooks and understandings that they might not otherwise have had.
 
Mycroft said:
My white friends and relatives don't have a problem with me being white. My son's black girlfriend doesn't have a problem with me being white. My Japanese sister-in-law doesn't have a problem with me being white. Her kids don't have a problem with me being white.

I guess it's a good thing I don't have a problem being white.
Click to expand...

Yes, I come from a mixed race/ethnicity as well as a broadly ecumenical family too and I think we have all the various combinations represented among our social circles too. And I can't think of any who are uncomfortable with being who or what they are. So the idea of attending a seminar to be able to deal with my discomfort at discussing certain issues because of my skin color (or gender, or sexual orientation, or religion, or sociopolitical ideology, etc.) is completely foreign to me.

The only hindrance to discussing anything is that now and then you do encounter those who cannot discuss this or that topic rationally or without prejudice or overreaction.
 
Glen Contrarian said:
Good grief.

When is my skin color a handicap when discussing issues? When it comes to knowing what it's like to BE a different color, to be a downtrodden racial minority in a nation that treated me first as a slave, then as a second-class citizen, and then only for the last quarter of its existence allowed me to be equal to everyone else. And then America elected a white nationalist to the White House.

Does it offend you that non-whites might see things that way?

However - and to more directly address your question - when it comes to my own "whiteness", it's made things much easier for me - I've experienced "white privilege" many times. Travel overseas and it's even harder to miss. That's just how it is. BUT it does give me one great advantage - I'm able to use that privilege to help build other people up, to give them opportunities and outlooks and understandings that they might not otherwise have had.
Click to expand...

This thread is not about white privilege or white nationalism unless you are uncomfortable as a white person dealing with those or any other topics. Please reread the OP and address the questions there and in the poll. Thank you very much. Your own skin color either does or does not make YOU uncomfortable discussing certain topics and this thread is about whether members are uncomfortable as a white person discussing certain topics. Anything else is non sequitur to the thread.
 
AlbqOwl said:
Sometimes I think academia has lost its mind.

Now I don't get up in the morning thinking about being white, nor does that cross my mind at all during the day unless I happen to read or watch something about race. It certainly never occurred to me that I needed help with dealing with my 'whiteness'.

But nevertheless, there is this piece re the University of Michigan this month:

Excerpt:
[FONT="]A two-day professional development conference held recently at the University of Michigan included a training session that aimed to help white employees deal with their “whiteness” so they could become better equipped to fight for social justice causes, according to organizers.

[/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#333333][FONT="]Participants who took part in the “Conversations on Whiteness” session, held December 5 during the university’s Student Life Professional Development Conference, were taught to “recognize the difficulties they face when talking about social justice issues related to their White identity, explore this discomfort, and devise ways to work through it,” the university’s website states. . .​
[/FONT]
[FONT="]http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/40145/

[FONT=Verdana]So how about it you folks who check 'white' or 'caucasian' on your census form? Does that bother you a lot? Do you feel a great deal of discomfort being white and at the same time talking about social justice issues? Would this seminar appeal to you?[/FONT][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#333333][FONT="]

[/FONT]
Click to expand...

Most seem to think that not being White would make them feel uncomfortable.
 
AlbqOwl said:
This thread is not about white privilege or white nationalism unless you are uncomfortable as a white person dealing with those or any other topics. Please reread the OP and address the questions there and in the poll. Thank you very much. Your own skin color either does or does not make YOU uncomfortable discussing certain topics and this thread is about whether members are uncomfortable as a white person discussing certain topics. Anything else is non sequitur to the thread.
Click to expand...

Oh, it applies to this thread all right. Whatever your wording may have been, the intent behind your posting of this thread is pretty doggone obvious.
 
AlbqOwl said:
This thread is not about white privilege or white nationalism unless you are uncomfortable as a white person dealing with those or any other topics. Please reread the OP and address the questions there and in the poll. Thank you very much. Your own skin color either does or does not make YOU uncomfortable discussing certain topics and this thread is about whether members are uncomfortable as a white person discussing certain topics. Anything else is non sequitur to the thread.
Click to expand...

I wasn’t sure why anyone would feel uncomfortable about being White.
 
celticwar17 said:
In the eyes of the whiteness police.... You should feel uncomfortable because you have the original sin of your ancestors being mean in the past.... so these classes are for you to realize, yea you are a piece of **** for just existing... but we'll give you a chance to right your existence by kneeling before those who do not share your skin color and fight other white people who don't realize they are pieces of **** for breathing.
Click to expand...

Well there is that. The currently fashionable doctrine of shaming for being a white person in a white majority country or having certain advantages like two parents in the home when you were growing up, music lessons, access to a decent education, spinach on the dinner table. Stuff like that.

Do you think that is what the seminar was likely all about? And not as it is advertised to help people deal with their discomfort in being white so that they can more effectively combat social injustice or whatever?
 
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