“The monumental cognitive task of processing the millions of pieces of information that flood us daily requires that we sort and categorize.”
I agree here that this is a survival skill and, on the face of it, neutral. The problem is that we then use the sorting/categorization not just as identity but as threat-analysis. White people are our friends; people of color are likely antagonistic and unwilling to compromise with us like white people do. The identity is not only what they look like, but what they represent, even though that representation is largely imagined.
“One way people differ from animals, however, is the way we use symbols to make meaning of the world around us. This idea helped me understand why a little thing like a logo could sway me so quickly toward or away from a product.”
I found this fascinating to think about. And I think we do this more and more easily as we see more and more people. Something in us confirms our beliefs, and it’s easier, every time, to make that judgment. And for me, the unlearning and the breaking of those judgments is damned hard. It’s thoroughly a part of me—as Ms. Irving says later, how could I expect not to be an actual racist given how society spent so much effort to make me one?
“But what about when I turn an actual human being into a symbol, a logo, complete with a fully formed narrative?”
The reminder here is, again, that the value of people should be more important than the value of our systems. But we, and I include myself here most especially, think in symbols because it is easier and we can be confident that our quick judgments and assignment to a logo makes it easier to process information. I never think twice about locking my car doors in town. I do in downtown Seattle and in certain parts of Seattle because it makes sense. The part of me that says “because it makes sense” has no information why it makes sense. But my emotions and my judgments argue loudly, every time, to check the locks when I drive further south than Airport Way. Whether I do or not isn’t even the issue. It’s that my mind has picked up information from somewhere and has turned it into judgment.
“Sociologist Allan Johnson says, ‘If there’s a word for something, we’re much more likely to ‘see’ it and treat it as real.’”
I really liked this point. I’ve said elsewhere and earlier that we don’t really think in words per se, but that when we have a word, we eagerly use it to collect things that are identified by it.
“Limiting the slave population to just black-skinned people subsequently reduced white America’s association of word and person to a single, skin-color-coded narrative.”
I was glad to see this laid out like this. I don’t know if this is actual facts or just an educated guess, but it matches my educated guess. 
It might be entirely wrong, and so I’ll need further research, but I’ve suspected for a long time that what was once unremarkable beyond a physical attribute became a way to easily identify those of us humans who are classified as our natural servants. European art from the medieval times and into the Renaissance show black Africans mingling in European society. It was the promulgation of race codes and racial identities that turned black Africans into objects rather than as fully equal humans interacting in society. (And yeah, I see the irony of agreeing with an educated guess as symbol of my own need to use symbols and logos in place of deeper analysis.)
“In an effort to weaken the logo effect of the word ‘slave,’ many racial justice educators and descendants of those enslaved have changed the language from ‘slave’ to ‘enslaved African’ to convey the label as an act done to others, not as an inherent identity. Words matter.”
I first came upon this idea a few years ago, from people I respect, and I agree with removing words that put the onus upon the labeled. I don’t say “slave”; I say “enslaved.” I don’t say “plantation”; I say “prison camp” or “labor camp.” I don’t say “white slave-owners”; I say “white slavers.” I no longer say only “Founding Fathers”; I say “Founding Slavers.” Black Africans had no agency in their enslavement. Not a one of them chose to be enslaved; not a one of them chose to be born into perpetual slavery; not a one of them chose to be treated as objects and animals; not a one of them wanted a crippled religion and a stern white God who ordained white men as their masters. It takes away from the cachet of white innocence about white-run prison camps with the images of mint juleps and porticoes and fine white linen. The prosperity of white slavers was due entirely to the forced, uncompensated labor and bodies stolen from black Africans. There is not a single redeeming thing about chattel slavery and about American’s entwined history with prosperity and stolen labor and bodies. Rather than romanticize the past that existed for a class of white people, better to call things by their names, not their logos.
“I find it easy to label people who aren’t white—he’s Hispanic, she’s black, they’re Asian—but until recently, I’ve not labeled white people.”
This is the most salient thing we “know” about people: their race, perhaps tied with gender. Sure, it reduces people to logos, but it’s quick. I think this is one reason that racial conciliation and gender fluidity is so scary to a lot of people—it lets people define their own selves in ways that don’t fit into our boxes..
“When I think of the way I label African Americans, Asian Americans, and Native Americans, I wonder why I never thought it strange not to also say German American, Greek American, or even a generic European American.”
I grew up knowing I was a mix between my English father and my German mother, and identified more with my German side as my “ethnic” side. But I can’t remember ever thinking that our social circle was “German.” We were Americans with some interesting cultural values. I’ve visited Germany to see my grandparents, and Austria to visit friends of my mom. I’ve never visited England beyond stops at Heathrow. Just a general “American” with some flavors. But I have to be frank, yes, it seems easy for me to categorize us European Americans as just “Americans,” and yet categorize our American family from Africa, Asia, and indigenous as hyphenated. The response to this doesn’t seem to be that we stop letting people be identified as hyphenated; it seems to be more that we understand what we did when we made “European American” as the default & non-hyphenated, and then demanded that everyone else subsume their identities and become like us, the “us” who has no identity and no culture beyond baseball and hot dogs and apple pie.
“Not having a label for white people reinforced for me the idea that white populations are the norm, raceless and ethnicity-less.”
This is really key. Nothing will get a white American more annoyed than to point out that they are a white American with white American values and culture, symbols and words, beliefs and character. A white American stands out overseas in ways that emphasize whiteness and Americanness.
“People of color get labels, complete with narratives and stereotypes.”
So true here. We do make up stories—maybe not on the spot—and we use the stories and the narratives to justify our actions as well as to direct our actions.
“My personal interactions and real experiences with people of color are far outweighed by the negative images that have saturated my data field through the media.”
This is the despair I face, that every morning I start anew with my commitment to justice and to fairness.
“Though today I am still taken aback by intrusive racialized thoughts, it’s happening less often, and I no longer find them bewildering or judge myself for them. How could I live in a racially organized society and not have filed away racial stereotypes?”
This is a key point—while we certainly did choose in some way to be like this, to be white-centered and white-blinded, the choice was almost inevitable given the enormous systemic pressures to conform to whiteness.
“Though I’ve gone through most of my life not identifying myself as white, I’ve learned that people of color do in fact see me as white.”
I had a wake-up call when a friend made a comment about the latest shenanigans in popular culture. “Just your WPS,” they said. I didn’t know what that acronym stood for, so I asked. “White People [Stuff].” It’s been interesting to take part in entertainment with my friends and to see through (dimly) the lens that they have. Popular TV shows are emphatically white. Popular movies are, even to the point of recasting characters who are BBIPOC into white people with all new white motivations. My friends see me as white, which is uncomfortable, but it is what I’m identified with, and trying to see things through their lens helps me better unwind myself from my own ensnarement with whiteness.
Questions
What have you filed away?
Create a column that contains these labels: African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, Jews, Latinos, Muslims, Whites. Next to each, quickly write at least five stereotypes that come to mind for each. Do not pause, censor, or correct; rather, let emerge what will. Now look at what you’ve written.
| Identity | Stereotype |
| African American | Separate, unknowable, secret, tight, observant |
| Asian American | United, family, motivated, capitalist, educated |
| Native American | Unknowable, distant, interesting, reserved, ritualistic |
| Jews | Hard-working, confident, unafraid, bonded, founders |
| Muslims | Quiet, separated, earnest, family, hopeful |
| Whites | Unobservant, incurious, expectant, brash, demanding |
Does it surprise you?
It surprises me that my ideas that African Americans and Muslims have the least acceptance in white America (to my experience) and that I see them as careful and separated. I can say that my estimation of African Americans as unknowable is from my earliest memories of reading/watching the Civil Rights struggle and just not understanding what I was reading/seeing. How could anyone just not be treated well?
What was the key difference?
I grew up around white people, and have lived in the white world for decades. It has taken deliberate, focused work to expand my vision and my circle. My suppositions and prejudices are still there, but I am growing more aware of them, and like the author, am more able to see them and turn them away.
If you are white, do you have any stereotypes for whites?
Yep, and they’ve shifted over the years, from simple “there is no stereotype” to “incurious and not wanting to learn.” My stereotype includes the assurance that whites can succeed with minimal effort because they’re white.
Why do you think this is?
I see white people as I see me. I spent 5/6 of my life incurious and yet successful. People around me without my privileges could not succeed at all with the same low qualifications as I have. I believe I can do anything, and I’ve done so.
For context on this series, see my kick-off post here:
To follow along with the others, see also:
Di Brown “Nixie” at https://dianabrown.net/blog-challenge-waking-up-white/
This chapter: https://dianabrown.net/waking-up-white-chapter-16/
Dawn Claflin at https://dawnclaflin.wordpress.com/
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