By Daniel B. Holzman-Tweed

The idea that “whiteness” as an identity is something that an individual can choose to embrace or reject is purely a product of white privilege.

It is philosophically founded on identity as the product of individual choice rather than societal assignment. The idea is itself manifestly false. I am white not because I have chosen to be white, but because society has coded me as white. I am white because, being coded as white, I am afforded white privilege.[1]

Part of the white privilege I am afforded is the ability to ignore the fact that I am afforded white privilege in a thousand ways every day, even if I explicitly act to nullify every aspect of white privilege under my control. Cops will not pull me over for driving while black if I reject my whiteness. Employers will not quietly discriminate against me if I reject my whiteness. I won’t start getting worse service in stores, or followed around be security, if I reject my whiteness. ad infinitum, ad nauseum.

I also won’t suddenly stop having the racist attitudes that come as a consequence of having the privilege of not understanding all the privileges I am afforded. I won’t suddenly stop exercising the privileges I exercise by reflex because I don’t realize they’re the product of privilege. That stuff is the product of work, and I cannot do that work if I don’t explicitly acknowledge that I am coded as white and shine a spotlight on it each and every time it tries to crawl into a corner and operate unseen.

All that happens if I reject my whiteness is I get to feel good about myself because I’m pretending to strike a blow for racial justice when in reality all I’m doing is complying with white supremacy and hiding it with a thin coat of paint, secure in the knowledge that not one consequence of being coded non-white that befalls people of color every day will come to my doorstep. The racetraitor folks put themselves at more risk when they can, but to be a racetraitor is to specifically embrace being white.[2]

That’s white privilege. It’s white privilege because it perpetuates white privilege. It’s white privilege because people of color don’t get to pretend they’re not coded as people of color. That’s a good way to get killed, and that’s no exaggeration even in this day and age.

[1] Because I am Jewish, there are times and places where I was specifically coded as “not-white.” In those times and places, specific structures such as the judenstern and ghettos were instituted to get around my people’s light skin. The United States in the twenty-first century is not one of those places, so let’s have no foolishness on that front.

[2] Else, what is there to betray?

Via deunkingwhite

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