Why White is Not an Adjective

This semester I am teaching a sophomore level composition course. The course is focused toward writing about difference. As a student and instructor at university centered around sameness (in relation to visual appearance and decision making) I've noticed the urgency for spreading knowledge about diversity. And what better way to do this than through a required college course?!

As a way to ensure my students will commit to safely stepping outside of their comfort  zone, both inside and outside of the classroom, I designed an assignment titled "Listening Post." The assignment asks students to go to a venue they don't usually occupy and listen to the conversations taking place around them. I encourage students to initiate a conversation with someone, but only if they are willing. After observing a few conversations the students are then supposed to write an informal journal entry reporting how this venue is different from their norm, compare the conversations to ones they would usually have with their peers, and reflect on how they experienced diversity.

My intentions with this assignment are for my students to gain a broader understanding/definition of diversity. They, like most people, believe diversity only exists if multiple races are involved. People often times fail to see that there can be diversity in gender, thinking, social characteristics, and cultures. Diversity isn't just a visual marker.

The first round of journals were a little rough. The students overlooked the "listening" part of the assignment and turned it in to people watching. While they did successful immerse themselves in diverse situations and even initiated a few conversations, they failed to realize that in most cases they were the representation of diversity.

Most of my students do not view themselves as different and have NEVER EVER been considered a minority (by their own definition). The majority of them are White who attend a predominantly White university, and come from predominantly White neighborhoods. And all of them are victims of White privilege (yes, I meant to say victims).

Like I mentioned earlier, the students turned the assignment into a chance to observe people, rather than listening. So even though they occupied new venues the majority of the people their were white and did not seem any different from them. Those who actually listened to conversations did find differences, especially when talking to older individuals. But some did not mention any sight of difference until they scanned the room and laid eyes on a person of color.

Along with describing the overheard conversation and drawing bigger implications from it, students were asked to describe their surroundings as well. What I was looking for was a description of how big/small, noisy, busy, etc. the place was. What I got was "a group of people, who appeared to be friends, were sitting together having lunch. One of the guys was really cute, he seemed uptight. Some looked like they were couples. A woman with a dog was sitting across from an Asian man. They seemed to just talk to each other most of the time. The cute guy paid for the meal."

I think it is safe to assume that everyone, other than the Asian man, was White. But why is it that their race was not described? And more importantly why is it that I assume, and was right, that they were White? Could they not have been Black and/or Hispanic? Do these individuals not go out in groups too? Why was this man different? The girl was a dog in a restaurant seems to be the most different to me, why not to my student?

After reading enough entries with this common trend I pointed it out to my class. Their quiet, confused reactions gave me the impression that they had not even noticed they were doing this, and sadly did not seen anything wrong with it. Which means it's normal to draw attention to the colored oddball. And more specifically if you're not White then you're not normal.

Over the years slavery, discrimination, inequality, and injustice have engrained in us that White is the norm. White is the blueprint and the rest of us are of lesser value because we deviated from the plan. White should not be the criterion for being an American, a valid member of society, or a person of significance. Which is why White is not used as an adjective; why describe something that is typical?

I've heard people of color use White as an adjective before, but more often than not I've heard them point out everyone's race. We put labels on other people because labels are ALWAYS placed on us. Perhaps this is because we are used to being viewed as different and reflect this view on others. But among Whites and institutions White is not used as an adjective. Which is probably because racism is institutional in our society and the head of that institution is the White male.

After being bombarded with this trend from my students I started noticing it in other places. Currently there is a continuing movement towards publicizing police brutally. After Michael Browns tragic fatality by the hands of "a Ferguson police officer," almost every occurrence of death by cop (especially among young males) has been widely circulated. Most of these stories read in the same way I described Mike Brown's story, "Another Black male was killed by a police officer."

But yesterday I came across an article that read "A Black male was killed by a Black police officer in Louisiana." I immediately thought, why wasn't the race of previous officers advertised in other news articles. Well of course it is because they were White. Not only is it normal for a White police officer to kill a young black man (Eric Garner, John Crawford, Ezell Ford, to name a few recent ones), but it is normal for police officers to be White. Have you ever noticed how African American males disproportionately represent the prison system and how White males disproportionately represent the criminal justice system? Exactly! The officer in Louisiana's race was only disclosed because he is different, which makes the situation different. (I'll dive deeper into this in another blog post).

I am not saying that we should start describing White people by their race either. There are so many other characteristics you can describe a person by, their race should never come up, unless it is absolutely relevant. However, describing the man across from you as White, Black, Asian, etc. is unnecessary. Why does it matter? Does it change their status, their purpose, their value? It shouldn't!

I want all people to realize that they are different from others, in various ways. And in doing so we will discover that there is no so called norm when it comes to being a person of value, which ideally would lead to equality. However, until the privilege of White is discontinued and it becomes an adjective this goal will not be within reach.