How long does it take your race switch to click back to "White"?
I want to note a form of racism - what I'll term "assumption: white" - that I briefly caught sight of in myself when I attended the recent Blogher conference. "Assumption: white" is shorthand for "the assumption that someone is white when race information is absent or unknown", and I'm using this term in the context of the online (blogging) world.
First, a bit of background:
A few weeks ago I came across "John Roberts and the Threat to Roe" at the blog, I Am Dr. Laura's Worst Nightmare. Impressed with it, I added it to my linkblog (which at that time was comprised of political writings; I have since widened its scope).
As I usually do when I discover a new blog, I started clicking around I Am Dr. Laura's Worst Nightmare, reading a random selection of pieces, and, finally, before leaving the site, I investigated the blogger's biography page. There I saw a tiny photo of someone called Grace D., with her daughter, smiling for the camera. The parenthesized text read:
"Would you look at those mugs? That's my kiddo Molly Rose (blond-ish) and me (ethnic) at her middle school's Spirit Squad Benefit Car Wash. Yes, from my womb sprung a blonde cheerleader and I'm a better person for it. The girls made $389.50 on that beautiful September 2004 Saturday afternoon. They also washed a dog."Huh, I thought. Which is my standard blasé response when I read someone's biography page. (While I like to see who's writing, I myself don't provide any biographical information at this blog, and I'm aware of the irony.)
Fast-forward to the Blogher event, where I attended the "Blogs in Academia" session. Grace D. was one of the panelists. I didn't know the other two panelists, and I'd already forgotten the name "Grace D." in association with Dr. L's Nightmare, but I did recognize the blog name when she was introduced - and I had a brief moment of surprise that she was not white. And then I was surprised that I was surprised. And then I was pissed off at myself.
Thiking about it later, I realized that from the time I explored her blog (July 28, 2005), to the time of the conference (July 30), I had forgotten the biographical information about Grace D. and, in the absence of any other information, I had assumed the blogger was white. Some sort of internal switch had clicked back from "knowledge that a person is ethnic" to the "assumption: white" position. In two days.
Click (white), click (white), click (white)...
Now, what's happening here? Why should I expect any of the panelists to be white? Well, without dodging my responsibility, I think in our current society it's hard not to assume people will be white, even if you are vigilant, because white people own and control dominant forms of discourse (e.g., books, magazines, newspapers, as well as other forms, such as TV programming). The dominant group (the most powerful) usually have much less knowledge of the subordinate group's culture. (An easy example to cite: white males are everywhere on TV. People from other racial groups are given less representation, less "air time".)
My own experience also got me thinking about my blog browsing. I think white assumption corrodes my blog reading experience, as I click around and assume people are white everywhere I click. I probably make alot of other assumptions, e.g., class and sexual preference. It's all interconnected. Since white-hetereosexual-middle-aged-middle-class male is the dominant profile in our society, that group of people will filter the things I hear, see, and even touch, as well as the ideas I'm exposed to.
Assumption:white is a less obvious form of racism, because it can happen in those like myself who consider themselves aware of, and enlightened about, racism. It is also more difficult to detect in oneself. It enables the mental erasure of anyone non-white. The affects of this are far-reaching, and beyond the scope of my humble post.
Addendum
I'm very aware of this coming across as using Grace (or myself) as some sort of an object lesson in race relations, and thus reducing our human-ness. I floated the idea of writing about this subject via email with Grace, and she was kind enough to express interest, and to enthusiastically encourage me to proceed. Thank you, Grace. Grace, of course, isn't some abstract racial category, she's a person. So here are a few photos I found of her that I liked:
- Grace with doggie.
- On the "Blogs in Academia" panel, (pictured with co-panelist Lizzard Henry).
- A rather humorous photo, with Grace Davis wearing a puzzled expression.
- Grace - proudly Filipina American!
8 comments:
OMG Grace is a Filipina??? I had no freaking idea and I've read her blog for a long time and been on a phone call with her. Sheesh, I ummm will admit, I thought she was white, too.
Assumption: White is definitely an issue and it is one that I think every single person should consider.
Assumption: Straight is a problem too and sometimes a bigger problem because there's no rainbow badge that people can see when they meet you to jog their thinking. ;-)
I had a somewhat opposite experience recently. I discovered that the blogger behind Snappy the Clam is a man, and I had been assuming (and I still don't really know why) that Snappy was a woman for months. I didn't even bother to follow links to his other sites where I would have discovered quite easily that he was a man.
I think it is because he has exactly the same snarky attitude toward the elite and the power structure as I like to think I do, so I assumed he was like me.
So I think that's part of it too, then...when we relate to what someone writes we picture them in our own image?
Great post and thanks for referring me to Grace, a fellow Filipina (yep, me too)! :-)
Very interesting post. While I agree with your sentiments, I have a difficult time seeing the racism in this. It's not that I dismiss your ideas. In fact, I would like to be able to see things your way. But as human beings, isn't making assumptions part of the human experience? I usually don't think much about a blogger's racial or sexual identity when I'm reading that person's blog. And I don't necessarily think of that person as white. I usually don't think about it at all. But if I were to meet that blogger and find out she was black, I might be surprised, probably pleasantly surprised. The surprise wouldn't come from my racism, but from the fact that the writer never chose to bring it up. People usually take pride in their diversity today and I would think that she might have written a post about African-Americans in her career, or made some statement about issues important to her community. For instance, I can assume a lot about you just by what you wrote and talk about. If this ethnic blogger didn't bring up her ethnicity, that would be fine, too. In fact I would prefer that everything would be color-blind. But it isn't racist whites that are assuming everyone is white. It's that blacks, Latinos, Asians, gays, etc. have been empowered to express their unique cultures and attitudes, and when they don't, I guess I'm surprised. But racism... I think we should save that word for real racism.
Hi Denise - Thanks for your honest comment, I feel a bit better about my error. Your point about assuming everyone is heterosexual is a good 'un, too. :)
Elisa - Glad to know I'm not alone in making assumptions about bloggers (where information is absent). Cheers for that.
"when we relate to what someone writes we picture them in our own image?"
I think you're spot on here - I'm reading a book that features a dwarf and I keep forgetting this, because I so strongly empathise with her.
Hi Stephaine - Yay, Fillipinas! :) I wonder if there's any Filipina blogging network, like the APIA Blogs project that Jenn at Reappropriate recently unveiled...
Hi Neil and welcome - I appreciate your input.
I agree that I don't consciously think "this person is white, heterosexual, male" etc. when I surf blogs. But I can no longer pretend that I'm so divorced from the culture in which I live, in which white straight males are over-represented, and other groups aren't represented as much. I think it influences my assumptions that I make about people.
I take comfort in your argument that what I'm doing isn't a racism - that there are more obvious, "real" forms of racism out there - but I tend to stick by my definition of racism as anything that allows the mental erasure of non-Caucasian people.
In other words, yes, assumption: white is perhaps a less obvious form of racism, but what if I were put into a position where I was doling out money, awards, or promotions? How do you think my blindness to other racial groups would affect the very real rewards I (theoretically) would be handing out?
Your post is very helpful in that it also reminds me of something I read in a journal about "benevolent sexism". I may write a post about it now.
Cheers again for your comments, Neil.
When I was looking for "not like me" blogs for Blog Day I went looking for the Pinoys and found that they do a really great job of linking to each other. I'm not sure if there's any "specific" organizing going on but they definitely have link love. It was nice to surf so many of them all at once. I miss the Philippines! Ah to go to Shoemart, a Sari Sari store or to ride on a "tryke" to go shopping in the market... sigh!
Fabulous piece, SD.
This reminds me of my personal pet peeve - white-oriented religious art. In church, I grew up surrounded by pictures of a blonde, blue-eyed Jesus and Mary. Only Joseph, if he was pictured at all, was allowed to be dark.
Thank goodness I had some contrast at home. My grandmother, who was Roma-descended, was an artist who painted her own religious portraits, with curly wavy hair, prominant noses, black eyes and weathered, weary faces. IOW, faces like those of my Middle Eastern friends, far closer to Jesus' ethnic heritage.
It wasn't until adulthood that I began to understand the culture gap I was experiencing. South Americans and Asians all other groups see God in their own image, just like white northern europeans do. Like my grandmother did - she saw God in the dark heavy features of her own.
I think we do the same thing with bloggers with whom we identify. We see that they think and feel as we do, and in our naivette, for lack of a better word, see ourselves in them. That includes racial identity and gender, unless proven otherwise by self-identification or a photo.
What we should be seeing, rather than images of ourselves in others, is the commonality of humanity. The rest of the world may not look like us, but we have much of the same core.
It is assumed that my partner is white, and mr t is assumed to have an asian gf. People are always suprised to discover that he is not white.
Having said that, i still have the inner tendency to make similar assumptions, but I'm slowly learning.
I blame the media. We are constantly shown pictures of white families, white men, white women, white babies etc.
It wasn't until i started to read up about the whole Asian male-white female relationship that i started to think about the lack of asian males within the media.
More recently I was watching Oprah (yes i know- i was on a holiday and it was the only english program) and she was talking about some african american romantic comedy. She was talking about how it was the first film where she could see african americans doing normal things. I thought surely there are many more like that but I struggled to form a list of movies which didn't centre around gangs/or slave struggles.
Its no excuse, but it does start to explain our behaviour. I think being conscious of it though is the first step in realising it.
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