This White boy is proud of his whiteness and it is my hope that I encourage more of my White brothers and sisters to be proud of it too! For you see, as I talked about in my last article, there is indeed a White culture.To those of you new to my series, I encourage you to read my two previous articles before you move on! I truly believe that we as White people in America need to become more in touch with our common ethnic identity before we can have any sort of racial reconciliation talks with other ethnicities. I also believe that if we do not come more in touch with our ethnic identity before arriving at the table of racial reconciliation, we will always be at a disadvantage in these matters. Before we move on, I would like to have a quick word with any of my brothers and sisters of different ethnicities that are reading this. I realize this article is about white people but I encourage you to read it! It is always beneficial to learn more about others!... Anyways, these are just a few more traits that I will go over that I think are a part of White Culture:
Fairness
From talking to many of my white friends and reminiscing on my upbringing, I realized that the trait of fairness was ingrained in me and many of my white brothers and sisters. There are so many stories I could tell but I would like to go a different route than story telling for this one:
Let me be clear, everyone wants to be treated fairly. I doubt anyone wants to have fewer rights than another! But every culture certainly emphasizes a different definition of what fairness is. For instance, some cultures emphasize self-sacrifice for the betterment of the whole. In other words, they value the collective group more rather than the individual. This is also called utilitarianism (for my philosophy enthusiasts out there!) This can be seen anywhere from government policies to family life.
In order to fully grasp what I'm talking about, I think we should look back at some of our history! (I know you're not in class now, but this will be brief!) Our country's ideas were very much rooted in white European ideals. Slowly these norms and values we brought over transformed into the "American Experience." Many of the settlers who fled their states in Europe were escaping persecution of some sort. That is why they were so intent on a government for the people, by the people. Now, obviously, it has and still is taking a long time for rights to be extended to everyone. It, at first, was just the white male with money who owned land. Now, thankfully, our society and world are moving towards the extension of rights to everyone. Perhaps not as fast as we would like it, but God willing we will get there!
Anyways, back to the subject at hand. The doctrine that we brought to America that humans have certain natural rights was still revolutionary and very much so ingrained in white culture. This deeply speaks to our need for wanting our government's procedures to be fair. Fairness is obviously not a horrendous trait. In fact, it is an admirable one at that. Yet, sometimes it blinds my white brothers and sisters and me into overlooking why such policies as affirmative action are still needed. We often ask ourselves why do some require more help than others. I mean, I was able to make it this far without outside help right? This very much so blends into our cultural trait of hard work ethics too. Yet, we often neglect to see that as with everything, history plays a part in every aspect of our lives. We forget that it was not too long ago that the civil rights movement occurred. Just because laws change does not mean there are still not any problem with racism in society. Indeed, there are still progress that needs to be made legally, yet, I believe that what we all really need my white brothers and sisters, is a heart change. We need to realize that institutional racism still exists. We need to realize that people still discriminate today. We need to realize that when you enslave a group of people for centuries and tell them they are worthless, the process towards reconciliation will be a long road.
Problem solving
Growing up, I always enjoyed watching my Father try to figure out things. Whether it was machinery or an instruction booklet, he reveled in it! My parents, from a young age, taught me that every problem has a solution and to never give up! This is something that I have truly carried with me. From gathering with other white friends and talking about it, they also found this to be a commonality.
Entrepreneurship
I remember one of my closest friend’s parents always scheming up new ways to make more profit through the stock market and save money. Again, disclaimer, this is not to say that any other ethnicity or culture are not good at problem solving or money management, this is simply something that from my experience that is emphasized in white culture.
On the flip side of this amazing trait, the entrepreneurial spirit has a dark side. (Just in time for Star Wars! Get it?) Capitalism left unchecked, often forgets about the marginalized aspects of our society. People are worth more than a price tag.
This concludes my segment on White culture! Next week, I will be continuing my series by writing more on how Whites can work towards establishing a just society where white people are not in charge, but instead where white people and people of other cultures are actually dependent on each other. Because, as I will continue to argue in my following articles, we need each other.
