At school there
was stereotypes for everyone – the Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, Indian, Sri
Lankan, Arab, and Aboriginal, but there was no stereotype for the white male.
There were insults for every racial category, except the white male. While the
Asian may have been labeled ‘nerdy’ or ‘stingy’, the white guy was simply
white. There was no adjective used to describe the white male, the lack of
racial stereotype saw the insertion of profanities, while one may say “you
stingy Asian!” all that could be said was “f**king white guy!” The white male
was boringly normal, it was his characteristics to which others were compared,
and labeled different as a result. 'Whiteness’ traits would not be
insulted, because everyone wanted them. If an insult was to be said, a white male would be called 'rich'. Fozdar writes that whiteness "has always been associated with relative prividlege and a higher status."1
Fozdar
writes that “one of the central points of whiteness studies is that whites are
often rendered invisible, even as they contribute to the ‘noticing’ of other
races, or rather, the races of the Others.”2
Upon reflection on the Fozdar article it occurred to me – my race was never an
issue because it never existed, it simply went unnoticed. While they were ‘Asian’,
I was ‘normal’, there was nothing special about being white, because it was
seen as the norm, my race was rendered invisible. If my ethnic friends did
something differently, it was them that was ‘weird’, with the exception of
mixing cake and ice-cream together.
There
are schools for Greeks, for Jews. There are societies on campus for Chinese
students and Taiwanese students, but no ‘white student association’. Whiteness
is too normal, while there are special schools for different races, 3 there is no school for white people because every school is a school for white
people. When you fit the norm then the system accommodates you, you don’t get different
treatment because you are not different. You are not white in the same way a
black person in black, by being white you are, according to Fozdar, invisible.
Your racial status is removed as you become the norm by which racial difference
is determined.
Awesome title !
ReplyDelete