There is no Spoon

I have been thinking a lot about race lately. I have been inspired by what I have heard from people like Michael Eric Dyson and Tim Wise and dismayed by others who want to blame and raise one demographic above the others.

Tonight it struck me that the very idea of a racial norm is an painfully obviously artificial construct yet it is the foundation that US (maybe Western) culture is based on. If you can see it, it is plain as day. The voice of white culture speaks with the authority of speaking for all people. It is the voice of a collective, countless people speaking together. And as a white male I hear my own voice speaking with it as well. I hear this collective voice and assume that since there are so many and its so loud, that is must represent the voice of everyone. And so when the voice of a non-white people group stands out it can be respected as such but there is still the understanding that the collective voice is true for that people as well. you see the collective voice speaks for everyone whether they like it or not.

The collective voice is like the voice of the wizard of OZ, it tells us all not to pay any attention to the man behind the curtain. Was it a coincidence that the Wizard of OZ was a white male? It makes the point perfectly; never mind that the voice speaking for everyone always has (in the history of our country) and always will speak for everyone. It always will...unless you can realize the truth. The voice of the heterosexual white male speaks with authority based on one simple predication that we have all subscribed to: straight white people are the norm.

The voice of the non-norm person can be respected, but that person will be recognized as a special kind of normal (white) person. As long as they live/work/speak within the system, they will always be (especially to the majority of white people) thought of as a unique kind of white person. Maybe as a white person with additional features, the way an SUV might have an off-road or sport option package.

That predication is the construct that gives whiteness its intrinsic authority and privilege. That predication is totally artificial. This is the truth that, for me, seems like the beginning to seeing the world a different way. One cannot change or escape white privilege by changing a few habits. It is a change that has to happen in the mind first with the realization that this is not how God intended us to live. One may not be able to escape white privilege ever by act of will... you cant bend the spoon, thats impossible, instead try to realize the truth...there is no spoon.