On Disaffiliation
I want to say this here because it is heavily on my mind when I read this essay ("On Being White..."), and because I don't want to try to articulate it in class...because it takes too many words.
I am noticing this theme: "What this can mean to white people is that we are not white by nature but by political classification, and hence it is in principle possible to disaffiliate. If being white is not finally a matter of skin color, which is beyond our power to change, but of politics and power, then perhaps white individuals in a white supremacist society are not doomed to dominance by logic or nature."
OK. But it puts me in mind of Rachel Dolezal, whose decision to identify as black led to a complicated and painful firestorm.
I won't rehearse all the details. But the whole thing leads me to think that disaffiliation from whiteness is a very very complicated matter, and it can be taken by many people to be highly offensive and harmful. And in Dolezal's case, there is no doubt at all that she is sincere--and she did real and valuable anti-racism work before the controversy erupted.
A case with some parallels, and perhaps met with more commonly, is that of Andrea Smith, who claims to be Native American.
Race is a social construct, yes. But it is also as full of power asymmetries as gender and sex. Deconstructing one's privilege can never be a neutral move. To the extent that I understand Frye, I am less optimistic about the possibility of disaffiliation. I still have a lot of thinking and listening to do about it.
I am noticing this theme: "What this can mean to white people is that we are not white by nature but by political classification, and hence it is in principle possible to disaffiliate. If being white is not finally a matter of skin color, which is beyond our power to change, but of politics and power, then perhaps white individuals in a white supremacist society are not doomed to dominance by logic or nature."
OK. But it puts me in mind of Rachel Dolezal, whose decision to identify as black led to a complicated and painful firestorm.
I won't rehearse all the details. But the whole thing leads me to think that disaffiliation from whiteness is a very very complicated matter, and it can be taken by many people to be highly offensive and harmful. And in Dolezal's case, there is no doubt at all that she is sincere--and she did real and valuable anti-racism work before the controversy erupted.
A case with some parallels, and perhaps met with more commonly, is that of Andrea Smith, who claims to be Native American.
Race is a social construct, yes. But it is also as full of power asymmetries as gender and sex. Deconstructing one's privilege can never be a neutral move. To the extent that I understand Frye, I am less optimistic about the possibility of disaffiliation. I still have a lot of thinking and listening to do about it.
While I want to be hopeful and think that when she says it is possible to disaffiliate she means that it is possible to be considered in terms other than our whiteness and is not forming a judgement on what that means, I think that she perhaps does think that we can extricate ourselves from what it means to be white (which is a dangerous thing). If we say we can distance ourselves from whiteness, that in itself is an act of power. In actuality, also, we can never fully distance ourselves from what it means to be white, as others will ALWAYS see us that way. Further, we can't distance ourselves from the deep harm that white people have caused people of color in society. While Frye appears to try to do so by equating white people with only white men, what she really seems to be doing is trying to assuage her guilt and distance herself from her participation in a system of oppression merely by existing as a white female.
ReplyDelete