"Can We Talk About Whiteness?"

Recently I came across a podcast called 'The Code Switch - Can We Talk about Whiteness?"
It was interesting to listen to the perspective of American professors, and their students, in a Whiteness Studies class taken in various universities, as to what it means to be white in America.

I think what really struck a chord in me, in spite of my knowledge taken from the Media Studies Race and Gender paper, was that I never truly thought of whiteness as an 'invisible' entity. The podcast's talk of the distinct segregation of discourse, with the existence of the 'Latino vote' and the 'Black vote,' to then acknowledging that the non-existent 'White vote' is essentially inscribed in the word 'politics' itself, certainly brought this deadly invisibility to light. The whole idea of exnomination that I had come to learn of in Media Studies, but not so much seen in practice, suddenly made more sense and caused me to question my own place in society, particularly as a white female.
I began to wonder whether I had been sucked into what one of the professors commented on; the idea that race is what other people had - not me. To further entertain this idea, I was brought to the knowledge that white women often relate to their experience as a universal one, however, on pondering over my own knowledge of movements such as the African Americans in the United States and the women of Latin American countries in their resistance against neoliberalism; positions and experiences have differed substantially - so how is it that the white mind can be so blind?

This podcast developed further into the idea of whiteness as an embedded term in institutions, which caused me to reflect upon this very Media paper I had been taking. It certainly became clearer to me that although we as students study racial discourses, there is no way in which we can abandon or "relinquish whiteness." We must instead take upon the intellectual habits learned so as to understand who we are in the room, how we got there historically, and make use of these understandings in regards to work and family relations. I finally came to truly realise that, as difficult as it will be, the need to talk of race without feeling intimidated by said topic, is a necessary tool for our generation as well as those of the future. Those who are white learning about racist discourses in university are not to be the 'good white people' set apart from structural racism on knowing these facts, but rather those who comprehend the privilege that has always been associated with whiteness, and to notice this in society.

As a white person myself, I do think it is incredibly hard to separate oneself from whiteness which acts as a self-identifier in many aspects of life. As one of the white professors stated in the podcast, "my body is evidence" regarding her position in society, which is a difficult task to take on when standing before students of diverse ethnic backgrounds who question her motivations to teach such a topic.

All in all, I find that the topic of whiteness and its ability to be the oppressive force over the 'minority' groups is something that needs to be discussed with care, and as a result, brought to the forefront of all problems as it definitely can be labelled as one of the main roots of evil found in society today.