White People Make Everything About Race

White People Make Everything About Race
  • 4.2 (5)
  • SOCIETY & CULTURE
  • SERIES

A podcast for well meaning white folks, trying to make sense of their own racial identity.  The first half of season two “Is White Privilege a Lie?" is out now!  We’ll return with fresh episodes to close it out in September. ---- If you’re white like me, at some point you’ve probably been told it’s not polite to talk about race. But have you ever really thought about race? About your own race? About what it means for you?  Welcome to a show that asks the question: what does it mean to be well meaning and white in a society that has failed to fully address racial disparities? Learn more at whitepeoplemakeeverythingaboutrace.com.

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  1. Season 2, Episode 1: Is White Privilege A Lie?

    EPISODE 1

    Season 2, Episode 1: Is White Privilege A Lie?

    White privilege. Does it exist? Is it a lie?  With the unfairness and rage many white people are feeling;  the broad legal and cultural attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion that are happening throughout the country; and with white nationalism and increasing support for white supremacy being normalized, in this season of White People Make Everything About Race, I want to talk about white privilege.  Well, no, that’s not entirely true. I don't actually want to talk about white privilege. Some people think white privilege is real and affects everyone; some think it’s something that others have; and some think it’s a total lie, manufactured by the work liberal elite.  But very few people want to talk about it one way or the other.  In my experience, almost no term causes as much discomfort and defensiveness amongst people who are white-identified as the words “white privilege”.  So let’s get uncomfortable.  Notes and References:  Who's Running America? The Obama Reign. Eighth Edition. Thomas R. Dye. Routledge. 2014. Privilege: How Society's Elite Are Made. By Sudhir Venkatesh. Freakonomics. April 20, 2011.  https://freakonomics.com/2011/04/privilege-how-societys-elite-are-made/ Most Americans Point to Circumstances, Not Work Ethic, for Why People Are Rich or Poor. March 20, 2020. https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2020/03/02/most-americans-point-to-circumstances-not-work-ethic-as-reasons-people-are-rich-or-poor/ See show notes and more at whitepeoplemakeeverythingaboutrace.com

    23 min
  2. Season 2, Episode 2: Why Whiteness?

    EPISODE 2

    Season 2, Episode 2: Why Whiteness?

    In the Virginia Colony, a social and economic system centered on the elites was intentionally racialized to keep it that centered on the elites. Racial anxiety was manufactured and then it was stoked to keep people divided. Fast forward to the present day, and we continue to see the way this system is refreshed and reconfigured, and how it continues to keep the focus on individuals and not the broader system.  One of the reasons it is so hard to talk about privilege is because it contradicts the bootstraps myth that is pervasive in our country. The bootstraps narrative tells us that each one of us individually struggles, succeeds, or excels strictly based on how hard we work.  If someone has obtained more, they must have worked harder. If you haven’t accomplished what you’d hoped, then you should have worked harder, too. But the idea of “Pulling yourself up by your bootstraps” did not always mean what it has come to mean today. Notes and References: 1. "A host of systemic factors has created the ongoing segregation and racial and ethnic disparities throughout the country in educational attainment, wealth, and quality-of-life that we see today. These factors have included local, state and federal policy and investment decisions, discriminatory practices within the private sector and individual actions and biases."  There are many deeper analyses of the way this has continued to manifest over generations, including Richard Rothstein’s 2017 book The Color of Law, or the accompanying 18 minute video summary you can find at segregatedbydesign.com; Ava DuVernay's 13th (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krfcq5pF8u8); and Heather McGhee's The Sum of Us (https://heathermcghee.com/). Systems drive disparities along lines of gender and class and other forms of marginalization as well, but in a society that remains very racially segregated, there is a clear intersectional impact that is centered on racial disparities. Race is always a factor. 2. Linguist Ben Zimmer has traced the idiom back to an 1834 newspaper, in which one Mr. Murphee is satirically described as being “enabled to hand himself over the Cumberland river or a barn yard fence by the straps of his boots.” It appears throughout the 19th century, often in the company of other colorful metaphors for ludicrous impossibilities, such as “sitting in a wheelbarrow and trying to wheel yourself” and “getting rich by taking money from one pocket and putting it in another.””How the ‘bootstrap’ idiom became a cultural ideal; By Melissa Mohr Correspondent; Oct. 04, 2021; https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/In-a-Word/2021/1004/How-the-bootstrap-idiom-became-a-cultural-ideal 3. "The myth of meritocracy: who really gets what they deserve?" Kwame Anthony Appiah. https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/oct/19/the-myth-of-meritocracy-who-really-gets-what-they-deserve See show notes and more at whitepeoplemakeeverythingaboutrace.com

    28 min

  3. EPISODE 3

    Season 2, Episode 3: Redlining, The 'burbs, and The Northern Confederacy

    Since the fall of the Confederacy, maybe the most shocking and enduring example of national policy rooted in racial discrimination is the practice of government sponsored redlining.  I learned about redlining when I was 22, and it has forever changed the way I’ve viewed my community and our country.  For me it was the beginning of a deeper understanding of how place and opportunity have been racialized.  For me, it also cracked open the myth of meritocracy, and led me to see how the whole thing crumbles when we look at the evidence systems designed to serve some of us but not others. Show Notes: Texts on Redlining and the GI Bill: Jackson, K. T. (1985). Crabgrass frontier: the suburbanization of the United States. Oxford University Press.  Rothstein, R. (2017). The color of law: A forgotten history of how our government segregated America. Liveright Publishing. 'Segregated By Design' examines the forgotten history of how our federal, state and local governments unconstitutionally segregated every major metropolitan area in America through law and policy. https://www.segregatedbydesign.com (apprx. 18 minute video)  Eduardo Bonilla-Silva names, as one of the characteristics of racism, that “racism has a “rationality” (actors support or resist a racial order in various ways”. I would suggest in this instance, that this rationality applies whether or not these individual actors are aware of the system or its repercussions.  More than Prejudice: Restatement, Reflections, and New Directions in Critical Race Theory. Eduardo Bonilla-Silva. Sociology of Race and Ethnicity.  2015, Vol. 1(1) 75­ –89.  American Sociological Association 2014 DOI: 10.1177/2332649214557042 p.76. See show notes and more at whitepeoplemakeeverythingaboutrace.com

    26 min

  4. EPISODE 4

    Season 2, Episode 4: The Five Phantoms; Part 1- Inheritance

    For those of us who are identified as white, life appears to have less friction if we don’t acknowledge that privilege exists. But multiple forms of privilege and power are always present, in every situation and every interaction. Privilege is not binary. It is not yes or no. So let’s move beyond a simple definition of white privilege as the money that comes from mom and dad. Let’s start with inheritance, but look beyond your bank account. Let’s look at the Five Phantoms of White Privilege, what they give to us, and what they take away.  Show Notes: Many New York employers discriminate against minorities, ex-offenders. Summary of “Discrimination in Low Wage Labor Markets,” was conducted by sociology professors Devah Pager and Bruce Western. April, 2005. https://www.princeton.edu/news/2005/04/01/many-new-york-employers-discriminate-against-minorities-ex-offenders  Upside Down: The $400 Billion Federal Asset-Building Budget. February 4, 2010. Corporation for Enterprise Development, The Annie E. Casey Foundation. https://www.aecf.org/resources/upside-down Generations of Advantage. Multigenerational Correlations in Family Wealth. Fabian T. Pfeffer, University of Michigan, Alexandra Killewald, Harvard University. Social Forces 96(4) 1411–1442, June 2018 doi: 10.1093/sf/sox086. Advance Access publication on 13 December 2017. p.1434 The effects of Whiteness on the health of whites in the USA.  Malat, J., Mayorga-Gallo, S., Williams, D. R. (2017). Social Science & Medicine. Advance online publication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.06.034 https://www.madinamerica.com/2017/10/paradox-white-americans-mental-health/ How Wealth Reduces Compassion. Daisy Grewald, Scientific American. April 10, 2012. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-wealth-reduces-compassion/. Signs of socioeconomic status: a thin-slicing approach. Michael W Kraus  1, Dacher Keltner Affiliations; Psychol Sci.. 2009 Jan;20(1):99-106. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02251.x. Epub 2008 Dec 5.   https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19076316/  Higher social class predicts increased unethical behavior. Paul K. Piff, Daniel M. Stancato, Stéphane Côté, +1 , and Dacher Keltner Authors Info & Affiliations. Edited by Richard E. Nisbett, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, and approved January 26, 2012 (received for review November 8, 2011). February 27, 2012. 109 (11) 4086-4091 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1118373109 See show notes and more at whitepeoplemakeeverythingaboutrace.com

    32 min
  5. Season 2 Preview: Is White Privilege a Lie?

    MAY 21

    Season 2 Preview: Is White Privilege a Lie?

    Hi everyone and welcome to a preview of our new season of White People Make Everything About Race. This season is going to take a different format from last time. Last season I had some incredible guests who came on the pod to share their own stories of navigating whiteness and what it means for how we see the world and ourselves within it. Since then that world has continued to shift -- and so has my thinking.  So, this time around I’m coming to you solo, and, throughout this entire season, I’m going to be focused on just one question: Is white privilege a lie? Caution: Spoilers ahead. See show notes and more at whitepeoplemakeeverythingaboutrace.com

    10 min
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4.2
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About

A podcast for well meaning white folks, trying to make sense of their own racial identity.  The first half of season two “Is White Privilege a Lie?" is out now!  We’ll return with fresh episodes to close it out in September. ---- If you’re white like me, at some point you’ve probably been told it’s not polite to talk about race. But have you ever really thought about race? About your own race? About what it means for you?  Welcome to a show that asks the question: what does it mean to be well meaning and white in a society that has failed to fully address racial disparities? Learn more at whitepeoplemakeeverythingaboutrace.com.

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