The Powerful Association of Whiteness With American Identity
In the larger scheme of things, being "white"- however you define it- should not mean all that much. Europeans come in a wide variety of complexions, as do peoples from other continents and other parts of the world But when you study the history of the United States, you realize that the term was so powerfully woven into the identity of the emerging nation that people with that designation assumed it was the part of the unspoken, and occasionally explicit definition of what an American was. Moreover, this association of "whiteness" with "Americaness" lasted long after slavery was ended and indigenous peoples throughtout the continent were conquered, and not only in the South, where "white supremacy" was written into law as official policy. Dark skinned European immigrants such as Jews and Italians struggled long and hard to have themselves defined as "white" both in the census and in the popular imagination and Mexican Americans in Texas sued successfully to have themselves classified as "white" while Jim Crow was still the law in that state. Well into the 50's and 60's people all over the United States would say " I'm free, white and 21, you can't push me around" as though whiteness wa one of the fundamental criteria for the unique freedoms the United States appeared to grant its citizens.
Given this history, it is more than a little chilling to hear that the young killer of 9 in the Charleton church shouted "you're taking over our country" as he poured bullets into the peaceful worshippers. The word "OUR," combined with the deadly actions, reflect the still potent, and ever more toxic, association of "whiteness" with American identity. All too many "white" people- however they define themselves, whoever they actually are- see the election of a Black president, and the huge influx of
