One phase that has always bothered me has been "acting white." It is usually used on African American mostly, but also on Hispanics and Latins, when someone has done gone beyond the expectations of their race (usually in the context of education).
I remember in elementary school this was a particularly popular phrase to make fun of any minority who had done well on a test or homework assignment. What I find most interesting though, is the fact this term most often said and directed at minorities. Why is it that we degrade ourselves when we do well?
I think that the term in general just reinforces the idea that whites are somehow smarter and more apt to do work, which is just not true. Blacks, Whites, Latins, and every other race all have the same aptness for achievement and it is possible for all of us to study hard.
According to this article in the NY Times which contained a study about this topic:
"The one school where the researchers did find anxiety about ''acting white'' was the one in which black students were drastically underrepresented in the gifted-and-talented classes. And significantly, at this particular school, the notion of the burden of ''acting white'' was most pervasive not among the black students interviewed by the researchers, but among their teachers and administrators, who told researchers that blacks are ''averse to success'' and ''don't place a high value on education.''
I am not really sure why it is seen as negative when we achieve and why we sometimes make fun of our own people's success, so I am curious to hear your comments.
What do you think?
After having gone to boarding school and improving my mannerisms and vocabulary, whenever my brother would want to make a low blow, he would say that I constantly 'acted or spoke' white. I found this concept to be extremely bizarre because how could someone 'act or speak' a different race? I tried to believe that I did not change too much after having gone to boarding school, but I did find that I had become more assimilated with the culture of the boarding school and prep school community. My sophomore year for example, a typical New England prep school girl outfit consisted of a pair of Uggs, a pair of jeans (ALWAYS tucked into the Uggs, a t-shirt or a sweater and a North Face Fleece with a pashmina draped around your neck. Typical. I started to dress what was considered 'preppy' to my peers at home, yet at school, I still had more of an urban sort of style. There is a bit of a double standard, but as I began to assimilate myself with the culture and atmosphere provided at boarding schools, yet the majority of boarding school attendees are predominantly Caucasian, thus making me seem 'more white.'
ReplyDeleteI think that as white people are typically in higher socioeconomic classes and therefore more educated, having these qualities is synonymous with "Whiteness". The important distinction to make here is that typically whites are "White," but being "White" really has nothing to do with being white. Just a correlation. So this article makes sense because a school where blacks are underrepresented in GT programs is likely a school with deep socioeconomic divides.
ReplyDeleteI must say I have had extensive conversations about this term "acting white." Recently, actually I was debating that pursuing education in African American communities is not the attribute that gets someone the title as “trying to be white.” In my opinion and from my experience, it’s the mannerisms that people tend to look at because many African Americans have asserted being black as this poor urban depiction of black people that the media perpetuates. So in my opinion is not the pursuit of education, it’s the way you present yourself to peers.
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