The Lightness of Whiteness… Despite the Brightness: Thinking About Re-thinking Race Dr. Paul R. Carr Department of Sociology Lakehead University (Orillia) 1

Should a White person engage in race…? Is there a choice in the matter? Are they not already enmeshed in the racialization of society? So, in the spirit of full disclosure,  I’m a White guy… But… 2

Are we there yet? Post-modern Post-colonial Post-racial Post-identity But… 3

Nationalism, patriotism and hegemony Permanent war and democracy Structural poverty and individualism ibrain everything and no books Education for employment and increasing inequalities The salience of Snooki and the irrelevance of humanity But… 4

DateCountryRegimeOutcome El SalvadorMaximiliano Hernandez Assassination of political officials/civilians; repression NicaraguaAnastasio Somoza & sonsPolitical repression; civilians attacked IranShah of IranRepression, corruption and instability CubaFulgencio Batista Torture, women raped, repression, and killings GuatemalaArmas, Fuentes, Montt400 Mayan villages razed; rape and torture ParaguayStroessnerWide-spread torture; political repression HaitiPapa Doc Duvalier & son 20,000-60,000 murdered; political repression BrazilBancoRebels executed; students tortured IndonesiaSuharto100, ,000 dead; violent repression ZaireMobutu Stole $3-5B; repression leading to bloodshed BoliviaHugo BanzerDrug production and trafficking; repression ChileAugusto Pinochet3,000 murdered; 400,000 tortured AngolaJonas Savimbi/UNITAKilled/displaced millions ArgentinaJorge Rafael Videla30,000 murdered;repression 1978-presentEgyptSadat, Mubarak Civilians killed in rebellion; corruption; repression IraqSaddam HusseinRepression; 1 million killed in war with Iran PanamaNoriegaSupport to contras; repression 1990-presentUzbekistanKamirovRebels executed; conspirators tortured PakistanMusharaffRepression; political censorship; torture US foreign policy, democracy and un-democratic activity

If everything changes… Why is there still poverty, crime, war, hate…? If education is not about peace, is it about war? If education is not about social justice, is it about injustice? If education is not about anti-racism, is it about racism? But… 7

What is racism…? The N word? The ability to buy a home? Knowing that your God is the right one? Getting a job where you want? Not seeing yourself in the media? Invading “brown” countries? But… 8

If we wanted to end sexism… What would be the point of counselling women, working with them, providing them resources, supporting them… without involving MEN If we wanted to end racism…. 9

White privilege… Not knowing that race is the architectural framework underpinning Canadian society Blaming the “nasty” US and A for everything, and we can’t be quite that bad… Does a non-White know that he/she is not White? Why is there the belief that we are COLOUR-BLIND? How did we feel when the former South African ambassador chastised Canadians who criticized Apartheid because.. “we have the same thing here?” It’s not about guilt and shame… 10

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The numbers CEOs Prisons Elected officials Principals Bank presidents University presidents … 12

Black-focused schools “We don’t want to live like the Americans” “We’re against segregation” “Why can’t they learn like everyone else?” “They won’t know how to interact with other people after that experience” Government policy, White power and neoliberal ideology 13

Complexified identity Some make it, some don’t; Some have group issues, some don’t; Some fight it, some don’t Gender, class, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, etc. change the dynamic but race remains… Slavery, colonialism, empire hegemony, imperialism shape and contextualize racial identity everywhere But… 14

Mainstream media Homogenized, essentialized, “we’re all one” identities Disenfranchisement, disconnection and fictitious “hope and change” Is Kony a threat? Did Americans massively engage to elect Obama? Did the world conflate what he could, should and would do? 15

Teacher ed. and the new world experience “That stuff is over, that was a problem for our grandparents…” “We don’t think like that…” Church, friendship and love… White flight and could we “show your house to a Black family?” Accreditation and we need to do “diversity”; “we need White kids to spend a week in Black schools…” But… 16

There is a silver lining… Something can be done… People can work together… Just because we don’t hear about it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist… Anti-war, anti-poverty, pro-social justice, progressive community… there are many positive things going on… 17

Change involves… Critically engaged, differentiated, contextualized, meaningful, inclusive forms of education Critical epistemological reflection and interrogation Action, accepting that we do not know everything, humility, conscientization, radical love and humanity… are helpful War, violence, vilification are not good options Education is a societal project 18

There is another way… 19