Define “White” for Me, Please?

Aug 12

Can anyone tell me what it actually means to be White, y’all — for realz?

Blah, blah, blah. Race is a construct. Easy to say, but ain’t nary a mo’ fo’ I know who’s ready to drop the historic implications of that shit. Race ain’t supposed to mean shit but people ready to fight tooth and nail about it. We know it ain’t just about frigging phenotype, ‘cause you can look Whiter than a mug, but if people find out your folks (either of them...or grandparents) were considered Black, your ass is Black and they call that shit passing. Don’t be White, though, and get caught trying to “act” Black (and I think people automatically assume what that shit means).

So, we know that White is more than how somebody look. Hell, Walter White (seriously, that name!) was Chair of the NAACP, looking so White not a soul would ever deny his ass wasn’t full on WASP, but Time Magazine threw his ass on the cover in 1938 as a credit to the Negro race. Walter White used to go under cover to lynchings and document what happened. That’s how we know lynchings was frigging community picnics, publicly attended like carnivals.

Does anyone feel comfortable actually using the phrase “I’m White?” What does it actually describe about a person, other than the color of their skin, but not really. Is there a cultural Whiteness? What is that? We know that about 65% of US citizens check a box every ten years to proclaim that shit, from the privacy of the census. But you rarely ever hear someone arguing the case the way a Black person will assert they Blackness.

I know there’s a bunch of clichés about Whiteness. White people don’t have rhythm. We giggle about that through the decades, but and yet the classical music, developed in Europe and attributed to White people, is considered the ultimate form of music expression. White people can’t dance (except ballet...highest form of the art). I’d put money, anything White people humble ass concede, there’s some ultimate version that White people dominate and is damn near exclusive a White domain.

So, who are the White people and what does it actually mean to be White? What comes with Whiteness that’s an actual understood thing that gets played out on the daily? What does it say about family dynamics? What traditions are born out of Whiteness? What are the things that happen regularly that you can say are the “White things” no one else would understand?

I’m looking forward to the comments!

Pink Flowers

Pink Flowers is a Black trans artist, peacemaker, educator, and pleasure activist whose work lives at the intersection of embodiment, governance, and cultural transformation. Trained in Theater of the Oppressed, Art of Hosting, and Navajo-informed Peacemaking practices, Pink designs spaces where conflict can be addressed, power can be examined, and joy can be reclaimed.

Her artistic and pedagogical practice draws from African trickster cosmology, Brazilian Joker traditions, shamanic ritual, and cooperative economics. She is the founder of the award-winning Falconworks Theater Company (2005–2021), which used popular theater to build civic capacity and participatory leadership in historically marginalized communities.

Pink served for over five years as a trained Peacemaker in the Red Hook Community Justice Center in Brooklyn, facilitating restorative processes within the New York City court system. From 2015–2018, she worked in cooperative business development with the Center for Family Life, supporting worker-owned enterprises in immigrant communities.

She currently serves as Director of Education and Training for the Inter-Cooperative Council in Ann Arbor, where she leads leadership development and conflict engagement initiatives. Her work has been presented nationally and internationally, including at the Stretch Festival in Berlin and the Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Conference.

Across ritual, performance, mediation, and institutional design, Pink’s work asks a central question:

What becomes possible when we refuse shame and choose conscious power instead?

Define “White” for Me, Please?

Try to Remember and Follow

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