Had a very productive conversation with a friend tonight about race. The conversation was sparked by his ambiguous feelings toward the almost all white crowd that attends the Art Murmur in downtown Oakland. Oakland from its beginnings has been a city of diverse ethnic backgrounds, from its Meso-American founding family, to the African American porters who who worked on the railroad. Now in an act of demographic inversion, parts of Oakland are changing complexion. This does not mean Oakland will become all white eventually. But, like many American cities, white middle class folks are displacing darker working class folks and shifting the demographics profoundly.
But my friends discomfort grew less from the sociological implications of the white throngs descended on “The Town” and more from the emotional tug of war that he experienced as a black man navigating the and adding to it. He felt a revulsion at the obvious imbalance. Here the low rents have afforded upstart artists to open spaces and create opportunity. And for every opportunity created, it seems that less room will remain for those brown people whose presence determined the low rents in the first place. But not all the white people are bad people. In fact, my friend (this really was not me but an actual friend) could not remember running in to a bad person the whole night. The people he happened to interact with turned out to be cool. Whats more, looking back, he realized that not all of them were “white.” Some of them were East or South Asian, Arab, Persian, Latino (my friend is a Black Latino).
So whats the big deal then. Gentrification is a reality of mobile capital. Money, like water seeks the lowest ground. Where there is rent and space to be exploited, there the money will go. So, what if the people who come with it happen to be less dark then the people who once lived there? What is the difference?
Here is where the discussion got kind of juicy. I hope I can put this stuff into words because these are ideas that I have had trouble wrapping my head around in the past:
The issue of race and racism in this country is only indirectly tied to the fake genetics of race. Most of us know the spiel on race as bunk science. There is actually less in common among some people of the same race than some others of different “races.” Well, to add to that, in the 21st century race is not always functioning around genes. Why is it that my friends memory of this crowd at the art walk is one of “white people.” Not all of these people were white. The answer is that the crowd was “White” in the modern sense. “White” is not a race, but it is rather a role, a position. To be “white” is to be a dominant colonizing force. Racial whiteness since its creation in the middle of the last millennium has always been tied to a colonial movement whether its the Slave Trade, the genocide of Native Americans, the Holocaust, the atomic bomb, or any number of supremacist projects. But, “whiteness” has roots that go even deeper than that. Whiteness has come to stand in for a conformist mindset. One that rules and attends to rulers. Race was one way to bolster “whiteness” and bring it into the view of human consciousness. As time goes on, the color of the skin and the width of the noses of the people identified as white becomes less and less important. What stays the same is the position of “Whiteness.” This archetype lives in the collective human unconscious now as a cold dominating self-preserving force that lacks concern for others and will even sacrifice its own well being for power (Just look at the health of many of the most powerful white men on earth). To the extent that one is white, one should be able to gain power.
This is why, race politics in the 21st century are so tricky. When a foul is identified along raceial lines, the response is for those in power to point at all of the exceptions to the rule that undermine any tidy explanation of racism. Colin Powell, Condelezza Rice, and now Barack Obama, are posters for those who would argue that racism has ended. If they can rise to positions of power in white institutions than anyone can. Question: if Lil’ Wayne was a Russian language specialist with unmatched aptitude for military planning and a deft feel for the nuances of Middle Eastern diplomacy, but he still dressed the same, do you think he would have a chance at being appointed secretary of state?
In the case of the art walk, the crowd was fulfilling the role of the white colonial. They could have all been Bangladeshi art students wearing skinny jeans and sporting bed-head and they would have still seemed somehow “white.”
This point may be obvious to some, but it is important for contextualizing certain other conversations that rarely benefit from the separation of “whiteness” from people with European ancestry. When we discuss racism in America in the 21st century, we are mistaken to argue that racism exists in the same way it always has, as a form of psuedo-scientific dehumanization of non-white genotypes. No, now racism is an economy of cultural currencies. If you can talk “white” and act “white” you arguably have a much better chance of avoiding the snares laid by old school racism. The marginalization of poor black people for example happens as much as result of cultural gulfs as it does because of policies or hate group activities. This for me is the implied message of contemporary rap culture. The rappers who get paid these days are the ones who can convincingly prove that they are not “white.” The less “white” the better. The outlaw whose low hanging jeans and gold teeth make him completely unmistakable as not being white is the winner of the pageant. This explains the appeal of black rappers for young white kids. Even white kids can identify if only unconsciously with the resistance against the perennial harshness of “whiteness” as it exists in the collective unconscious.
This relationship to whiteness is complicated though. White and non-white folks also identify “whiteness” as the dominant position. Therefore, there is also a sort of lust that “whiteness” compels.
I once met a guy at an art opening who helped to build one of the most famous hip hop clothing brands. He said that white kids want to dress like the black kids from the inner city, but also, black kids want to dress like the white kids from the suburbs. His company strives to sell to both needs. When I was growing up Izod and Ralph Lauren were the brand of choice for black kids. Ad rap ascended, white kids began dabbling in black gear. Puffy jackets, backward caps, earings, and gold seemed to be the tipping point. Its seems that we all want to have the power of “whiteness” without being associated with cold, detached, conformist persona it evokes.
How does this play out internationally. Well I have a theory (no surprise there). I have been slightly obsessed with the growing talk about the BRIC nations: Brazil, Russia, India, and China. These rising giants are on course to eclipse American hegemony in the next 20 - 50 years, maybe sooner. Here is my assessment in light of my theory “whiteness” as a disembodied way of being. China, wants to be white. That is why the Chinese combination of capitalism and centralized government makes sense. The goal is dominance (motivated by very real fears of instability). India wants to be “white” as well. Indian prosperity is being hailed as a end in itself rather than a means to something more in line with the thousands year old history of the civilization. Consumerism is running rampant in the major cities and the voices of difference are drowning in a sea of jingles. Russia feels that it is more “white” than America. Russians can boast an actual proximity to the caucus mountains. No wonder there is a constant threat of neo-Nazi activity there. Russian politics are as brutal and cold as a Siberian winter. Brazil is therefore the most interesting new power. With leftist but practical leadership Brazil seems to have a healthy dose of anti-Americanism that - if you squint your eyes - looks like an aversion to “whiteness.”
These gross generalizations obviously do not describe the character of any people group and certainly do not describe real people. But, this is one way of describing the position of the countries in a racialized world. What we must realize is that race is no longer about genes. Race is a game that we all play whether we want to or not.
I am not sure exactly who is behind this, but the