In the book White Like Me by Tim Wise, Wise explores how racial identity and color of skin influence the lives of Americans, by examining how they have impacted his own life. "Because I had bonded with black kids early on, once I entered elementary school it would be hard not to notice the way that we were so often separated in the classroom,by tracking that placed the white children in more advanced tracks, by unequal discipline, and by a different way in which the teachers would relate to us" (34). Wise examines what it means to be white in a nation created for the benefit of those who are “white like him,” and how privilege seeps into every institutional arrangement, from education to employment to the justice system and comparing it to those who weren't white. Importantly, he also discusses the ways that white privilege can ultimately harm its recipients in the long run and make progressive social change less likely.
QUOTE: "I wasn't really sure how to be white, but I figured I could fake it. The music I listened to changed almost overnight, or at least I would claim that it had. When people would ask me what kind of music I liked, I felt compelled to lie, to say things like Foreigner, and Journey, and Cheap Trick, even though I hated the first, could only stomach two songs by the second, and knew nothing about the third" (60).
The quote taken from Tim Wise “White Like Me” reflects on a very young Tim Wise reflecting on his identity as a white kid growing up and coming in touch with his “Inner Whiteness”. Having gone to school and made friends with mostly African American kids Wise didn’t know any other way to be because the way he spoke and interacted with his friends was what was normal to him but when moving to a new school called Moore all this change. The school was mostly white students with about one-third African American students. Wise still trying to remain friends with his old school mates notices that both his friends and himself are drifting apart starts to make new friends at his school. Finding common interest hard to come by he feels like he needs to learn how to “be white again”. Wise then lies about music he listens to and starts to change the way he would talk compared to his old friends. This quote is great in showing the struggle that race plays when coming in terms with ones own identity. Race is not only apart of your identity but also apart of the way people view you. Wise learns this growing up by talking to people with similar stories. Understanding why some of his old friends like “Bobby” may have drifted apart and coming to terms that it was never nothing personal but away of developing a identity as a black man and away of “self protection in a society built on whiteness” (59) These ways of thinking I feel divides us even if unintentional. The question is how do you become aware of this subconscious way of thinking.
QUOTE: "I wasn't really sure how to be white, but I figured I could fake it. The music I listened to changed almost overnight, or at least I would claim that it had. When people would ask me what kind of music I liked, I felt compelled to lie, to say things like Foreigner, and Journey, and Cheap Trick, even though I hated the first, could only stomach two songs by the second, and knew nothing about the third" (60).
The quote taken from Tim Wise “White Like Me” reflects on a very young Tim Wise reflecting on his identity as a white kid growing up and coming in touch with his “Inner Whiteness”. Having gone to school and made friends with mostly African American kids Wise didn’t know any other way to be because the way he spoke and interacted with his friends was what was normal to him but when moving to a new school called Moore all this change. The school was mostly white students with about one-third African American students. Wise still trying to remain friends with his old school mates notices that both his friends and himself are drifting apart starts to make new friends at his school. Finding common interest hard to come by he feels like he needs to learn how to “be white again”. Wise then lies about music he listens to and starts to change the way he would talk compared to his old friends. This quote is great in showing the struggle that race plays when coming in terms with ones own identity. Race is not only apart of your identity but also apart of the way people view you. Wise learns this growing up by talking to people with similar stories. Understanding why some of his old friends like “Bobby” may have drifted apart and coming to terms that it was never nothing personal but away of developing a identity as a black man and away of “self protection in a society built on whiteness” (59) These ways of thinking I feel divides us even if unintentional. The question is how do you become aware of this subconscious way of thinking.