> The whole reductionist construct of "whiteness", beloved by so many contemporary scholars has little currency in the minds and hearts of many Americans educated before the wave of critical race theory
Whiteness and “white passing” is a bar that is literally centuries old. CRT is not the culprit for its current scrutiny or existence - it has been and continues to be a litmus test for who qualifies as the “in” and “out” groups.
As the old adage goes: “we know who we are by who we are not.” It’s an ugly side of humanity and not a recent issue.
Simply put, “whiteness” and “white passing” are the result of people who consider themselves white wanting to exclude and/or include certain groups because, generally speaking in the west, being white = wielding social, cultural, and political power.
I would suggest the scope and psychological relevance of the now fetishized term of "whiteness" in large parts of America was vanishingly small in the past. It had no significance in the slightest in my community or to my identity. It was all about religion, education, and European place of origin.
Moreover, and more interestingly, after I studied the Hausa language at university, and decided to travel on my own to live in Kano, Nigeria, I quickly was labeled by those around me a "bature" or European. But Americans with much darker skin than I were also called "bature", at times to their private despair. It our perceived, shared culture, not our skin color, that made the difference to Kano residents.
Having lived and worked in many countries in local institutions, often using the local language professionally, my own skin color and that of those around me is about as important as hair color, eye color, or handedness, that is, largely irrelevant. Culture, intelligence, and ethical standards are so much more important. The obsession with "whiteness" is as creepy as it is toxic.
Ask Polish or Italian Americans if “whiteness” is a modern obsession and about skin color. Hell go watch Gangs of New York, which came out in 2002, and see if the Irish were considered white.
This is a tale as old as time. In group, out group. Whiteness isn’t just about your skin color.
I just asked myself then and got the answer, "yes, it's a modern fetish". By using "whiteness" as a disingenuous blanket term for "in-group" a whole range of issues bearing on social dominance are obfuscated: wealth/poverty, caste, tribalism, religion among them.
It's marginally insane that the abuses of any non-pan-European group anywhere in the world get passed over in near-silence in the US. Who cares, for example, (to pick randomly from a long, long list) that in the recent past northerners in Kano, Nigeria went door-to-door seeking out and slaughtering anyone from the wrong region and wrong tribe? You'll never hear of it in US schools, no one cares in the slightest. Apparently only "whites" can be held morally culpable for evil actions of a dominant group.
I think we are kind of talking at cross purposes here. I agree with you (I think). It is ridiculous and completely artificial/socially constructed. At least that’s what it sounds like you are saying.
The issue is that it happens regardless of how dumb it is. Racism is dumb.
Whiteness and “white passing” is a bar that is literally centuries old. CRT is not the culprit for its current scrutiny or existence - it has been and continues to be a litmus test for who qualifies as the “in” and “out” groups.
As the old adage goes: “we know who we are by who we are not.” It’s an ugly side of humanity and not a recent issue.
Simply put, “whiteness” and “white passing” are the result of people who consider themselves white wanting to exclude and/or include certain groups because, generally speaking in the west, being white = wielding social, cultural, and political power.