Mark's Web Site: A quiet place with just a bit of pretension.

I have just begun reading Shelley Tochluk's book Witnessing Whiteness.  In the first chapter she mentions several ways that white folks, in good faith, have tried to deal with feelings of "dis-ease" that result from dominating our culture.  I found myself in each and every example.  First there is the denial of color.  My argument is that we are neither black nor white, just different shades of tan. 

Next, is substituting ethnicity for race.  I have researched both my father's and my mother's families.  We can trace back to the early 17th century in several lines, including the Richards line.  I am, in fact, descended from some of the very souls who began this madness. 

The issue of colorblindness is, although present to some extent, not something that I have dwelled on.  I recognize people of color when I see them and consciously acknowledge the fact to myself. 

The idea of transcending race has greater appeal to me.  I put my faith in scientific inquiry and I acknowledge that there is no biological expression we can point to as "race".  I believe that we are all one being in God.  I believe that if we can see the energy matrix of the universe, we'll see that we all play together and that questions of race serve only to divide us - not to bring us together.  However, white folks constructed the social idea of race in order to maintain control over the wealth of the continent when it was new.  It was a direct result of a northern European culture based on individual dominance.  We've yet to let it go completely and until we do - until we acknowledge the role that race has played in the development of our nation, of our social norms, and of our individual identities - then we cannot get off of it. 

There is work to be done in both communities, white and of color, of course.  I can only work from the context that I live in, and that is the white community.  So let us begin.