Week 4 (9/16/15)

     After our lecture about whiteness and racial formation, I had a very long conversation with one of my good friends Karly about how she is perceived as a Mexican-American. With very fair skin, I can see why people might mistake her for being of European descent, but she is most definitely 100% Mexican. When we defined whiteness in class, we discussed it as a racial formation, which produces different racial projects. Karly has experienced whiteness first-hand, without actually having any White blood. She explained to me that being perceived as white has its advantages and disadvantages. On one hand she enjoys white privilege, and on the other, she feels as if her personal experiences in the Mexican culture are devalued by others’ opinions.

            Karly told me several stories about how family and friends have perceived her by looking at her skin tone alone. Since she is the most fair of her family, they automatically assume that she will have the brightest future. In class, we talked about how whiteness is aimed at creating, and contesting, a dominant way of viewing the world, and operating in the world. Since whiteness is “the norm” in society, whites will likely not experience the same struggles as those of other races. They are the leading forces behind the construction of society’s ideals, and thus they displace the Other as abnormal. In Karly’s case, her family has been led to believe that being white will get her way farther in life, a concept that makes Karly really disappointed. Her family remarks about how lucky she is as opposed to her brother who is darker, despite the fact that their skin tones have nothing to with their skill and individuality.

            When Karly is mistaken for White a person by her peers, she often gets mixed reactions when she reveals her true ethnicity. Karly told me that most of her friends joke and call her a “white-washed” Mexican because of the color of her skin and her interests, which she understandably takes offense to because she is extremely proud of her Mexican heritage and partakes in many aspects of the culture.
     In another encounter, Karly became pretty good friends with a boy from her class who thought that she was 100% White.  When he finally learned that she is Mexican, out of shock he remarked, “there’s no way you can be Mexican, Mexicans are disgusting.” Shortly after, they were no longer friends because he did not want to be associated with a Mexican. Clearly, the fairness of one’s skin hold so much power that it affects how one sees the world as a whole. People who are not white are reduced to their bodies alone and are simply viewed as another race. Those who appear White or those who are White, are represented in all other social categories besides race. Even with a Mexican background, Karly is subject to white privilege and the backlash that comes with it. However, she is also scrutinized for being truly Mexican (her true self), which is wrong on so many levels.