What is White? Caucasian students inquire.

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | December 8, 2003 | Jose Antonio Vargas

[SFmom]

The other students call her "white girl."

Justine Steele is a senior at Independence High School in San Jose, a sprawling campus of 4,054 students where 8 percent are Caucasian. Forget the numbers. "Look around," she says. There are Indians and Vietnamese, Mexicans and Filipinos.

[lelio]

"They say this school is really ghetto," said the 15-year-old. "They ask, 'Have you been shot? Have you seen people carry guns?' That's just so stupid. It's racist.

Well have you seen people carry guns in the school?

[Snuffington]

"It's been such a norm that we haven't defined it, and I think white students might feel like they're in a cultural vacuum, whereas other folks -- the Asians and the Latinos, for example -- have something tangible to call their culture."

Geez. How can Balkanization ... I'm sorry, I mean diversity truly succeed until every single student can fit in a nice little segregated group? This clearly requires an immediate and sizable government grant to get this resolved.

[Wheee The People]

What is white? Just another term for can't dance.

[Howlin]

[Gaetano]

"the European Ancestry Club had nearly 50 members"

What a great idea....we're not elitists or racists, we're....genealogists !

I lived and worked in the Eastbay for 11 years. I miss it very much, but I could not afford to raise my white kids there. In Piedmont, along with the Lamorinda towns, a million dollars buys you a very ordinary rancher which is falling off the side of a hill.

[BJungNan]

She has a great heritage. She can not find it because she has not been taught it. They don't teach those things in school anymore. She has many great leaders in history to hold up. She does not know them. They don't teach about them anymore.

[Joe Hadenuf]

What is white? Just another term for can't dance.

"During multicultural rallies, when there are Indian dancers and Chinese dancers,

Strange, there seems to be a lot of emphasis on dancing.

I always looked at dancing as a little primitive. But it's always fun to watch people make absolute fools of themselves.

LOL!

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

Caucasians are from Central Asia, unrelated to European ethnicities. In Russia, they are considered non white.

There aren't many real Caucasians in America.

[ZULU]

"Some, like Justine, consciously or unconsciously self-segregate."

MOST people, Asian, Indian, Caucasian (even to the degree of Italian, English, Irish, German, etc), tend to feel more comfortable among others of a similar cultural-ethnic background.

The problem here is that the Government and the Schools encourage Balkanization of the population by ALLOWING race or ethnic limited organizations. ALL OF THEM should be banned. This is AMERICA. We should only have room for Americans.

"A hyphenated American is not an American at all. This is just as true of the man who puts 'Native' before the hyphen as of the man who puts German or Irish or French before the hyphen. Americanism is a matter of the spirit and of the soul. Our allegiance must be purely to the United States. We must unsparingly condemn any man who holds any other allegiance." - Theodore Roosevelt


What SHOULD be allowed are clubs like an Asian Study Group, or an Irish Study Group, or an Indonesian Study group - open to ALL students REGARDLESS of background, to encourage understanding and knowlege of other socities, rather than to reinforce an agenda of ethnic exclusivity.

[Onelifetogive]

The ethnic makeup of the Bay Area, he adds, demands that "we become conscious" of the role each race, each ethnicity, plays.

I think he is quoting Hitler on this one. It was much more melodic in the original German...

[Gaetano]

I agree. To me there are four types of Europeans: Nordics, Mediterraneans, Bo-Hunks, and Slavs. Caucasian describes nothing to me.

[Skywalk]

Hate to break it to you but Caucasian, referring to race, has nothing to do with Azeris and Armenians. It is derived from Caucasoid, which Azeris and Armenians are certainly a part of, just as Negro is related to Negroid and Mongol to Mongoloid(though no one would call an Asian a Mongol these days.)

[WackyKat]

Today whites are a hated majority
In a few decades we'll be the hated minority
Think about the consequences of that

[richtig_faust]

Ahhh, cultural marxism........

[Skywalk]

No, think about it--while culture can be many things, the fact is these kids are generally American as can be. Sure, they eat some different dishes at home, maybe speak the mother tongue with the parents, as well, but that's it.

None of the kids I knew in various ethnic clubs at Michigan walked around in traditional garb. Nor did they regularly dance the old dances.

The reason you see danced at these events is that it is one of the few things "cultural" that can be demonstrated right then and there and is "distinct." Food is another--but that's why these things always devolve into dance and pageantry--because it's harder to show other aspects of culture, particularly when kids probably don't know half of them anyway.

[hosepipe]

What kind of white is she.?.. Julian Bond white, Micheal Jackson white, or Steve Martin white... or even Tony Brown white... course theres Eminem white which is'nt white at all but merely white-washed black...

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

If everyone else gets to make up a self-descriptive term, I can too, and I don't choose Caucasian, unless blacks go back to Negroid and Asians go back to Mongoloid.

[Gaetano]

In SF it is perfectly OK to be white, as long as you're gay too.

[sweetliberty]

""It's been such a norm that we haven't defined it,"

That's because we haven't had to. Our culture, quite simply, is that which is being stolen, outlawed and politically corrected. Our culture produced great innovators, authors, composers and independent thinkers. Our culture formed the basis of what we think of as American tradition and laid the foundation of a free nation. Our culture has been taken captive by the demagogues of diversity. Welcome to America's future.

[LiteKeeper]

INTREP - MULTICULTURAL ALERT

[BSunday]

What is white ??

The only ethnic group it is legal to discriminate against.

[Steel Wolf]

For any form with 'race' on it that is not multiple choice, I always put 'human'. If we really are supposed to be equal before the law, then they shouldn't need to see me in person first to know just how equal I am.

[Khurkris]

"I always looked at dancing as a little primitive. But it's always fun to watch people make absolute fools of themselves.

Yeah...I always felt that way about square-dancing and that silly 'Irish feet-slapping and kicking' dancing. And that ballet stuff..just ridiculous. And don't get me started on that American Indian Fancy Dance craziness. Why can't those people just stay still. Funny looking stuff.

But what the heck...I'm just a poor Scottish/HillBilly.

[sweetliberty]

"After the belt buckle incident, Booker revoked the club's charter."

But I'll bet the oh so tolerant crowd can wear anything they d**m well please.

"But let's be honest. People have a hard time separating 'whiteness' from 'racism.'"

Yes, let's be honest; that is exactly what the racebaiters wanted in the first place, so they could cast themselves in the role of perpetual victim thereby justifying their own tryanny over white society. It's just slavery of a different kind and with a different master.

[longtermmemmory]

This article is paralleling the effort to equate the status of being white with racism. Then again it is from soon to be green party, San Fraciiiiisco.

[sweetliberty]

"They don't teach about them anymore."

Given the fact that schools, school libraries, colleges, public libraries and even bookstores, along with network producers and special interests are working to control what children and/or even adults have access to, and that textbook authors are working with a vengeance to neutralize our language to virtual meaninglessness, classic works of literature are being politcally corrected or banned altogether and anything with a Christian theme is increasingly "unconsitutional," wouldn't it be great to put together a politically incorrect library? Perhaps it doesn't seem to many to be necessary right now, but at the rate that we are losing our freedons, it won't be long until the only real history books, literary classics and inspirational works will be in private collections. This is true for movies and likely some music as well.

[Howlin]

O/T, meant to respond to you yesterday about your cat, but I had a big fat orange cat in my face.......and he NEVER does that. I think he wanted to read what you were saying about YOUR cat. :-)

[redangus]

All the talk about diversity and multiculuralism will end as soon as whites are the minority nationwide. When that happens being a minority will no longer garner you special rights. The country will be a pure majority rule state.

[Joe Hadenuf]

And don't get me started on that American Indian Fancy Dance craziness

LOL! Never heard of that one. I am imagining a chicken dance.

But I agree, watching people dance is pretty funny stuff.

You know those guys that talk sing?-- What the hay is the name of that,,uh, um..... oh, raping.... Do people dance to that too? I'm not talking about those guys that spin and jump around the sidewalks. LOL! I've never seen anyone dance to a rap talk song. Do they do that? Or does everyone just move their heads up and down in unison, and

[sweetliberty]

LOL! They do seem to know, don't they?

[MissAmericanPie]

Maybe someone should tell her that she is a member of a unique race that thinks in the abstract, creates, invents, is ingenious, and ambitious, possess's a work ethic, a moral foundation, and is not afraid of risk or failure.

She is a member of a race that built great wealth, a great nation, and civil society that others can copy, envy, and demand more than a share of, but cannot seem to initiate themselves for what ever reason, be it lack of courage, ambition, whatever.

She is a member of a race so envied that other's seek to marginalize, or eleminate outright, that birthright, culture, heritage, civil society, wealth, future. While claiming that this race is not a race, has no culture, history, or heritage, which deserves to be fought for or preserved. All with the aid and approval of our Fed of course.

She is a decendent of the American Revolution, a unique race of people, blessed by the God they paid homage to, and one that is almost as hated, feared, and persecuted world wide as the Jew.

[Hatteras]

I have related this story in the past but when I was a junior in HS ('77-'78), I was picked to be in a group of students, parents and teachers to meet after school to come up with a new plan to elect a homecoming queen. The black parents were getting upset because our school had never had a black homecoming queen and "the system" was failing. Our school at the time was 85% white and 14.9% black (We had one japanese guy who thought he was white - we never had the heart to break the news to him...)

Despite my misgivings, the group came up with a plan that would ensure multiple black candidates to choose from for homecoming queen. The parents looked at me like I was some kind of racist when I suggested that if their goal was to have a black homecoming queen, the best chance would be to have one black girl against 3 or 4 white girls and they were quite smug in their satisfaction when the new process resulted in 3 black nominees and one white nominee.

Long story short, about 65% of the voting students voted for the one white nominee and the three black girls (all terrific kids, by the way) were left to divide the remaining 35%.

After that, it was all down hill. In my senior year, we had "Homecoming Representatives" selected from each homeroom. There was no election process so there were about 8 "Queens" riding the float including our first male Homecoming Queen. No, it wasn't me, but I was instrumental in bringing that about. I promised a buddy a case of beer if he would volunteer to represent our homeroom.

[sweetliberty]

You never saw the native fancy shawl dances? Actually, I think they are quite impressive. I lived in an area where pow-wows were held regularly and I always loved watching the dancers. But the best (at least from a female perspective) are the male Hawaiian dancers (especially the fire dancers). Mercy, those guys are hot (in more ways than one).

[70times7]

The parents looked at me like I was some kind of racist when I suggested that if their goal was to have a black homecoming queen, the best chance would be to have one black girl against 3 or 4 white girls and they were quite smug in their satisfaction when the new process resulted in 3 black nominees and one white nominee. Long story short, about 65% of the voting students voted for the one white nominee and the three black girls (all terrific kids, by the way) were left to divide the remaining 35%.

Your high school wasn't in Palm Beach County, FL, by any chance was it?

[Joe Hadenuf]

You never saw the native fancy shawl dances?

Fancy shawl dances? No, not lately. But I'll be looking for them.

LOL!

[Young Werther]

I once met a "white" young man. He had pink eyes and was ALBINO!!!!

Check out the Dec 2003 Scientific American. The cover article opines that there is just ONE race. Skin color is an environmental adaptation. I like to tell my students that God has a multihued pallette to add spice to our otherwise dreary black and white existence. As for red heads with freckles, I just suggest that God sneezed!

[TRY ONE]

"the European Ancestry Club had nearly 50 members"

Oh, so confusing for White test-tube babies!

[Bernard Marx]

Today whites are a hated majority In a few decades we'll be the hated minority Think about the consequences of that

Already have. Not going to stand for it. BLOAT.

[Ron in Acreage]

Apparently, just being white is not acceptable or it is actually offensive. White kids have to "act black, asian or hispanic" just to fit in. Apparently racism is alive and well towards white kids. This is what "multiculturalism" is. Make whites feel guilty for just being white.

[cyborg]

Being a member of the human race is good isn't it?

[no-s]

wouldn't it be great to put together a politically incorrect library?

This is a resource everyone needs. But there is a cultural vacuum surrounding the race issue, and it's important to give these kids something which is unifying across racial/tribal divisions. The current instituitionalized PC crap enforces isolation and leads to glorification of all forms of racism.

Instead of starting a "white peoples" club because they feel isolated, these kids ought to be promoting an All-American club, open to anyone who is willing to put racial/tribal identity in second place to American cultural identity. When they search for a source of information on this issue, this is what the missing cultural heritage and foundation they need.

[Old Professer]

Given the graduation rate, you should have suggested that they make the position a rotating one.

[TenthAmendmentChampion]

That is perfect. Start a genealogy club... everyone's welcome. Guess who will be the vast majority? Mormons, probably.

[TenthAmendmentChampion]

There are some African American students at Skyline High School who call Jeffrey Powell an "uh-oh Oreo" -- he's white on the outside, but black on the inside.

Jeffrey, 19, doesn't care. He was raised with black people in East Oakland, has gone to school with them all his life. Skyline, with 2,092 students, is 43.7 percent black, 22.7 Asian, 16.4 Hispanic, and 9.9 percent white. It's lunch time at Skyline, up in the Oakland hills, where Tom Hanks graduated, where the Titans football team is known as "the most dangerous team in Oakland," where race is, as in most high schools, an unspoken yet visible fact of life.

Most of the other white students, Jeff says, hang out in the middle of the school, in "the senior quad." He tries to explain this but can't.

Erica Pinter, a sophomore, stands among her four friends in the quad. All are white, some of Irish, Scottish and Italian ancestries. Erica says most of her friends go to private schools. "They say this school is really ghetto," said the 15-year-old. "They ask, 'Have you been shot? Have you seen people carry guns?' That's just so stupid. It's racist. I think it's good to go to a school where there are a lot of different types of people from different types of backgrounds. That's the real world."

But the quad, Jeff says, is not "the real world."

"It's weird, huh, how they're all standing and sitting around in one area? They're just there," says Jeff, dripping more sweet-and-sour sauce onto his bean burrito, careful not to spill some on his oversize black coat. "Me, I try to fit in everywhere. I don't just hang out with white people," he said. "I try to fit in with all kinds of people."

He listens to rap and hip hop. He watches BET, Black Entertainment Television. He dresses, he says, "black." Ten more minutes and lunch is over.

"What is white? I mean I don't know what kind of white I am," Jeff says. "I don't bother to know what kind. Just white."

"I was born a poor black child..."

[MissAmericanPie]

Strictly depends on if you're the flavor of the week, doesn't it.

[cyborg]

Yes. Everyone has their 15 minutes. Life sux after you become just another American.

[Amerigomag]

How tortured our attempt to politically Bulkanize our culture.

When it suits the political need Latinos are no longer white. They're classified by their cultural heritage because to be classified racially wouldn't seperate them from their Europen brethren.

Asians are no longer classified racially but rather based on their geographic ancestory. To classify them racially would be offensive because medicine hijacked the term.

And of course Negro is personna non gratis in our society. We rely instead on an inaccurate skin color descriptor, black or the equally inaccurate geographic hypenation, Africa American.

At least we have unimaginable flexibility when we choose to drive a personal wedge between people. We have unlimited choices when we choose to brand someone a racist.

Here's a simple solution that can't go wrong. If you're a US citizen then you're called a citizen. You're not called an American because that describes anyone who residese from Barrow, Alaska down through Canada, the US, Central America and on to Tierra del Fuego on the southern tip of South America.

[MissAmericanPie]

I would say that original Ameicans seem less entitled than others.

[cyborg]

Original Americans? I don't know what you mean by that but I will say that I've never let other people's opinions affect me. Whatever a stupid liberal says, doesn't affect my family tree one way or another. Of course, if we all think of ourselves as Americans we'd not have this problem.