Racial Covering, Part I [Racialicious Read-Along]

by Latoya Peterson/A Racialicious Roundtable

One of the examples Yoshino uses while discussing racial covering is another memoir.

Racial covering occurs when non-whites “act white” by modulating their behaviors. A useful example of racial covering can be seen in Eric Liu’s memoir The Accidental Asian. Liu follows the statement “Here are some of the ways you could say I am ‘white,’” with the following catalog:

I listen to National Public Radio.
I wear khaki Dockers.
I own brown suede bucks.
I eat gourmet greens.
I have few close friends “of color.”
I married a white woman.
I am a child of the suburbs.
I furnish my condo à la Crate & Barrel.
I vacation in charming bed-and-breakfasts.
I have never once been the victim of blatant discrimination.
I am a member of several exclusive institutions.
I have been in the inner sanctums of political power.
I have been there as something other than an attendant.
I have the ambition to return.
I am a producer of the culture.
I expect my voice to be heard.
I speak flawless, unaccented English.
I subscribe to Foreign Affairs.
I do not mind when editorialists write in the first person plural.
I do not mind how white television casts are.
I am not too ethnic.
I am wary of minority militants.
I consider myself neither in exile nor in opposition.
I am considered a “credit to my race.”

Notice how Liu’s list includes all four of the covering axes: appearance (“I wear khaki Dockers,” “I own brown suede bucks”); affiliation (“I listen to National Public Radio,” “I furnish my condo à la Crate & Barrel,” “I speak flawless, unaccented English”); activism (“ I do not mind how white television casts are,” “I am not too ethnic,” “I am wary of minority militants”); and association (“I have few friends ‘of color,’” “I married a white woman”).

In this passage, Yoshino starts to really untangle the meanings of such a list, referring first to himself and how he views the Liu’s list.

Liu stresses his “yellow skin and yellow ancestors” – he has not passed or converted. Yet he believes these covering behaviors have transformed him. Observing that “some are born white, others achieve whiteness, still others have whiteness thrust upon them,” he says he has become “white, by acclamation.” That metamorphosis is also internal. Liu says that insofar as he as moved “away from the periphery and toward the center of American life,” he has “become white inside.”

My first reaction to this list is a jolt of Linnaean pleasure. Liu’s list includes all four of my covering axes: appearance (”I wear khaki Dockers,” “I own brown suede bucks”); affiliation (”I listen to National Public Radio,” “I furnish my condo à la Crate and Barrel,” “I speak flawless, unaccented English”); activism (”I do not mind how white television casts are,” “I am not too ethnic,” “I am wary of minority militants”); and association (”I have few close friends ‘of color’,” “I married a white woman.”)

But then I became puzzled. I could, with minor revisions, sign my name to this list. This suggests I have covered my own Asian-American identity as much as I have covered my gay one. Yet, these two forms of covering feel different. I regret covering my gay identity – refusing [ex-boyfriend] Paul’s extended hand or abstaining from gay activism. Contemplating my racial covering behaviors incites no such self-recrimination. It strikes me that I, like Liu, am an “accidental Asian” – someone who only “happens to be” Asian.

I believe this country is in the grip of white supremacy as it is in the grip of heteronormativity. So why is it I am so comfortable covering my Asian identity? It is because Asians are more accepted than gays? Is it because I have always had a place to elaborate my racial self? Is it because racial covering does not feel like a response based on fear?

I’ll get to Yoshino’s conclusions – and thoughts of his students – a little later. Still intrigued over this list and the subsequent meanings, I enlisted the Racialicious crew to respond. My instructions were basic:

Racialicious crew, I’d like you to go through this list, line by line. Please note which of these (if any) apply to you, and your own personal reactions to the assertions. Please try to get this to me by the end of the week.

The responses were illuminating, to say the least.

—

Arturo

Ok, here we go with the ones that I identified with:* I have few close friends “of color”: Unfortunately, this has come about in part because of the circles I run in: Rocky Horror, comic-books, general geekery.

* I am a child of the suburbs: As a child I literally lived in South Central Tijuana. But if I’m reading this right, I think this one applies because I typically lived in “safe” areas.

* I expect my voice to be heard: I’m not sure how “racial” this is. I’m a Leo, a blogger, a twitter and a podcaster. Loudness comes with the territory, no?

* I speak flawless, unaccented English: Definitely an accident, rather than an affectation. Even growing up in Mexico, I learned to speak English – thanks, Toho Studios! – before my own native language.

* I am not too ethnic: I get what Liu is saying in context, but, again, since I grew up not here, I’ve always considered myself ethnic – just not in the way people in the U.S. tend to interpret Mexicanidad.

* I am wary of minority militants: This was certainly the case for me when I moved to the States in junior high; Chicanismo and “Pochismo” were interchangeable terms in my family – a way of distinguishing native Mexicans from immigrants in a prejorative sense. In later years that waryness manifested itself in the context of feeling like I was looked at as being “not too ethnic.”

* I am considered a “credit to my race”: Once, when I was in high school, a friend called me, “one of the GOOD Mexicans.”

As far as the others, they definitely connote a division in tax brackets. I wonder if I get to keep my “‘Hood Pass” because they don’t apply to me.

Wendi

As a child, I was sometimes told by my family and classmates (all black) that I was trying to be white. I never felt that I was trying to be anything other than myself. Despite my family’s not always using correct English or having interests beyond those designated as (stereotypically) “black,” I identified with both popular culture and subculture different from theirs. I did not do it on purpose. It is just the way things panned out.

Nevertheless, the refrain always went right back to my liking x music or being interesting in y style or speaking perfect, clear English somehow being symbols of my attempt to disguise my blackness or, at least, act like a member of a race to which I did not belong. Even at an early age, I knew there was something wrong with this characterization. I knew without being told directly what black and white meant in our society, and I was ultimately opposed to being stuck into one or the other simply because of my behavior or my physical features and skin color. I also objected to the idea that my being educated, well-spoken, and creative was somehow at odds with my blackness. Was this not a complete insult to all black people, including myself and those who teased me for being “different”? Did “acting black” mean adhering to some tired stereotype, even if I didn’t feel in my heart that it fit me? I also took issue with the assumption that anything “positive’ was ultimately associated with whiteness, as if anything infinitely approaching perfection also meant infinitely approaching being like whites.

I think what I found most troubling, however, is that in order to get ahead, in order to have a job or continue my education, I knew that being myself, whatever racial realm that may fall into, was what was going to help me advance in the world. Call it assimilation if you will, but it is also our reality. I had watched my family members change their voices if speaking to strangers or making professional phone calls as if other blacks did not deserve their best diction and command of English while non-blacks did, almost as if black vernacular English were some sort of foreign language my family spoke outside of the presence and gaze as others, just as many immigrant families may switch to their native languages at home. I found relief in the fact that I already spoke the language I needed in order to do well at an interview or be accepted by peers of any race (at least on the superficial level). If anything, my family was putting on more of an act that I ever was.

Did I feel I was any less black for being myself? No. And in actuality, I ended up hearing the same stories from my college peers of color, indicating that I was not alone in this philosophical struggle to be myself, to live beyond the lines of antiquated racially-oriented limits for the sake of pleasing other people who may or may not consciously choose to adhere to them. At the end of the day, I owe no one an apology. I know who I am and know about my history. No one’s poorly founded jabs at my behavior or speech, most of which are probably rooted in jealousy or simple confusion in seeing someone behave beyond their stereotypical norms, are going to make me feel guilty about being myself.

Andrea

This is ripping off some wounds for me, mostly because the way I heard—and still hear—“acting white” is in the tone of accusation from some other Black people, especially from my own family and ex-friends, a cut to make sure I don’t see myself as better than them because I have, say, a higher level of education than they do and, because of that, have exposure to—and, deities forbid, a liking of!–ideas and other things that they don’t, for whatever reasons. That, in essence, I can “cover” around white people, perhaps better than the Black people who throw this phrase will, want, or can. So, I’m coming at this a bit leery.With that said, I’m looking at Liu’s list, and the only ways I have or still do “cover “ are:

–I listen to National Public Radio

–I have partnered with white mates (my major celeb crushes are white guys, i.e. Viggo Mortensen and Clive Owen)

–Speaking flawless, unaccented English (with a caveat: I know how to code-switch. Also, coming from the Midwest, my particular accent is considered the standard American one.)

–I own brown suede bucks (revision: I own a pair of Brooks Brothers penny loafers, the ones in which I can insert actual pennies. One of my exes, a white man, gave them to me)

–I eat gourmet greens (revision: I know what they are and have eaten them in my adult life).

But if I had to draw up my own list of how I “act white” it would look like this:

–I listen and like old country (Patsy Cline), alt-country (Lyle Lovett), and bluegrass.

–I practice a form of Buddhism and was a convert to Roman Catholicism.

–I participated in a couple of pagan ceremonies.

–I know how to do—and like—yoga.

–I know several schools of interior design (and liking and decorating your dwelling in Crate & Barrel will earn permanent direct side-eye and yawns from me).

–I believe in feminism.

–I’m deeply and vocally pro-abortion.

–I like my collard greens in the form of a marinated salad.

–I like to salsa and tango.

–I like the New York Times and C-Span.

–I like Masterpiece Theatre and Monty Python.

–Heck, I like PBS.

Then I look at my list and think, am I doing and/or do I like these things because I’m trying to “act white,” to cover, or just because I like them, whether or not it gets me “in good” with the white people I may run into or befriend?

I understand some of the above-listed items may hold cachet with some white people; I see how their faces light up when I mention these things, as if to say, “You aren’t like those other Black folks. Yay me!” And when I did have more white friends than those of color, the crowd I hung with liked those things. And, yeah, I got off on that exoticizing attention because it was wrapped up in finally finding people with whom I could share some common interests. (When I lived in the Midwest and in Boston, it was mostly white people who were into those things.) At the same time, I also found white people who resented the facts that I speak with an unaccented clip, know what arugula is, had a white partner, can dance salsa, and like Greg Wise and Frances O’Connor in Madame Bovary because that knowledge indicates my exposure to “educated” tastes, which gets read as my thinking that I’m equal to or better than them. And I’ve found Black folks and other PoCs who have the same tastes and life experiences I have, especially living in NYC and being online.

Another flip in the idea of “covering” is how much is within a person’s control? Liu certainly can’t help the fact that he grew up in the suburbs or that he fell in love and married a white person (though some folks may argue his attraction to his partner). Can the same be argued for personal tastes in, say, food or TV shows or dancing, which may or may not emerge as a way to assimilate? And just because a PoC is down with, say, Monty Python, does that mean the person is inherently “covering?”

I had to then I have to look at what it means to “act” like a certain group in order to “cover.” It seems to me the working definition is “the observed behavior of a significant number of people within a particular demographic, i.e. white people, men, straight people, etc.” This, however, also steers awfully close to stereotyping that observed group.

Thea

The items on the list that applied to me:I eat gourmet greens.

I am a member of several exclusive institutions.

I am a producer of the culture.

I expect my voice to be heard.

I do not mind when editorialists write in the first person plural.

There were others that applied to me (I have few close friends “of color.”; I speak flawless, unaccented English), but I would never use that kind of language, or have reason to make some sort of comment like “my best friend is Korean!” Usually those sorts of statements are made to assert worldiness, or immunity to being a racist – I have never felt the need to assert those things.

In the same vein, one thing I noticed about the list is that (oddly) it makes the assumption that the list taker is white. (Again, it’s hard to imagine a POC saying “I have a few close friends of colour.” That would just be weird.)

This is interesting in itself since much of the racism experienced by (educated, middle class 2nd+++ gen) Americans of colour consists of being faced by a culture that totally assumes you have the exact same cultural background as the dominant culture. For example, our experience is erased when we our work cafeteria’s “Homestyle Cooking Menu” is mashed potatoes and macaroni & cheese; or when romantic comedies are supposed to express a universal picture of romance, but all the actors are always white.

But back to the list – it contains a weird contradiction in that it feels like the list is assuming the list taker is white, yet the last item (and the last item only) indicates that list is for POCs; I can’t imagine a white person saying “I am a credit to my race.”

In this sense it’s almost like the list is made for POCs who don’t think of themselves as POCs. It reminds me of the scene in See No Evil Hear No Evil, where Richard Pryor plays an adult blind person who has always assumed he is white – and then is told he is black. Upon this revelation, the character grabs his face and exclaims “Does Dad know??” Hahaha…but seriously. There are lots of POCs who don’t “realise” that they are POCs – ie don’t realise that the world racialises them.

It makes me wonder how this kind of POC fits into the concept of covering – the person who covers without recognising that that’s what they’re doing. Or is that what covering is?

That brings me to my next point: while reading the list I wondered about POCs who stay at bed and breakfasts and shop at Crate and Barrel simply because they like to, and not because they’re attempting to give themselves an identity makeover.

Of course we recognise the specific cultural ramifications of the lifestyle choices we make as we make them – but we have to recognise that the point of anti-racism and anti-oppressive work is to create a culture where people can make whatever choices they want. That means that, for example, we want to make space for black folks to listen to gangster rap and not be concerned about being labelled a racial stereotype, AND black folks to make asparagus for dinner and not be considered race traitors.

What I’m trying to say is that if this list (and the concept of covering) is suggesting that any POC who performs behaviour associated with “whiteness” is covering (no matter whether or not they simply enjoy the activity), then I’m not down with that.

PS: I also noticed that the list uses racially problematic language, and I don’t know what to make of that. For example see these two items: “I’m not too ethnic” and “I speak flawless, unaccented English.” Hey, everybody’s ethnic, and everyone speaks English with an accent.

Latoya

I’m always amused at these kinds of lists. I’m not sure what they “prove,” if anything. But then again, I grew up learning that whiteness was to be despised, not embraced, so I have trouble understanding these types of associations.So, going through the list, I thought to myself:

I listen to National Public Radio.

NPR is dominated by white voices, even more so now that News and Notes is off the air. But it’s a news source – is being aware of the news and current events a white thing? I doubt it.

I wear khaki Dockers.

No wait, I kind of agree with this one. I’m not invested in Dockers as a brand and don’t really have knowledge of their practices, but there are clothing companies – most notably, Abercrombie and Fitch – that peddle an aggressively white brand image. And Abercrombie backs that up with discriminating against their employees at every level possible – race, age, attractiveness, weight, ability – they’ve had lawsuits filed for everything. I wouldn’t touch that brand with a ten foot pole. So, I suppose a clothing brand can racialize itself, but only if it is as aggressive as Abercrombie.

I own brown suede bucks.

Are these like saddle shoes?

I eat gourmet greens.

Me too. They’re tasty and they should be available to every one. The premium pricing is some bullshit. Word to Bryant Terry!

I have few close friends “of color.”

How peculiar. All my close friends are POCs. Where do you live?

I married a white woman.

Good for you. I date brown people. So?

I am a child of the suburbs.

Me too. Whiteness was alienating but fading by the time I hit high school.

I furnish my condo à la Crate & Barrel.

So wait, the rest of us don’t shop there? What kind of ish is this? Do I need to email CB2 and tell them to stop sending me catalogs I drool over but never buy anything from? I dare you to try that shit with Ikea…oh wait, maybe Target is brown-sanctioned…

I vacation in charming bed-and-breakfasts.

No thanks. I like the anonymity of hotels.

I have never once been the victim of blatant discrimination.

Damn, where do you live? [Aside: Later in Yoshino's book, we find that Liu was not exactly truthful about this point.]

I am a member of several exclusive institutions.

Nah, not a joiner.

I have been in the inner sanctums of political power.

Define that. Are we talking Congress, or secret societies?

I have been there as something other than an attendant.

But as something other than token representation, I wonder? I’ve been there, it’s not fun.

I have the ambition to return.

Meh, there are many different paths to an end.

I am a producer of the culture.

Old media or new media? Really, I need more clarity here, Liu.

I expect my voice to be heard.

Always.

I speak flawless, unaccented English.

Does anyone speak flawless English? Especially considering our language is in a constant state of flux.

I subscribe to Foreign Affairs.

I don’t like that mag, but I read it, along with the Economist, Newsweek, Utne – are we back on the news is white meme again?

I do not mind when editorialists write in the first person plural.

I do. There’s a whole lot of “We” in this country.

I do not mind how white television casts are.

Man, my raison d’être is pointing that shit out.

I am not too ethnic.

I think I’m disqualified. I passed the “too ethnic” threshhold years ago.

I am wary of minority militants.

Carmen, you should make this our new site tag. “Beware the minority militants and their brainwashed white associates.”

I consider myself neither in exile nor in opposition.

Hmm? Neither do I, but somehow I don’t think we mean the same thing with this turn of phrase.

I am considered a “credit to my race.”

I fucking hate this term. And the whole idea of “talented tenths” “model minorities” and all that other bullshit.

—

Yoshino concludes the section on Liu’s list by exploring other meanings that came to the surface during discussions with his students:

Like many of my colleagues, I sometimes teach seminars to puzzle through problems. A student once posted a mock course description titled “Law and Me,” spoofing the golden thread of narcissism that ravels through our pedagogy. As a student, though, I always welcomed engagements in which the professor was willing to risk transformation. So I teach a seminar to explore the relationship between assimilation and discrimination across race, sex orientation, and religion.

I give my twelve students Liu’s list. Julie, an Asian-American woman, says she is struck by the grammar of the sentences. She points out that each sentence begins with the word “I,” that each takes Liu as its subject and not as its object, and that each is declarative and unhedged by qualifiers. This sense of agency, she continues, extends to content – “I am a member of several exclusive institutions,” “I expect my voice to be heard.” But then she notes this power comes at a price. She says these statements can be paired like contracts – “If you let me into ‘the inner sanctums of political power,’ I will not be ‘too ethnic.’” “If you let me be ‘a producer of the culture,’ I will ‘not mind how white television casts are’.” This, she says, is the deal – if you want to be central, assimilate to the white norm.

I ask the class what they think of this bargain. Jean, also an Asian-American woman, takes Liu to task for being a “banana,” an Asian who is yellow on the outside but white on the inside. She thinks Liu is in denial, as she cannot imagine any self-respecting minority could remain untroubled by the whiteness of television. The comment engenders a murmur of disagreement. She retorts that we need not speculate about whether denial is occurring, as Liu says on the list that he has never been a victim of blatant discrimination, but says elsewhere in the book that he grew up being called “chink.” She says it bothers her that he thinks any form of English could be “unaccented,” and that she thinks of him as an Uncle Tom.

I look at Jean more closely. She has taken a class with me before, in which she said almost nothing, and turned in a perfect exam. What startles me is the passion in her voice. In this class, she will begin a paper, which will later be published. The paper argues that Asian-Americans occupy a kind of closet, in which attributes associated with our culture must be muted in the public sphere. Actors who have made it into the mainstream – such as Keanu Reeves or Dean Cain – closet their racial difference in their very bodies, downplaying their Asian ancestry. Other prominent Asian-Americans, like Liu, cabin their ethnicity in the private spaces of their homes. I read her paper as a primer on Asian covering, and I am startled at how closely it describes my own experience.

[...]Jean kindles my conscience. I still find many items on Liu’s list – the gourmet greens, the suede shoes, the expectation my voice will be heard – unproblematic. Others look more suspect when I revisit them. I realize I accept the whiteness of television casts in part because I dread how Asians will be portrayed if we are included. I also know the absence of Asians from these public portrayals means that Asians – like gays – will be less likely to see ourselves as the protagonists of our lives. I see my students have intuited my long and thoughtless history of not associating with other Asian-Americans – gay students seek me out far more than Asian ones do. I see that my pleasure when I am deemed a “credit to my race” always reinscribes the primacy of an actual or imagined white audience.

Covering is a masterfully complex work that manages to blend together the law, sociology, race, sexuality, gender, religion, societal expectations and cultures is a poetic but poignant way. This is why I selected the book for the read along. As we progress through the work, we will visit various aspects of Yoshino’s discoveries and hopefully reflect on how the concepts he uncovers play out in our lives.

So this leads us to the first question – what was your perception on Liu’s list? (Feel free to comment on the other points brought up by the correspondents or Yoshino, but Liu’s list and it’s assumption about racialized action is the cornerstone of this discussion.)

Share and Enjoy:

Comments

Matt wrote:

I believe this country is in the grip of white supremacy as it is in the grip of heteronormativity. So why is it I am so comfortable covering my Asian identity? It is because Asians are more accepted than gays? Is it because I have always had a place to elaborate my racial self? Is it because racial covering does not feel like a response based on fear?

What an interesting passage. Is it because Asian-ness can’t always (though sometimes, see Keanu Reeves and Dean Cain) be hidden the way queer-ness can? I sympathize with this:

Asian-Americans occupy a kind of closet, in which attributes associated with our culture must be muted in the public sphere.

Posted 18 Aug 2009 at 12:03 pm ¶
atlasien wrote:

I’ve ordered the book… can’t read along yet, but looking forward to it.

My immediate reaction to the list was, “what a tool!”

I knew before you even mentioned it that the “I have never once been the victim of blatant discrimination” list item was going to be B.S.

I think what Liu is listing is really a contract of honorary whiteness. I once wrote up an extended metaphor of honorary whiteness:

Being an “honorary white” is like not receiving a formal invitation to the party, but at the last minute, another invitee says you might as well tag along.

You show up at the party and stand in the doorway, leaning against the frame. You have a drink. You’ll have a great time, you tell yourself.

You notice that in the center of the room, people are dancing and having a really good time. You think about getting up moving further inside, but that might draw too much attention to yourself. Maybe they’d figure out that you don’t really belong.

People walk up and talk to you. Normal, normal, normal.

You notice there are some people outside the party who can’t come in, and they’re glaring at your back. It makes you nervous. Maybe you should give up on the party and go outside and talk to them instead. Some of them look like nice people. But it doesn’t look like they want to talk to you. And if the people inside see you talking to the people outside, they might slam the door on you.

Then someone inside the party slams the door shut on you anyway, with no warning. Damn, that hurt. Your fingers got mashed. You’re outside now. CHING CHONG!

Then someone opens the door again, and you resume leaning against the doorframe, nursing your bruised fingers. You mention that someone slammed the door on you, but no one wants to talk about it.

The party continues. You’re sick of it by now. But you can’t just walk away… it’s your job/school/life.

Based on that list, Liu has forgotten ever having the door slammed on him. In fact, he’d be fine staying inside and slamming the door on someone else.

I think I’m starting to understand “covering” from these quotes. Is it both “acting white” (in the value-laden reductive sense) PLUS the value-neutral “taking on characteristics of the dominant culture” process? So it exists on two levels depending who is doing the interpreting?

However, based on Yoshino’s quote, I don’t understand how he is defining Asian-American identity without being simplistic and reductive. Being Asian-American means having a hybrid identity in the first place. E.g. if Crate & Barrel is the white store, then what is the Asian-American store supposed to be? I really don’t get that part at all.

Posted 18 Aug 2009 at 12:19 pm ¶
Sharese wrote:

This article certainly challenges a lot of my ideas of how “whiteness” is defined in our society.

When I hear people say that someone who is non-white is “acting white” it kinda sets me on edge.

Really? Being educated, caring what goes on in the world, and dressing in business casual clothing is “white”?

What is interesting is that I cannot say that I relate to most of the stuff on Liu’s list- yet I am white.

Very interesting article though- my thoughts have been challenged and there is much to think about.

Posted 18 Aug 2009 at 12:28 pm ¶
itsumoidou wrote:

I kind of think this list is poppycock. No one is the same as another, so why should you feel ashamed to like NPR, or anything for that matter, because it’s not associated with your race. It only limits your own individuality and reinforce racist stereotypes about certain ethnicities. Nothing is “white,” it’s only your perception that you place on certain activities, behaviors, or objects. To me, it says more about what you think about yourself and your race than what it actually says about the behaviors, objects, and activities that are labeled as “white”.

Posted 18 Aug 2009 at 12:29 pm ¶
GueraLola wrote:

where do I start. I think you guys new me as gothguera a.ka Goth lola or something. Going to a high school with the majority were people of color and only 3% were white. I was the few (if not only kid) with with a white dad and Latino mom. I won’t lie, it was hard, people said I wasn’t Mexican, but then those same kids would say to me when I got awards and good grades I was Mexican. In the freshman year I had a lot of people asking about my race. I’m bitter yes, but I wish I was not resentful them I wish I should have said “I’m human, thank you very much.” But no. As a result of my angry I tried to shock people, thus I became “more” morbid(Note, I was always was a little morbid even as a child.) I was angrgy at this kids who tried to be all “gangster” and tough yet they were scared of a girl they bullied for wearing black and loving the cemeteries . Yes in a way I was a wannabe, but at the time my parents were strict and my mother paid for my clothes and she refused to buy anything that she did not approve of. Later I meet people who had similar interests and were also of mixed heritage. I guess I was never “goth” but a pathetic wannabe but very morbid (I blame me parents) , I just wanted to belong. I later found friends and new there were people had had same interest as I did. Indie music, books, and black comedy.
here is my list
- I dob’t listen to NPR but I do like prairies home companion
- I eat gourmet greens.
-I wear khaki Dockers. kinda
-I” owned” brown suede bucks.
-I most of my friends are “of color.”
-I usually been attracted to white guys mostly blond Swedish types and some Asian and Latino guys.
I am a child of the suburbs. (hell no)
I furnish my condo à la Crate & Barrel.(overprice, I prefer Ikea and second hand stores)
I vacation in charming bed-and-breakfasts.(too poor)
I have never once been the victim of blatant discrimination.(I have )
I am a member of several exclusive institutions.(Does honor roll count? Debate team? Third party voter?)
I have been in the inner sanctums of political power.(debate team and freelance writer)
I have been there as something other than an attendant.(Not really)
I am a producer of the culture.(I hope)
I expect my voice to be heard.(not to that are ignoring me.)
I speak flawless, unaccented English.(Not to an Englishman)
I subscribe to Foreign Affairs. (I have dual citizenship)
I do not mind how white television casts are.(sometimes)
I am not too ethnic.(define ethic? I spoke spainsh and English at the same time I and read and write in both languages and plan to take more classes in Spanish so that maybe I an get a job in Argentina and marry Blond or red headed Argentinian man)
I am wary of minority militants.(Take over California Mexico! Reclaim your land! No, I am not. )
I am considered a “credit to my race.” (i resent people who say that to me especially if they criticized me for my mixed heritage.
- I like old movies
- I like indie movies
- I like WES Anderson
- I like British comedies like Are you being served and keeping up appearances and As time goes by and Mr.Bean
- LIKE vintage style
– like weird cartoons
and blogs like this.

Posted 18 Aug 2009 at 12:30 pm ¶
B wrote:

That was a valuable entry, thank you for taking the time to write that (and thanks to the correspondents for offering their reactions).

One thing that struck me about the list is that many of those things are influenced by the community in which we grow up, and therefore can be a bit out of someone’s control. If a POC is born and raised in a primarily white community, they will probably like and dislike the same things their white peers do – not out of any desire to cover, but because we’re shaped by our surroundings. The concept of covering seems to suggest that no POC would ever genuinely like these things, which I think is a little odd. It seems like rejecting things you do like that are “white” and purposely taking up “POC” interests is a political act – not that that’s a bad thing, though, but possibly not something that everyone is willing to do, because giving up something you enjoy isn’t always pleasant. I also found myself nodding along with Wendi, suggesting that acting not-white is a bad thing pained me a little. I think that the rejection of POC-behavior says more than taking up white-behavior.

Posted 18 Aug 2009 at 12:41 pm ¶
Rachel_in_WY wrote:

I use this book in a junior-level course I teach, and I tried using the list exercise once to prompt class discussion, but I revised it so they could choose any aspect of their identity (race, sexuality, gender, whatever) when making the list. Much of it turned out to be too personal and too difficult to discuss, even though we had developed a very open and relaxed (relatively safe) environment. The interesting thing is that it seemed like it was easier to discuss covering concerning gender and sexuality than race. For instance, several girls admitted to laughing or staying silent when friends made sexist jokes. I’ve been pondering the various meanings of this difference since then.

Posted 18 Aug 2009 at 1:17 pm ¶
Brandon wrote:

Is it just me, or did half of Yoshino’s list look like a recycling of posts from “Stuff White People Like”?

Latoya: your response is just perfect. Perfect. As I read through Yoshino’s list, I couldn’t help but think that some of his items only serve to reinforce stereotypes, or even create new ones. Eating gourmet greens? Wearing khakis?

Whatever.

And I’m all for the new site tag.

Posted 18 Aug 2009 at 1:30 pm ¶
Brandon wrote:

Excuse me… it was Liu’s list.

Posted 18 Aug 2009 at 1:43 pm ¶
politicallyincorrect wrote:

This list sounds like Henry Louis Gates, he would have probably have gotten a 100% if the cops didn’t arrest him

Posted 18 Aug 2009 at 2:34 pm ¶
Chris wrote:

I had the same problem growing up. In high school, I was a huge Weezer fan, tuned into 99.1 FM daily, bleached and dyed my hair, and wore collared shirts and Airwalks.

I tried to mingle with other Filipinos, but was rejected several times, even though friends on my block who I’d grown up with were readily accepted into that clique upon entering high school.

One reason I was given was because I was a “banana.” I was acting too white. I was “yellow on the outside and white on the inside.”

Upon closer inspection, the Filipinos I knew were big 2pac fans, listened to 95.5 and 93.9, wore DDTP shirts (some even going full-on-DC style and cutting the sleeves and bottoms into little strips and knotting the ends), and had the latest Jordans on shortly after they hit the Foot Locker.

I now realize that this is an odd dichotomy – either you assimilate into the latest trends and lifestyle of the DC suburbs, or you’re “acting white.”

It didn’t matter that I still enjoyed eating my mother’s Adobo or Sinigang, or that my skin was of the same hue (or darker) than most of my Filipino counterparts, or that I grew up dancing tinikling as a child, called every grown-up “auntie” and “uncle,” or even spent saturdays celebrating said aunties’ and uncles’ birthdays alongside those same kids who treated me as an outcast during the school week – I wasn’t Filipino so long as my interests were in-line with popular white culture.

It’s also disheartening that the same reasons I’d stated in the previous paragraph prevents me from being fully accepted as being white (I have a white co-worker who constantly tells me “you’re a minority, so…”), even though my last name is Welsh and my dad is a white guy from Kentucky.

So, I’m sorta stuck being a minority that’s not fully accepted by either community, whether I’m consciously trying to fit in or not. I have a feeling that many mixed-race children have a similar experience.

Posted 18 Aug 2009 at 3:01 pm ¶
sandeep wrote:

not much to add here, only that i don’t really believe any of the aforementioned activeties are “white”. i don’t really think any activeties are “white”.

Posted 18 Aug 2009 at 3:55 pm ¶
jen* wrote:

I wanted to get the book. Thought about it. Put it on my Amazon wish list. And procrastinated some more. I’m thinking that I’ll just be getting the nuggets from here and then decide if I actually wanna put in the time on this book.

I’m definitely interested in what, if anything, more Yoshino had to say concerning Liu’s list. Thea hit the nail on the head when she said:

But back to the list – it contains a weird contradiction in that it feels like the list is assuming the list taker is white, yet the last item (and the last item only) indicates that list is for POCs; I can’t imagine a white person saying “I am a credit to my race.” (emphasis mine)

As I knew the list applied to Liu, it came across more to me as him trying to prove [to us or to himself?] that he is white/almost white/”as good as” white. Especially when, as Sharese (3.) indicated, those items do not actually apply to all white people. So Liu seems to be treating his Asian-ness as something to overcome, and demonstrates his overcompensation with this list. (I almost got the impression that if it weren’t for shame he may have written the last line of his list: “I consider myself a credit to my race.”)

And Brandon is right – at least a few of those items are also on StuffWhitePeopleLike.

BTW – what are gourmet greens? Is that the nonspeller’s way to refer to arugula? or are there some kind of rich people’s collards that I just don’t know about?

Posted 18 Aug 2009 at 4:31 pm ¶
Latoya Peterson wrote:

jen* –

LMAO at rich people’s collards.

I’m calling everything that from now on.

“This recipe says what? Swiss chard? Uh-huh, rich people’s collards…”

Posted 18 Aug 2009 at 4:35 pm ¶
Zahra wrote:

Oh, I love Kenji Yoshino! His book is brilliant, and I love his concept of “covering” and the uses to which he puts it, although I will add that this discussion here, focusing on Liu’s list, doesn’t provide a good introduction to it. (Yoshino is much smarter than to condemn Liu for his assimiliation–part of his point is that he does some of the same things and reamins untroubled.)

The list is fascinating enough to discuss on its own, though. It fills me with a desire to argue back–many of its items seem more class-based markers to me, which opens up the question of mapping class onto race….But because I am white, I question that reaction–is it just my own defensiveness? Is it the way I have seen the “not black enough card” played to hurt the woman I love? Maybe a little of both.

I can see myself in a number of the items here, but it seems strikingly different from a list an actual white person might make–largely because Liu completely leaves off how other people treat him, which is where I think whiteness most becomes apparent.

Posted 18 Aug 2009 at 4:41 pm ¶
Juniper d wrote:

Making a list like this seems largely an exercise to pass time to me — I don’t think it imparts a whole lot of insight. I am particularly confused by “I am a producer of the culture.” Does being — for example — an influential writer or professor or business leader impart whiteness somehow? Just because historically this was the realm of whiteness doesn’t mean that people of color who move into places of influence lose their ethnicity. That just seems stupid to me and doesn’t acknowledge that the influence of p.o.c. is already and increasingly part of our culture.

I listen to NPR. I have a degree in English, and I didn’t even focus on “ethnic literature.” I speak Standard American English. My grandparents immigrated here, not my parents. I grew up in the suburbs. (But, then, so did my African-American, Asian-American, and Hispanic neighbors.) I married a white man. I am wary of minorty militants, sure, because they are wary of me because I’m mestiza. Does that make me white? Am I supposed to feel guilty? I’m not sure what any of us are supposed to get out of lists like this.

Posted 18 Aug 2009 at 4:52 pm ¶
atlasien wrote:

@Zahra: I don’t see how it’s possible NOT to condemn Liu.

I’m very “assimilated” by many standards. I married a white man, I live in a very non-Asian (though also non-white) region, I don’t speak any Asian language, I’m artistically Anglophile… but I’m also a militant complainer and unapologetically Asian. The Japanese side of my heritage comes out in things like grilling mackerel instead of steak on the 4th of July. I refuse any obligation to perform my heritage in any way that I don’t personally enjoy… whether that obligation is laid on me by white people or not.

But as someone who has been involved in tons of online battles over general racism and anti-Asian racism, I’ve developed a deep disgust of people like Liu who refuse to acknowledge solidarity with other Asians who aren’t as lucky and privileged as him. They really make things much, much worse for the rest of us. One of the common issues in discussing anti-Asian racism is convincing many people that it even exists — “but you people are doctors and lawyers!” — and in any big debate it seems one or two Asians like Liu are always ready to jump in and help minimize anti-Asian racism. They are liars who lie to themselves and lie to everyone else. I’m not condemning him for being “assimilated”… I’m condemning him for his I-got-mine-ism and cowardly lack of solidarity.

Posted 18 Aug 2009 at 5:08 pm ¶
Samia wrote:

Jean’s interpretation of Lui’s list was spot-on, IMO. I get the feeling Liu is trying to prove something to himself. “I am a producer of the culture?” “…flawless, unaccented English?” And he makes a point of telling he us doesn’t mind “how white television casts are.” I dunno, if I was him, I’d probably say “I’m okay with the racial makeup of television casts.” Liu’s choice of words is illuminating, to say the least. I don’t think we can really decide anything about his character (Good Person/Bad Person) from this list. If anything, we’re learning about some possible insecurities.

I cringed at the term “banana” as employed by Yoshino’s students for several reasons…

I can relate to the statements about having mostly white friends. I grew up in an extremely white external (school, public) environment. I also grew up in an extremely judgmental brown home environment, and being around other PoC made me self-conscious because as I entered school, I became more and more insecure about my own brownness. I felt like my skin was lying to people somehow. I didn’t live up to the rest of my family. So white friends seemed the easy way to go (of course, it wasn’t easy– I had to give up a lot to fit in). White kids generally wanted me to ignore parts of myself, but since these were the same parts that I didn’t feel were good enough for me to claim other PoC as my friends, it seemed to work out. A bandaid of sorts.

Sad? YES. I am JUST NOW getting over this. I now have PoC friends not from my exact group, and let me tell you, it’s effing GREAT. As for bonding with other desis, my years of not associating with them has just made things harder. Now when I meet another desi and they ask if I know X, Y, or Z Brown Person, it’s just odd to them that I have no brown friends here. Once again, I give off the air that I hate my people, that I want to be white. I’ve really dug myself a hole here.

I’m a child of the desi diaspora, and one of the reasons most of my friends have been non-desis is because I’m afraid of judgment. I left Islam, the majority faith in Bangladesh and a minority one in India (I’m sure you can see the myriad ways this can become awkward in any given situation). My schooling in Canadian and USian institutions has left me only marginally able to piece together sentences in my mothertongue (although I *understand* it perfectly, oddly enough). I have family who emigrated to the US as adults, and they like to make fun of my Bengali, which has made me expect even less of people who AREN’T related to me. My cousins don’t know what it’s like to have something, to belong, and then lose it in childhood through assimilation. I was born in the white West; they weren’t. What’s funny is that they are doing their best to “act white” in their own misguided ways, which is hilarious to me because I grew up here and understand some cultural nuances some of my family clearly don’t. But making fun of them? Why would I do that???

Terms like ABCD/Oreo/banana and whatever else just get to me. I feel like white culture and white judgment have just seeped into everything. And now we’re judging our brothers and sisters as harshly as some white people judge us. Divide and conquer– again. I don’t understand why we can’t just stand together.

I identified most with Wendi’s responses. I think a lot of us feel caught sometimes. We question our thoughts and behaviors in ways that others don’t have to. And it’s often because we’re just *that* scrutinized. Sometimes I’m the only _________ a person knows. I feel I’m representing somehow, and it’s no longer as simple as just being myself. People who don’t know what that’s like can easily write me off as being too analytical or political. But they just don’t get it.

I kinda wanna ask Andrea how doing yoga means she’s acting white? Maybe she feels it is appropriative? I took some yoga classes at my predominantly white post-secondary institution, and that shite was weird as hell. Learning yoga from a white person shouldn’t have felt wrong, but it kinda did. Hmm.

Sorry for the length of my comment…

Posted 18 Aug 2009 at 5:24 pm ¶
octogalore wrote:

It’s interesting to think about the application of this list to adopted POC. It probably applies 50%, give or take, to my sisters, who are Asian adoptees.

I think certain traits are not only based on race but also geography and parental likes/dislikes. So it seems difficult to distill which are intentional covering traits and which are simply preferences based on proximity and choice.

At the same time, some of the listed items seem to me more determinative than others. Having most or all white friends, for example — that doesn’t even apply to many white people. (For the record, my sisters both married Asian men — one dated only POC, of differing races, and the other dated mostly white men). However, being ” a member of several exclusive institutions” and “in the inner sanctums of political power” both seem to be more class- than race-based. Or better stated, they are race-based to the extent that race and class intersect, but not in the sense that they are associated with selling out in the way that not having friends of a certain race or races might be.

Unless of course, the “exclusive institutions” have recently excluded based on race, gender, religion, etc — like say the Jonathan Club in downtown LA. I believe it’s only in the past 10-15 years that they’ve allowed in women, Jews, and possibly POC. As two out of three of those, I feel odd whenever I have a meeting there.

Posted 18 Aug 2009 at 5:36 pm ¶
Asianlawyer wrote:

This reminds me of an anecdote involving some friends of mine and myself. During my third year of law school I got into this conversation about Michelle Malkin and of course the words “white washed race traitor” came from my mouth. I then went on this rant about how Michelle Malkin is a sympton of an over assmilationist sickness in the Asian American community. Of my two friends who were listening to me (both white, well one a blond blue eyed Latina), one who grew up around many Asian Americans disputed my thesis. The other (the Latina) was confused and asked me what “white washed” meant. Before I could explain it, my other friend goes “oh someone who does not do stereotypical Asian things like speaking flawless accentless English, attending a high priced university as an undergrad, has a lot of white friends, goes to law school, is really outspoken…” (all the while pointing at me). My response was, “you know you could have just said someone who joined the College Republicans when he was an undergad and made your point (yes I am ashamed to admit I was one of them).” Long story short, that shut me up for a little while at the time.

Posted 18 Aug 2009 at 7:52 pm ¶
jen* wrote:

So, swiss chard is a “gourmet green”? ok. I’ll have to make a note of that. I’m completely cool with being schooled in the ways of high-falutin’ turnips, mustards, and collards [the greens of my youth]. I just wanna be let in on the code, y’all – “cover” or no.

Posted 18 Aug 2009 at 8:02 pm ¶
Tony wrote:

I always find the phrase “Act (insert race here)” to be rather insulting and racist in & of itself.

It acts as though all people of a race act a certain way.

Like all blacks dress in hip-hop style clothing, all asians know martial arts or all whites listen to NPR.

Also ,it denies one can fit some of the stuff without fitting all of it.

Most of my interests are shared by more white people than non-whites, but it’s not because I strive to find ‘white things to like’.
It’s just that I like slightly odder things.

If Voltaire & Emilie Autumn are playing in town tonight,and you’d rather go see either Jay Z or (excuse me while I search my mental database for popular mainstream white musician…are Nickleback still popular?)

Anyway, the point is if you’d rather go see ANYONE other than Voltaire & Emilie, then odds are I won’t be hanging out with you alot, or atleast, not as much as others who’d rather go see them.

Posted 18 Aug 2009 at 9:09 pm ¶
pilot wrote:

I really liked this post. As I went down the list, I was also thinking, “Man, what a tool,” even though I could check more than a few things on that list.

Then I got to the last item and the point of it really hit me. Being mixed race, I was often able to pass in certain circles (more often than not, I was just ambigiously not-white). I think that living in a predominately white area where I was awarded for passing pushed me to try to be white anymore. Until at one point in high school, my brother straight up told me, “They will always see you as Asian.” I thought what Liu was saying, even though he felt white, and that he passed as white, whites would still consider him “a credit to his race.”

Funny thing on greens… having a Korean mom and a dad born in the South with Italian heritage, I’ve eaten greens in almost every way possible!

Posted 18 Aug 2009 at 9:24 pm ¶
ACW wrote:

Hmm. It’s kind of hard to read someone’s tone from something written in list format, but does anyone else notice a touch of self-loathing in Liu’s list? I’m wondering whether he hates himself for “acting white”, for “not being white”, or for his gross stereotyping…
I must find this book. Thanks for the heads-up.

Posted 18 Aug 2009 at 10:00 pm ¶
Jessica wrote:

“Asian-Americans occupy a kind of closet, in which attributes associated with our culture must be muted in the public sphere.”

I wonder if this has to do with the “exotic” quality that’s given to Asian culture? This makes me think that the attributes associated with our culture are attributes that whites have given to Asian culture, and have somehow made these attributes a given in an over-arching kind of way for all Asians without any differentiation to the differences between different Asian cultures. Any time I’ve tried to mute anything having to do with Asianness in the public sphere has always been because of what I think white people “expect” of Asian culture- and that all Asians “must” be Chinese (I’m Korean-Am). And even though some generalizations may be true, not all of them are. And I feel like I have to somehow break this presumption that all Asians are the same.

Great post, by the way.

Posted 18 Aug 2009 at 10:01 pm ¶
jstele wrote:

I think the distinction needs to be made between assimilation and selling out. I don’t think speaking perfect English is selling out. Nor is listening to NPR, decorating with Crate and Barrel items, or dressing in khakis. We live in a white dominated society, so of course, we are going to be influenced by what is in our environment. It is more a reflection of American culture than it is about being white. I actually think it would be fake to affect certain traits that one identifies with one’s race.

As long as one takes pride in one’s race and culture and honors their heritage, I don’t think that is selling out. Superficial markers like the way one dresses is not a good way to gauge one’s ethnic identification. I just find it strange that people would expect a person born and/or raised in America to speak with a foreign accent or dress in a foreign way. Or to be that different from the majority of Americans. Unless you grew up in an ethnic enclave, you are going to be influenced by the popular culture, which is predominantly white-dominated.

As far as having lots of white friends, I don’t think it is necessarily a reflection of an identification with whiteness. Maybe you live in an area with few people of color. Unless you avoid befriending people that look like you, that is not selling out.

I really don’t understand why white people are not called out for getting tans. Perhaps they are trying to look South American. But no, they are not called out because it is considered an ideal of whiteness.

How is studying Buddhism a form of whiteness? Buddhism is an Asian religion, so if anything, one would be trying to be more Asian. Of course, I don’t believe that, but it’s strange how whiteness is defined.

Why can whites study martial arts and other cultures and stay white while people of color who listen to NPR have to be considered whitewashed?

Posted 18 Aug 2009 at 11:54 pm ¶
jstele wrote:

I think too many people on this thread and elsewhere in this world are reinforcing the notion that whiteness is universal. So one can be white and decorate their home with Buddhist statues and Asian antiques without compromising their identity.

Posted 18 Aug 2009 at 11:56 pm ¶
Jennifer P wrote:

Yeah, I was just thinking that a lot of the list sounds like it’s straight out of “Stuff White People Like”; the rest seems straight out of Peggy MacIntosh’s “White Privilege” essay. But I was surprised that only a few people upthread seemed to focus on how much this is about CLASS privilege and upper-middle-class tastes. Wasn’t it mostly less affluent white people (or those who pander to them) who called Obama an elitist for buying arugula? As a white person from a middle class (but definitely NOT upper-middle) background, I identified with maybe 1/2 of the list (NPR, greens, suburbs, B&B’s, some access to institutional power, though hardly what I’d call the inner sanctums), but I’m acutely conscious that most of these tastes and privileges are things that I acquired well into adulthood (largely while attending grad school with people from much more affluent families and/or elite colleges), and which frankly to my working and lower-middle class relatives define me as a snob and a freak, which I guess is the white people’s equivalent of being told one is “acting white.”

FWIW, I actually DO mind the whiteness of TV newscasts, admire minority militants, and consider myself part of an opposition. But frankly, in my family, being politically progressive and actively anti-racist is really seen as just part of being a snobby overeducated egghead totally out of touch with the real world, and most of my more politically radical friends (of all colors) are more highly educated and affluent than my conservative acquaintances.

Posted 19 Aug 2009 at 12:03 am ¶
Jeff wrote:

Hey, I’m fairly new here, and after reading several posts, including this one in particular, have a question.

First though, let me establish this: I am white. My girlfriend’s parents (chinese immigrants) thought I was albino when they first saw me. I have blond hair, blue eyes, and a height slightly above average. While I have a tiny native american admixture (5% Cherokee or so), it certainly isn’t evident, and I am generally assumed to be entirely white. I am also apparently proud of my whiteness, something for which I have no justification, and of which I wasn’t even aware until I wrote that description of myself just there. While writing I realized there was no reason to include some of those details other than to brag. But my illogical pride in my racial appearance is not the point here (I don’t think, correct me if I’m wrong).

My question is this: What sort of acculturation is forced upon persons of color, and what, precisely, would be a better system or cultural norm? I am confused because so much of what is considered “acting white” seems to me to simply be acting sensibly. Speaking the form of English spoken by the majority of the population in one’s area of residence seems sensible to me, not a sign of betrayal. Earning an education cannot, in my mind, possibly be construed as negative (I am inherently hostile to those who claim that knowledge has a race [I have seen references to "white knowledge" for instance]. Science has no racial preference. Some historians ignore people of color, as do some experts in other fields, but that does not mean that as a general rule education is “white”.). The fact that these are the only two forms of forced whitewashing I can think of at the moment likely says a great deal about me, but then again it’s five in the morning.

The reason I’m really curious is, atlasien’s extended similie hit me like a gut punch. I felt like shit reading it, but honestly couldn’t understand what dance floor in the center of the party, so to speak, s/he felt excluded from? I know that opportunities for persons of color are often limited, but it seemed as if attending the party signified achieving parity in objective terms (after all, Asian-Americans have achieved substantially more than parity in most objective measures). Was the reference rather something about not being able to display openly one’s ethnic heritage? If so, in an ideal world, how would one display one’s ethnic heritage?

God, I’m rambling. Point is I’m another guilt-wracked white liberal looking for a way to be a part of the solution, but not really sure what the solution is.

Posted 19 Aug 2009 at 4:52 am ¶
Christie wrote:

I thought the concept of “covering” was when you did certain things with the motivation of trying to fit in, in the majority (in this case white) culture. But if you do certain things not with that motivation, but rather with the motivation that you just like those things, then perhaps that is not considered “covering”? Also, maybe covering would include cases where you avoid doing certain things that you would otherwise have done, simply because those things will make you stand out in the majority (in this case, white) culture, and you wish to avoid standing out or appearing different?

To take a simple-ish example of my younger child, what is “covering” and what is not? He tries to fit into the majority (Japanese) culture, however his face (mixed Indian and white) and slight accent forever mark him as different. He is 10 years old, in Japanese school, and came to Japan from England at age 4.

- He loves Japanese anime and can sing many anime theme songs. I would not call this “covering”. It is more a product of growing up in a certain environment.

- He speaks Japanese as well as he possibly can, and *hates* it when people point out his slight accent. He is frustrated with himself for not being able to get rid of his slight accent. I guess attempts to get rid of his accent could be considered attempts at covering?

- He does not want to get saddled with the role of babysitter for new foreign kids in his school, just because he speaks English. However, he is happy to play with other foreign kids if he genuinely likes them.

etc. Basically, as other posters pointed out, certain things may be inevitable, depending on the culture you grow up in (what is the dominant culture in your area or school). Other things come down to personal quirks and preferences. I think “covering” is when you are somehow ashamed of being your “real” self in public, if the particular aspect of your “real” self that is in question is an aspect that will somehow mark you as foreign or different to the dominant culture. So you may avoid certain things or make a point of doing certain things, just to fit in better.

As a white adult living in Japan, who came here at age 23, I do try very hard to fit in and follow Japanese culture as much as possible, when I am out in public. But is this really “covering”, or is it just a case of trying to follow the norms and rules of the country I happen to be living in, i.e. “When in Rome…” . Maybe this is different from “covering”, I think, since this is actually a foreign country to me (different from the theme of this post, which is trying to cover “ethnic” parts of yourself, when you have grown up as a POC in the U.S.)?

As to Liu’s list, I would also have to say that I do not do/agree with most of the points on his list, although I am white and from the U.S. It is another case of stereotyping, I guess.

Posted 19 Aug 2009 at 5:56 am ¶
TierListE wrote:

*disclaimer* This response is long and makes no sense (have yet to sleep and my head feels full of mothballs) but my crazy self spent too long writing this so I’m hitting “post”. You’ve been warned.

In what is not uncommon on this site, I’m sure, I can be perceived both as “militant minority” (political/anti-racist views) and one that “acts white” (most activities and hobbies), though this list isn’t too similar to mine because I think we hung out with different groups of people.

-White boyfriend (and short dating history), though my attraction isn’t limited to white men.

-Neutral wardrobe; I can’t call them “white” because they’re department/Target/etc clothes that I see on all races. I do have one cute dress that came from an urban-type store.

-Social group is mainly white. My close friends first met in college are black (majority-raised- minorities like myself, though, if that means anything).

-My accent is mostly newscaster with hint of southern.

-Listen to various music, including rock, alternative, etc (though honestly my whole family does, including the ones that most will agree don’t “act white”, so . . .*shrug*)

-I play rockband, RPGs and other videogames, read fantasy/sci-fi, and preform well academically.

But with my anti-racist views I can feel very, very far from the white people I hang around sometimes, and it’s gotten me into more hurtful/awkward situations with the majority than with other blacks/minorities; because of how “inoffensively black” I was, I was assumed to agree with their ideologies, and was/am approached to agree with hurtful jokes, comments, and politics. Or to make them feel better about holding racist views on blacks. Once I was pretty much pushed to agree that black women are (generally, ya’know, for the most part) less attractive than other women! D: If I was more stereotypically black, I probably wouldn’t even have met those people.

And with me, as loathe as I am to admit it, in middle and 2/3rds of high school I *didn’t* want to be around other black people and thought myself better than most of them, even the ones (which in my case, were most) that were kind to me. Because of that I stuck to white activities with a vengeance, and I know that affects me now in what I know and learned to like, and even though my entrance to the hobbies weren’t the purest, the ones I stuck to I genuinely enjoyed, and I still do today, and I don’t feel bad about it at all. I have seen too many “angry” blacks in dockers, and virulently anti-black blacks in urban-wear to judge on a person’s looks and interests.

It’s not a person’s interests that makes me weary of self-hate, but of how they present them. *sigh* Pretty much how I presented them as a teen; very proudly, unnecessarily often, and with much scorn of ever partaking in so-called minority activities. In person, the distancing has been very obvious (I mean, that’s their whole goal); it’s harder to tell on the internet. Now I try to do what I enjoy, no matter what group I’m supposedly acting like, and try not to judge other peoples choices/interests.

Posted 19 Aug 2009 at 7:04 am ¶
little mixed girl wrote:

I think I read Liu’s list sometime in university…maybe for a class. I can’t remember when and why I read it, but I remember doing so.

Unlike many people here, I don’t remember having a strong reaction to the list.
Why should I care if he listens to NPR?

One thing that I hate is accusations of “acting white” or “selling out”.
When I was born, I don’t remember signing a contract to represent minorities in a certain way.

Liu’s list seems like a compilation of the various things that someone in the suburbs might like, so, it doesn’t seem too remarkable to me.

I did notice that a number of people took issue to his point of not being a victim of blatant racism.
Actually, I can see where he’s coming from.
I said something similar during a university class and a white boy (of all people lol) said that it was impossible for a minority in the US to not have experienced racism.

However, when I judge something that happened to me as racist or not, I look at the person who is doing the action.
Can I really hold a mentally retarded person, a 6th grader, or someone who was not brought up with the concepts of multiculturalism and mutual respect of different cultures to the same standard that I hold for my peers?

As a linguist, I must point out that everyone speaks with an accent.
Regardless of what you think or what some dude on TV says, we all have an accent.

I think that Wendi’s first 2 paragraphs line up with what my mom experienced as a child. And I agree with the person who said that minorities are spending too much time trying to divide ourselves.

Posted 19 Aug 2009 at 8:59 am ¶
atlasien wrote:

@Jeff: the “party” is whiteness. In various different scenarios it can stand in for power, access to social networks, universality, or “normality”. Honorary whiteness is a contract that includes certain people of color at the edges as long as they don’t question the institution itself.

To represent the dynamic in punchy dialogue form, I heard a funny Chinese-American guy tell this quote. He was summing up a common reaction on first meeting people in a very conservative part of the country:

“I really really really respect your people. Unlike the blacks, Jews and homos who should all burn in hell. Now shake my hand for five minutes or I’ll kill you.”

And just as a piece of helpful advice, white guilt can become a dangerous trap. If you’re interested in finding out more you can check out a piece I wrote here. Also, I don’t think there’s ever anything wrong in white people being proud of their ethnic identity, which includes things such as physical appearance. Pride connected to specifically white racial identity, however, is irredeemably poisoned by association with white supremacy.

Posted 19 Aug 2009 at 9:02 am ¶
jstele wrote:

Jeff,

“I know that opportunities for persons of color are often limited, but it seemed as if attending the party signified achieving parity in objective terms (after all, Asian-Americans have achieved substantially more than parity in most objective measures). ”

You should reread that section about the party. Being an “honorary” white is about being grudgingly invited to the party, but not being truly welcome. The door can and does slam in your face.

By saying that Asians have achieved “more than parity”, you’re really saying that they have earned more they truly deserve. I hope you know how racist that sounds.

It’s not true that Asians have achieve more than parity in society. From a superficial perspective, you may see Asians with good jobs making a lot of money and think they are doing well. But that doesn’t take into account the glass ceiling and the other discrimination they face. How well do you think Asians are represented in the entertainment industry? You need to dig deeper before making such statements.

Posted 19 Aug 2009 at 10:14 am ¶
Zahra wrote:

@atlasien–

Yes, but I think there’s a difference between condemning Liu for being assimilated than for his lack of activism and solidarity. I am irritated by those who use the “acting white” meme to do the former (personal baggage, perhaps).

But on the latter, it’s hard for me as a white person to condemn the way any POC chooses to deal with racism, even if it’s denial. People like Liu might be annoying, but the larger problem is a racist world built primarily by people who look like me. I can understand why you would be much angrier, but I have to watch my own privilege.

I haven’t read The Accidental Asian in its entirety yet (my partner swooped it up) but I know Liu modeled his collection of essays very deliberately on James Baldwin’s Notes of a Native Son, and the fact that he’s making a parallel with African-American experience struck me as an activist choice. He may be just as cowardly as he seems here, but I’m not convinced that the list isn’t a disingenuous rhetorical strategy, given that the book later discusses his experience being called racist epithets.

@ Christie

I think you pretty much have Yoshino’s definition of covering down. As I recall he distinguishes it as a step above being closetted, or actively trying to hide the things that make you different or outside the mainstream–the difference between lying about his gayness and just not mentioning his boyfriend at a social event, for instance.

Later in the book, he talks about legal cases where black women, who are legally protected from being fired for being black, were legally fired for wearing natural hairstyles on the job. The law is requiring them to cover.

It’s a very useful concept for discrimination and civil rights struggles at this moment, at least in the US.

Posted 19 Aug 2009 at 10:37 am ¶
atlasien wrote:

I’ll give Liu the benefit of a doubt… if he’s describing an older mentality from the perspective of a later, more enlightened one. If he’s not, I’ll still think, “what a tool.”

Seriously, the thinking summed up in Liu’s list is poisonous.. it’s just one further step to get to Michelle Malkin territory.

A lot of Asian-Americans are scared to speak up and complain. I understand that. But at least they can stay on the sidelines when more outspoken Asians speak up… instead of jumping in on the racist side and blathering about how lucky they are and how nice white people have been to them and how that means other Asians don’t have the grounds to complain about anything, ever.

If it sounds like I’m bitter about this, I am. It happened to me recently in a board totally unrelated to race… someone told a really offensive Asian joke, a couple people mildly objected, and then all of a sudden “what do you have to complain about, you people are doctors and lawyers” came up, and then someone said “well I’m an Asian and I don’t have a problem with Asian jokes and anyone who does is a whiner”… it all ended really badly.

Posted 19 Aug 2009 at 11:50 am ¶
atlasien wrote:

@jstele: I missed Jeff’s sentence about “parity” or my response would have been slightly less civil. Thanks for addressing it.

Posted 19 Aug 2009 at 11:52 am ¶
Chantal wrote:

I think this list and others like it (including stuff white people like, white people problems, etc.) is actually more accurate as a class assessment than a racial one. There are plenty of poor whites who would score really low on that checklist. So I would like to rephrase the list in the form of the following questions:

Who lives in the suburbs?
Who can afford to eat gourmet greens, furnish/own/live in a condo, take a vacation? Who can afford to get the education and credentials needed to become a member of an exclusive institution, be in any vague ‘inner sanctum of power’ as someone other than an attendant, subscribe to Foreign Affairs, know enough about the political and performative power of grammar to even form an opinion about the use of the first person plural?

So many of the items on the list require money and they require class assimilation. Certainly we can associate this with whiteness, but only if we are seeing whiteness as equivalent to class privilege–an act of substitution that does not hold once we recognize just how many poor whites there are in this country, in this world. It may be more fruitful for us in the long-run to associate this with accumulation of capital–symbolic, cultural and material.

Holla atcha girl if you ever need anyone to add some serious class analysis to this website.

Posted 19 Aug 2009 at 12:42 pm ¶
KW wrote:

This is a really interesting posting and commentary. I am a white person who hasn’t ever commented here, mostly because I have never had anything interesting to add to the conversation.

The first thing I noticed about Lui’s list is that it is in three chunks- the first is mostly about petty stuff like his Dockers and suede shoes, the “affliation” and “appearance” part. Then, with a quick foray to “I have never once been the victim of blatant discrimination”, he moves on to some statements of heavy power- he belongs to exclusive organizations and he expects to be heard. Finally, he moves into activism with “I do not mind when editorialists write in the first person plural”, which seems like a find of bridge between the power and the activism parts. He’s just asserted that he’s really powerful, but all the sudden he shows that he’s not really so secure after all. Not secure enough to live in power and also fight for other people.

I find it unusual that he puts his white wife and non-poc friends in with the petty stuff, because most people I know would give those two issues a lot more weight. In particular, the white friends- they would be either a power thing or a defensive, anti-activist thing.

The next thing that strikes me is that of all the “white” hobbies and interests that people list, the ones that strike me as most “white” are country music and Prairie Home Companion. I guess because both of these speak to multi-generational experiences of very specific white people in America, kind of like folklore. Stuff like sci-fi and yoga, while enjoyed by many white people, don’t seem to me to talk about the deeper issues of family life, community life, or belief that Patsy Kline or Garrison Keiler do. (I know that lots of people will disagree with me. Sci- Fi is deep! People other than Norwegians are repressed Bachelor Farmers! This is probably just because of the way I was raised, in which most of the “white” stuff was inconsequential.)

The other thing that spoke to me were the vegetables, because they are also so deeply ingrained in me as “racialized” that I never think about it conciously. Of course, I think of beet greens as “ours” because my mother and aunts cooked them and no one else did. I think of collards or bok choi as “theirs”, because I have eaten them, but very rarely at home. I think of asparagus as “neutral” (even though someone else thinks of it as “white”) because I ate it both at home and at other people’s homes.

I am sorry if I am rambling.

Posted 19 Aug 2009 at 1:27 pm ¶
Latoya Peterson wrote:

@The folks bringing up class –

Please note that Liu specifically ascribed these things to whiteness and then used that as a justification to say he was “white, by acclamation.”

While class does factor into these ideas being constructed, our focus lies with race.

Posted 19 Aug 2009 at 1:44 pm ¶
Lindz wrote:

This is a great discussion. I especially liked Thea’s last two paragraphs.

This list stereotypes white people. There is an undercurrent of classism and regionalism at play here. I know a lot of poor rural whites that don’t know what channel NPR is, think gourmet food is grandma’s pecan pie and have never worn a pair of khakis.

Also, I just googled ‘Crate and Barrel’ to know what y’all were talking about. My apartment was furnished at the same places my neighbors of all races furnished theirs – Walmart, garage sales and our local furniture stores like Mathis Brothers.

Posted 19 Aug 2009 at 1:49 pm ¶
n wrote:

Covering?

I listen to National Public Radio. Yeah, Im part of the public.

I own brown suede bucks.
I eat gourmet greens. Yeah, they taste good. I call it “salad” and “gardening”.

I vacation in charming bed-and-breakfasts. I have and? That’s white?

I have never once been the victim of blatant discrimination. I haven’t much either, but not because I was doing anything special.

.
I expect my voice to be heard. Me too. Because I’ve always been listened to.

I speak flawless, unaccented English. Me too, being born, reared and educated in an English speaking nation helped.

I do not mind when editorialists write in the first person plural. Thats a problem?

I think the list is more one of class and privilege than whiteness.

I know some people who are pretty BLACK or pretty HISPANIC who do all of the above, why wouldn’t they? They live in the USA,from educated middle class families and some have lived lives almost entirely devoid of social contact with white people.

I get that minorities are minorities and often if not usually marginalized, but this list seems to me to presume that to be nonwhite means to be completely marginalized and on the periphery and totally out of touch with “mainstream” America. It sort of enforces the belief that mainstream=white and doing anything not seen as being specific to a subculture means choosing whiteness. After centuries in the US, some of us feel that we are completely American and don’t see much conflict between being American and being whatever it is that people choose to put before the hyphen.

Posted 19 Aug 2009 at 3:58 pm ¶
Adrienne wrote:

Hmm…Liu’s list reminds me of John Leguizamo’s skit on HBO’s Mambo Mouth with the Japanese character who turns out to be a Latino passing, or the other HBO special Spic-o-Rama where the Latino child has an older brother whose hair is bleached blonde, and he stays in his room giving psuedo-Shakespearean soliquoys such as “If thoust prickesth a Latino, doest he not bleed?”

I am Black and deaf. I have a few POC friends but then again I also have a few White friends because my circle of friends are small.

In a deaf school that used speaking and speech, I was the only Black child there. In a deaf school that used ASL, I was the only one not fluent in it yet. So I stuck out anyway. Private school, I was the few Black students and only deaf. Public school, I was the only deaf student.

Being told you act hearing is as much of an insult as being told you act White.

I couldn’t pass as hearing to save my life. Yet at the deaf school where everyone spoke, some of my friends anxiously tried to pass as hearing, and were ashamed of their deafness. Then they grew out of that and accepted it.

Liu’s self hatred is obvious to me.

To answer his questions:

I don’t listen to talk radio because I am deaf, but I do enjoy music because of my cochlear implant.

I used to wear Dockers and brown penny loafers when I went through my preppy phase and was dressing like my preppy friends from private schools past. I don’t anymore, as I find Dockers restrictive to how I move and I dont like loafers of any kind anymore.

I cook my swiss chard with my collards, and what?

Gourmet greens is just a fancy schmancy way of stating you think your food is better than someone else’s food.

I love furniture stores, period.

I have happy memories of when I bought a table from Crate and Barrel. Black people like nice furniture, or didn’t he get the memo? (Joking, sort of)

The minority militant friends and family I have will always be family. Just as the non-militant family and friends are always family.

I am unapologetically Black and deaf.

I love PBS and I love singing along to the Moody Blues’s “English Sunset” and Eric Clapton is king in my household and Thelonious Monk and his beautiful music is appreciated and loved for the same reason my father loves him and played him around the house in my childhood.

Deafness kinda ruins speaking English without an accent. I get asked where I am from when I speak. When I speak my English is impeccable, yet I have a Southern and deaf accent. Southern for where I am from, and deaf for where I fuck up in pronounciation.

I was born in the urban city, grew up in the suburbs, and went to private school, public school, predominately White schools and predominately Black schools.

I define covering as taking on White supremacist beliefs, biases, stereotypes, attitudes as one’s own no matter who you are or what makes you different from that standard.

Posted 19 Aug 2009 at 4:45 pm ¶
Jay wrote:

@29Jeff

Speaking the form of English spoken by the majority of the population in one’s area of residence seems sensible to me, not a sign of betrayal.

Except that white foreigners and regional differences get a big pass in that sense. For the most part Finnish-accented people or English-accented people (which is a bit of an oxymoron) may get teased somewhat, but not excluded, and don’t get admonishments to speak English “better”.

Earning an education cannot, in my mind, possibly be construed as negative

This one’s complicated. American white society actually has the same negative pressure, through it’s selective praise of athleticism from high school onwards.

But what you refer to is the way minorities are called out for “being white” in their communities because they get good grades. I think this has to do more with historical and current structures (like the way school districts/housing is divided) that reinforce these types of behaviors.

after all, Asian-Americans have achieved substantially more than parity in most objective measures

This is where you’re precisely wrong (not only wrong in the sense that you’re lumping several different groups together, but wrong in the sense that a lot of this stuff has been disproven).

For one thing, several Asian-American groups like the Hmong and Laotians actually have a lot of trouble in that sense, because of class issues, but they’re being ignored most of the time because they tend to be lumped in with the rest of the Asian Americans.

The other thing is that those “indicators” you mention are not measured fairly (on the same playing field). For example, Asian-American average household income is indeed the highest, but part of this is because Asian-American households are larger and several generations live under one roof. In addition, Asian-Americans need more education than whites in order to achieve income parity.

C.N. Le talks about these statistics at http://asian-nation.org

Posted 19 Aug 2009 at 4:55 pm ¶
Latoya Peterson wrote:

@Adrienne –

I cook my swiss chard with my collards, and what?

Hahaha. Y’all are really motivating me to finish this post on racial politics and food politics.

Posted 19 Aug 2009 at 4:59 pm ¶
ashlynn wrote:

Okay, so for starters:

“I have never been a victim of blatant discrimination”?

Denial: It’s not just a river in Egypt. Smh.

Anyway, I’m gonna go on and raise my hand along with everyone else who has gotten the “acting white” book thrown at them. My mother raised me largely on the basis of getting an education. As a child I taught myself to read, and being very shy/a daydreamer, I spent much of my day(literally) staring up into the clouds or down in a book. General consensus: I’m acting white. I remember once, when I got my ass jumped for something stupid, I quoted MLK in an attempt to at least TRY and instill some sense into them, and I kid you not, a girl yelled at me, “THERE YOU GO, AGAIN- TRYING TO BE WHITE!”

Trying to be white by quoting MLK?

RACE FAIL.

Moving on. Soo, by this list and my own knowledge of self, I find it hard to say that I’m covering. Nope, just being myself. I think people( white and of color) find being yourself even more annoying than covering- because, in a sense, it’s as if everyone else has to try, and you don’t. I grew up in the worst neighborhood in NYC, and people are ALWAYS shocked when I tell them where I’m from(Brownsville, represent). Both black and white people have this sort of incredulous look to them, because I dared to defy them somehow. I don’t feel the need to blatantly(and annoying) say who I am and where I stand in society- as does Liu- and again, I’d say covering is not a mutually exclusive term to race, but rather, insecurity in general.

And for the record, Crate and Barrel is expensive as hell, so you can find me eating my collard greens(from Sylvia’s, thanks in advance) in Target, AND WHAT.

Posted 19 Aug 2009 at 10:40 pm ¶
fredMS wrote:

these are all just stereotypes

Posted 19 Aug 2009 at 11:07 pm ¶
Joy wrote:

Wow – I would never have thought of NPR, Crate & Barrel, Bed & Breakfasts, 1st person plural, or Yoga as acting/being white or “covering” before reading this list.

I think it’s only when someone purposely does the following activities or points them out in a long list with the intent (consciously or otherwise) to prove that he or she is like white people or not like other POCs that engaging in these activities or mentioning them becomes covering or acting white.

I mean, who *doesn’t* like NPR?
(And what the heck are gourmet greens?? I googled them and I’m still not clear. But, if they’re anything like collard greens – sign me up!!!)

Posted 19 Aug 2009 at 11:11 pm ¶
octogalore wrote:

Latoya, re #40: “While class does factor into these ideas being constructed, our focus lies with race.”

Absolutely — but to the extent that the list includes items which commingles them to differing degrees, I would propose that the relevance of bringing up class is to suggest that the “covering” thesis applies more exactly to those which are more purely race-based.

Like — consuming various news publications seems to be almost entirely class-based. Whereas being concerned about all-white casts, having an all- (or almost all) white cast of friends, etc. are not very class-based.

So to me it seems like to even grapple with the idea of “is doing X covering” one needs to eliminate other non-race-related reasons for doing X.

Otherwise, you wind up with the list having application to white people like me — eg, I grew up in an environment where we didn’t shop at C&B, vacation anywhere other than HoJo-type motels or relatives’ spare rooms, wasn’t part of exclusive clubs nor in the inner sanctums (or any sanctums) of power. Now, all that stuff applies. But being white, one can’t arguing that I’m “covering” (from a race standpoing), so it’s hard to see how POC who make these transitions are necessarily covering.

So long way of saying — it seems like a derail, but can we really get at the covering issue without isolating out class?

Posted 20 Aug 2009 at 12:34 am ¶
Albatross wrote:

This makes me a bit sad because it reminds me so much of my dad’s family. My grandmother was Russian, and my grandfather was a blue-eyed Mongolian. Because my dad and uncle looked “white enough”, they spent their lives passing, with my grandfather claiming to be part Native American. Even their home was full of NA art, and I really thought we were NA when I was little.

We never talked about our own ethnicity; my dad told my sister and I we were Russian, and that was that. I never knew my grandfather and only really learned about our family history from my uncle, and only in the past few years. My dad always taught us stuff about Mongolian and Asian history and traditions, but I believed it to just be a hobby, like the interest in NA cultures.

Now I feel kind of stuck. I know this about me, and it’s made me so much more aware of the stereotyping and discrimination (and I was already very outspoken on every type of discrimination), and also the expectations placed on non-whites. My light eyes and skin give me backstage passes to the horrible things some people say when they think they’re not in “mixed company”. I’m not really white. But on the other hand, I’m not Asian. If I never said anything, I don’t think anyone would know. My sister looks more obviously mixed than me and gets asked about her look from time to time, but no one takes me too seriously when I tell them I’m mixed. So I feel caught between covering, rationalizing that I’m “pretty much white”, or embracing it and saying to hell with stereotypes and standards. I still call out people for their bigotry, but I feel like a sellout when I do this but let the other person keep thinking I’m full white.

Posted 20 Aug 2009 at 5:54 am ¶
jen* wrote:

@octogalore – I think one of the most striking things about Liu’s list is that his supposition is that the items on his list make him more “white”. He has ignored class influences, himself, to use the list in this way, and that makes it all the more obvious that he views his Asian-ness as something to overcome.

He would probably agree that not *all* white people would fit the list, but for a POC to claim “honorary whiteness” they’d have to get closer to fitting the list. [It seems that even in his imagination, POC have to be twice as good to get the same or a little lesser designation.]

We can all testify as to how the list really does speak to class, as those items on the list aren’t race-specific, but that isn’t how Liu framed it. So that’s why this isn’t about class.

Posted 20 Aug 2009 at 8:55 am ¶
octogalore wrote:

Jen — I think that’s one layer of it. But then, just as the Racialicious team did above in their responses, I think one has to look at whether Liu was correct in framing it that way. I agree that the fact that he did frame it that way meant something — about him personally. Not about others who look at the list in connection with themselves, though. As some of them noted, Liu’s suggestion that various items on the list have to do with denying one’s race is problematic. What is the reason he got those wrong? I’d argue that reason does have to do with class.

Look at some of the one and two star review of his book by Asian commenters on Amazon. A number of them seem to draw on class issues in analyzing why Liu’s list didn’t speak to them.

Posted 20 Aug 2009 at 10:11 am ¶
Jennifer P wrote:

I’m a bit perplexed at Latoya’s and Jen*’s comments that, in effect, “this conversation is about race, therefore we should not be talking about class.” It seems that Liu’s list actually raises some very interesting questions about the intersections of race and class (not to mention gender, which I think shapes Liu’s list in ways that haven’t yet been discussed here). Maybe it would help to pose a few specific questions for discussion, if anyone cares to address them:

–To what extent is the image of “whiteness”/assimilation/dominant culture that informs “covering” a specifically classed one? Do people of color ever “cover” by, say, joining white fundamentalist Christian churches, eating at Applebee’s, listening to the country top 40, drinking white zinfandel, shopping at JC Penney’s, or honeymooning at Disney World? (or fill in your own non-yuppie white American cultural practices–this is just a random selection of the stuff from my own white background and family culture that would appall my more highly educated professional-managerial class friends (of all colors) .
–Is the accusation of “acting white” largely targeted at behaviors associated with education and upward mobility and/or made by less affluent or less educated people of color?

A slightly different question:
–To what extent is being actively anti-racist , “militant,” etc. a function of race and/or class privilege (or specific kinds of education)?

As a white person, I generally feel like I am free to criticize a film or a joke or a public policy as racist without it being seen as somehow personally motivated, defensive, “that’s your problem for seeing it everywhere,” or some of the other crap I see people of color getting when they make the same arguments. That is certainly a kind of white privilege (actually, it may even be on McIntosh’s list). However, Liu seems to be indicating that for him, “covering” requires avoiding “militancy,” presumably because calling attention to his race would jeopardize his welcome in those exclusive clubs he mentions?

At the same time, most of my friends of color are both politically outspoken on racial issues AND class privileged, so I’m wondering
–What are the differences between more politically liberal fields (most of my friends are university professors) and more conservative “clubs” in business, etc., as to whether being politically active and self-consciously ethnic is compatible or incompatible with being accepted by the white power structure?

–How much does all this vary depending on which particular ethnic community you are talking about/coming from?

Posted 20 Aug 2009 at 2:29 pm ¶
Latoya Peterson wrote:

@Jennifer P –

There are two different types of conversation happening about class on this thread. I asked to specifically focus on race. Yet there are people who are still saying things like “I think this is a class issue, not a race one, because these activities are characteristic of a certain class.”

That’s fine, but Liu specifically ascribed these things to whiteness, and used these things to justify his association. We do discuss class here from time to time, but as I mentioned before, I’d prefer people to stay on race as the topic of discussion.

The second type of conversation is illustrated by KW and Lindz, both who did a good job of addressing class while continuing to center race.

We could debate forever in what constitutes certain ideals, but it is important that Liu, specifically perceives these things as whiteness and applies them accordingly.

And since we have a lot of book to get through, I’d rather focus specifically on that aspect of this discussion so we are prepared for the next section.

Posted 20 Aug 2009 at 2:43 pm ¶
atlasien wrote:

@Jennifer P: I’ll take a stab at this question: “–What are the differences between more politically liberal fields (most of my friends are university professors) and more conservative “clubs” in business, etc., as to whether being politically active and self-consciously ethnic is compatible or incompatible with being accepted by the white power structure?”

I think there’s a lot of difference in type and quality, but not much in quantity.

I had to suck up a fair amount of racial abuse over the years when I was working in restaurants, from patrons and from coworkers. I even had a distancing-but-not-too-rude answer rehearsed for the comment “I like Asian women”. And then, of course, the “what are you?” question.

I was in academia for a while, and also had to put up with a fair amount of crap, but it was quite different in nature… more sophisticated, less overt. I felt like a token on many occasions and built up a lot of resentment and paranoia.

I now work a corporate, highly technical job where I have almost no contact with anyone beyond a very small circle of people. It’s been the least obnoxious job, racially speaking, that I’ve ever had.

I’m very aware that I’m privileged to have this position. Many people are not so lucky and have to keep putting up with low-level abuse in order to draw a paycheck and feed their families. If I was forced to work in a high-risk position for my type of personality — sales, for example — I’d probably be depressed all the time.

When people of color move upwards in class, they gain a lot more choice as to how much they can isolate themselves from racial psychological damage.

Posted 20 Aug 2009 at 2:52 pm ¶
AJ Plaid wrote:

Reading through the comments….and let me address the general one about yoga, since quite a few people seemed to have questions and/or taken umbrage to it:

Yes, Racialicious crew, I fully understand the PoC roots of yoga and Buddhism.

But.

In my experience and observations, when these practices are portrayed and/or displayed in US culture–like the majority of magazine covers and content regarding them, the ads for yoga and Buddhist “stuff” (clothing, worshipping paraphenalia, retreats, how-to DVDs, etc.), portrayals of practioners in US flicks, etc.)–the faces are overwhelmingly white.

Now, are there PoCs actually, factually practicing yoga and Buddhism? Absolutely. (For example, my sect, Nichiren Buddhism, boasts the largest population of African diasporic practioners. And I’ll get back to that point….) But, like Liu’s list and, in a more general sense, the idea of “acting white”, isn’t about *facts* but *perception.* When the perception is that most white folks are doing something–which magazines, DVDs, and films (and let me not forget the visual demographics of attendance)–then it’s a “white” thing, regardless of the historical facts or current realities. For, say, those Black folks who want to racially police other Black folks’ behavior–which is really what the “acting white” charge is about–they look at “yoga” and “Buddhism,” look at who’s doing it (whites), look at the Black person who’s doing it (me), and say that I’m “acting white” (or I’m not “really Black”) because I’m into them.

For example, when I converted to Nichiren Buddhism, I told my mom, who’ll say “acting white” faster that I can say my name. And I told her, fully expecting that phrase, either explicitly or implicitly to come out of her mouth. And the way she said, “Buddhism?!” was laced with the accusation. Only when I said, “Yeah, like Tina Turner?” was when her objections went away.

@octogalore–if I may add my perspective to the class convo? The perception is white=(upper) middle-class. I think that’s why Liu assigned whiteness to the things he described on the list versus just saying “upper-middle class.” Again, perception versus facts. Does that make sense?

Posted 20 Aug 2009 at 5:13 pm ¶
m. wrote:

This entry may not be about class, but for me it’s difficult to talk about my experiences as a racialized person without class getting thrown into the mix. I mean, when I walk into a job interview and I get a suspicious stare from the blonde attempting to figure out if there was a mix up because of the resume/previous exchange (”This girl sounded educated on the phone”), is it because of my face or the fact that I am (supposedly) in community college? (Haven’t yet attended, will be doing so in a couple days, but don’t tell my employers!) If I am harassed and followed walking home from work is it because I am a woman of color/Indigenous and therefore “easy”/”available”, or I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, I don’t have a car/couldn’t afford to take the bus and it was too late for a female to be walking? The two are inextricably intertwined for me.
Anyway, I cannot relate to a single thing on that list, but this may have something to do with the racial heirarchy in this country (that stuff just isn’t accessible or relateable to me, it’s more difficult for my kind than Asian Americans to garner respect/attention from people with power, I truly am a “minority” and somewhat of a “threat” unlike other groups of POCs and not able to “get in” with “the good white folk”, et cetera) and the fact that I am younger, “creative” and a high school drop-out (albeit well-read/someone who lies on resumes and gets away with it), not some elite professional with awful taste in clothing. But I also cannot stop thinking ‘class’, as well: I know plenty of white people who couldn’t relate to or anything on that list, either…including speaking “flawless” (wtf?) or unaccented English.
I think this guy is delusional and just sees himself as a special snowflake (an Asian white person!), rather than your run-of-the-mill assimilated bore. If this does make Liu an “accidental Asian”, then I guess he is whitewashed with the most exclusive paint money can buy. So yeah, I think class needs to be “explored” more when talking about this. I also think Yoshino’s next book ought to be about ass covering, dedicated to Liu. (I am wary of model minorities.)

Posted 20 Aug 2009 at 6:33 pm ¶
m. wrote:

As an aside, I just want to say that race and culture goes hand-in-hand with nurture. I am not talking about whether your family has money or not, either – I am talking about the values with which you are raised. My family never put a lot of emphasis on non-Native society’s idea of “success” or “happiness”. Now that I am an adult I can attribute my own appearance, affiliation, activism and association to the ways in which my relatives live, interact and think. I definitely don’t care for or about any of the things that many others seem to care so much about, or that Liu does. The unhealthy obsession with individualism and material goods, the willingness to oppress others, the idea that you are somehow “getting ahead” if you acheive financial success, surrounding oneself with others based on comon interests rather than thoughts or ideas, the desire for exclusivity…it’s not what my family believes in or strives for, it is not what I have been brought up to believe in or strive for. Liu was obviously not brought up the same way I was, who knows whether or not he was raised with money. It’s hard to explain, but that’s that.

Posted 20 Aug 2009 at 6:59 pm ¶
jstele wrote:

AJPlaid,

The whole point of defining whiteness is to discern what is truly part of “white” culture and thereby define whitewashing. Perception does not make it so. Those people who accuse you of being whitewashed because they see yoga as a white thing are just ignorant. We shouldn’t let the attitudes of those around us affect our judgment, especially when they are ignorant. Now, people who do yoga to be white are whitewashed. But doing yoga in itself is not a white thing. Motivation is a big factor in determining whether someone is whitewashed. You can enjoy other cultures without selling out your identity.

Posted 20 Aug 2009 at 10:24 pm ¶
Mel wrote:

The problem with this is, a person can assume someone is not “white”, YET this person might be HALF WHITE or MOSTLY WHITE. Most people I’ve met (always) mistake me for Latina or assume I’m not white at all (and yes, sometimes I act “white”) BUT I’m actually 75% Caucasian (German and Irish) and 1/4 Asian. Most people think I look really ethnic but I have a “white girl/suburban accent,” recently bleached my hair because I’ve been a brunette for six years and wanted a change, as well as listen to hair metal/80s and 90s music. I also (ironically) have a “ghetto” streak (i.e. I use slang terms and ebonics when I’m either angry or trying to be funny) because I (also) grew up w/ many people into that lifestyle from 7th grade and up (im in my late 20s.) So… my Point Is, you can’t assume someones ethnicity based on their appearance, mannerisms, personality or where they grew up.

Posted 21 Aug 2009 at 12:57 am ¶
AJ Plaid wrote:

@jstele–
Awww, thanks for the pep talk…it’s not one that I haven’t received over my 40-year existence or are conclusions that I haven’t discerned on my own in that time period.

However, I think the argument is running into the problem of what *exactly* is considered “white culture”–and, by extension, who’s “acting white” (as perjorative or as defense mechanism) and who’s assigning that concept to artifacts, such as spiritual practices, exercise, furnishings, clothing, and food (among other things). I’ve heard and seen quite a few white people (and a small number of PoCs) say on this blog and many other spaces that’s there’s no such thing as “(US) white culture.” If such a thing exists, they’d argue, it breaks down by white ethnic groups, i.e. Irish-American, German-American, Italian-American, etc. Or they’d argue that it breaks down by socio-economic classes, such as the idea that working-class and poor whites enjoy country music and classic rock, college-educated left-leaning whites like the Dave Matthews Band, etc. Or it breaks down by “subcultures,” like goths, deadheads, hipsters, etc. etc. on and on.

To me, what Liu’s list and the Racial Police have in common is, in their own ways, are calling bullshit on the whole “white folks don’t have a culture” meme. That’s why Liu created the list he did; that’s what the Racial Police are wailing about. And I bet you Liu and the Racial Cops came to their stated conclusions not by facts but by the power of observation–in other words, perception. I would even go so far as to say a mechanism of racism (and other -isms) is perception. That’s why the Racial Cops would carry on about my taking yoga as my trying to be “white,” regardless of my motivations. (Not like it’s stopping me, though.)

But I need you to hear me on this one, jstele: I think Liu and the Racial Cops are doing it wrong. As I said in my initial comment, “This, however, also steers awfully close to stereotyping that observed group.” I do think there is a way to talk about US white culture–I think of Tim Wise’s memoir, White Like Me, which breaks down how it came to be and how it’s perpetuated…and it’s much, much more than gourmet greens, buck shoes, and country music.

Posted 21 Aug 2009 at 9:54 am ¶
TJ wrote:

I listen to National Public Radio.
I WILL NEVER WEAR khaki Dockers.
I eat gourmet greens.
I have “few” close white friends.
I married a white man.
I am have a child and live in the suburbs.
I furnish my condo à la IKEA.
I vacation in overseas.
I have been the victim of covert discrimination.
I have a PhD.
I work for politicians.
I wear my hair natural-kinky.
I expect my voice to be heard.
I speak flawless, unaccented English.
I subscribe to the New Yorker.
I do mind when editorialists write in the first person plural.
I do not how white and Black television casts are.
I am not very ethnic-(I have deep brown skin and lots of coily black hair. I work to improve the lives of African Americans everyday)
I am a minority militant.
I consider myself neither in exile nor in opposition-just doing my job.
I am considered a “credit to my race”-by ignorant people who think that all Black people are poor.

I would add:
I drive a Volvo.
I shop at Whole Foods.
I write in Moleskine journals.
I carry a water bottle everywhere I go.
I watch CSPAN.

NOW-I don’t think I act White and the only people who have only accused me of being white have been those people who live in the inner city of my hometown who see a stark difference between them and I. I think this has more to do with the meaning of class and the race attributed to the upper class. I also live in Washington, DC-which is quite a bit progressive in more ways than others. So seeing me is not an anomaly, but I would venture to say I represent about 15% of the Black women in the DMV.

So with that I would also say:
I eat Soul Food.

Posted 21 Aug 2009 at 4:39 pm ¶
Abagond wrote:

There is no such thing as unaccented English! Jean’s other observations were also dead on.

Posted 21 Aug 2009 at 6:32 pm ¶
octogalore wrote:

@AJ Plaid re #56 — yes it does — thanks. Most of the items do translate to upper middle class.

A few, like not having friends of color or not caring about all-white casts, seem to be reflective of whiteness/race assimilation, rather than class, though.

I continue to struggle with the argument “Liu said this was about racial covering, so let’s save class until later” because it strikes me that to really isolate what IS racial covering, one has to subtract out what ISN’T — despite his conveniently tossing it into one label.

One way in which Liu could have accurately been performing racial covering in feeling his list reflected this behavior is if he specifically chose the items on the list for the purpose of covering. Because while the “few friends of color” doesn’t seem neutral, stuff like food and news publications appear neutral *unless* one doesn’t really want to read them and chooses to do so as part of a perceived racial identity.

So based on that, the neutral items on the list become entirely subjective (to the extent one can identify ones own intentions). One person may have most of the list checked off, another may have most of it not checked off, without any difference in “covering.” Unless the list also includes some kind of subjective analysis, there seem to be only a few items that are objectively racial covering per se, end of story.

Posted 21 Aug 2009 at 8:18 pm ¶
octogalore wrote:

Apologies — reading some of the recently-posted entries I see that jstele in #59 has discussed the subjectivity issue and I should have credited:

“Now, people who do yoga to be white are whitewashed. But doing yoga in itself is not a white thing. Motivation is a big factor in determining whether someone is whitewashed.”

I used to want blond hair at 10 because I was one of two Jewish kids in my class; I dyed my hair blond at 20 because it was the one color I hadn’t tried (and it looked shitty with my coloring) and I was sick of dark blue. I’d say one of these was covering.

Posted 21 Aug 2009 at 8:31 pm ¶
jen* wrote:

cosign, Abagond! I didn’t even touch the English-without-an-accent thing, because it is so blatant. I think it’s another nod to how Liu thinks about things, really. Either white people who speak English never have an accent, OR people of color who speak English must eliminate all traces of “other” accents in order to obtain this “honorary white” status.

The list keeps bringing us back to Liu’s own issues. I’ll agree that class is certainly a large influence on whether one will achieve/experience some of the items on the list. And that there is a general perception of (American) white people as being middle to upper class [even though we all *know* better]. The class discussion is definitely pertinent to the larger question of how to deal with social inequality in this country, and certainly intersects with issues of race and gender. But I’m just not seeing it as central to the specific issue of racial covering as discussed here.

I don’t think any item on the list constitutes covering in and of itself – these items just seem to be the fruit of Liu’s own stereotypes about what it means to be white. But he is not alone in his stereotypes, and I know many white people who fall into the same trap [of stereotyping white Americans as mid to upper class]. Poor white people aren’t exactly a secret, but sometimes I think they have their own form of “honorary whiteness” simply by *being* white. They may not have all the access that comes with higher SES, but at the very basest level, they can identify with whites who have more status and power simply because they look like them.

This may be why it is possible for some relatively disadvantaged white people to align themselves with political policies that aren’t in their best interest, simply because race factors are used to appeal to them.

Liu just fell into the trap – he bought the bill of goods – and so his list reflects class differences because he either equates higher SES with white or believes POC must attain higher SES to achieve ‘honorary whiteness’.

So yeah – I see the intersectionality here, but still think it comes down to Liu’s ideas about race…

Posted 22 Aug 2009 at 12:03 am ¶
JC wrote:

Boy this list rings true for many AA’s I’ve known… those I tend to stay away from. Yet I find several item apply to me too, but not most of it. I identify with Asia too much to really act in that manner. Although I do love NPR, most of my friends are PoC (I cannot trust a white guy no matter how hard I try). I shop a Crate and Barrel, eat exotic greens, and I love B & B’s.. but I’ll never want to be involved in politics. Some of my best friends were white women, but I ended up marrying an Asian girl. I guess this Liu guy is right at the far edge of the “Banana Scale”, while I am right in the middle. I kinda like that.

I do have a few issue with some of the whiteness assumptions…

When is being a producer of culture a sign of whiteness? To me, white people tend to “create” culture appropriated from others dressed with a white frosting.

When is being a BUDDHIST a form of acting white? Goodness. I have no idea when I do my supplications and reciting mantras I’m acting White.

Posted 23 Aug 2009 at 1:52 am ¶
urbia wrote:

“And if the people inside see you talking to the people outside, they might slam the door on you.”

This.

And it’s awesome when white society tries to frame it as a choice. “Whoops, you were unsuccessful and got removed from the party due to your ‘choices,’ ie. You didn’t assimilate like a good little second-class citizen and got too uppity.” The ‘choice’ thing is like a white finger wagging annoyingly in your face from a place of white supremacy. Fuck that noise.

Posted 25 Aug 2009 at 8:11 pm ¶
Just A Thought wrote:

I’m super late, but this: ““Beware the minority militants and their brainwashed white associates.”

Yes, that made my week!

Posted 26 Aug 2009 at 10:56 am ¶
chicagorose wrote:

Without knowing his intentions, Eric Liu’s list seemed like a privilege excercise. Am noticing a lot of similar response too. “Well I’m XYZ and I experienced This That and the Other so I call bullshit.” Everyone’s back seems arched against the wall over it. The list made me vividly recall yuppies, buppies and every John Hughes teen angst movie that revolved around class and group assimilation. That’s how I interpreted it. That it’s not about what we do that we don’t think of as white. It’s about how others percieve our choices (the list) versus the choices they would associate with our ethnicity and the approval they bestow upon us based on how we fit into the clan. It’s about indoctrination. You don’t have to be coerced into it. Once you are a *bonafide* the perception is you will become less likely to care about/view from the perspective of, those who aren’t or don’t see themselves as such.

“I listen to National Public Radio.”
That can imply a multitude of things .
Political leanings.
That you stay informed.
That you are a *thinking* person.
That you take a pass on television morning show banter.
You may listen to jazz and classical.
Knowing someone listens to Public Radio means there might be a wealth of possible topics to discuss beyond sports scores, shock jock gossip and the weather.
So it’s code for a lot of white people, even subconciously, that ‘I can carry on an intelligent conversation with you’.

Everything on the list is code for how a certain class segment of the mainstream actually assesses other people, especially minority people, to see if they’ll fit in, in a non threatening manner.

Posted 27 Aug 2009 at 4:39 am ¶

Racial Covering, Part I [Racialicious Read-Along]

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