What’s So Great About Being White?
Is there any good answer?
During a discussion about race last year on Black News Tonight, host Marc Lamont Hill posed the following question to conservative activist Christopher Rufo: “Name something positive you like about being white.”
The question is a rhetorical trap implying that whatever the answerer thinks is good about being white, in the same respect they think being non-white is bad. It comes across as saying that being white is, in fact, not something to view as positive. For some that idea may be indisputable.
After all, a great many white people were responsible for not only slavery and segregation in America, but also for the colonial European empires that dominated the globe for several centuries. There are many examples of people in other racial groups engaging in racism, slavery and imperialism throughout history, but that’s not the purpose of this article.
The purpose, rather, is to address the aforementioned question. So, what’s so great about being white? What, if anything, is positive about it? To answer this, I believe we should ask what’s positive not only about being white, but also about being black, Asian, Native American and any other racial group to which a person may belong. We should then ask what’s positive about being male or female. Next, we should ponder what positives there are in being straight, gay, bisexual or asexual.
What do all of these traits have in common? They are not relevant to one’s moral character, nor do they guarantee one’s future circumstances. Nevertheless, they are part of who we are. I for one like my skin color. I like it for the same reason I like my brown hair and green eyes: because it’s me. If one were to ask a black person why they like their complexion, I assume they would likely give the same response.
We often treat race as more than a simple physical trait. We sometimes use it as a marker of personal character, employing words like “whiteness” and “black culture” to tie certain behaviors and beliefs to their respective racial groups. But those are purely abstract concepts, and an abstract concept doesn’t have skin.
Having a certain complexion is a positive in its own right. It is not only a part of who we are; it also signifies our diversity as humans. Whether they be physical or cultural, our varying characteristics accentuate the beauty of humanity. There have been tragic and unjust events that occurred because of them. On the flip side, they teach us to accept each other and see that in the end, we are all human.