I’m proud to be Polish and part Irish but because I’m white and a girl I automatically get grouped into other categories. I get told I can’t dance “because I’m white” and I’m told to prove that I can dance. (Mind you I’ve been training at a dance studio since I was 6 years old.) People think I have some sort of privilege because I’m white (even though people confuse me for being Spanish and I’ve been called a spick before.). I’m called a racist at the drop of the hat, and blacks always say that they can’t be racist cause they are not white. Being racist is not only a white thing.
Look at the Black Panther group or the Black Muslim group. Also why is it ok for a black person to call a white person a cracker, a snow princess, white trash ect? Why after all these years just because I’m white my ancestors are blamed for the whole slavery thing? My family moved here about 65 years ago because of the things that were going on in Poland, and by grandfather’s family came over from Ireland during the potato famine. Oh and people think it’s ok to call me a Mick/Polack.
People think I can’t handle spicy food. People think I love Starbucks and frozen yogurt and go out for it often (when people take me out for it and I don’t know what to get or when it comes to frozen yogurt places what to do/how it works, I get stared at weird because I’m a “White Girl”.). People try bribing me with qdoba and chipotle and when I tell them I hate the food and never go their of my own free will I get looked at weird and have literally had people be like “but your a white girl”… it’s like what’s your point… I don’t associate who I am with the color of my skin so why is it ok for others to do so?
I’m white and I don’t constantly go to Starbucks or wear Uggs all the time. I’m tired of people making assumptions about girls who are white and making us all seem to be the same!
p>I grew up wishing I was white. I was raised to hate my culture, my eyes, my language, and my background. In middle school, I was known for being the most “basic white girl” who wasn’t actually white. I did what every other girl did, wore, and ate. I bought bath and body works lotion and perfumes. I wore yoga pants, UGGs, converse, etc. I drank Starbucks and loved Pumpkin Spice Lattes. Any basic trend I would hop on the bandwagon. I’m aware now of the nuances of the term “basic white girl” and the intersectionality that comes along with being female, but I’m focusing on the race aspect. Being adopted into a Caucasian family I have no ties to the culture I was born into. To put it simply, I’m not white, but I don’t feel connected to my Asian ancestry. Growing up it was incredibly difficult and confusing about what my identity is and even now I’m still figuring it all out.
My ancestors came to America just like many others. Just because I am white, does not mean my family “owned” “slaves”. When an African American girl says to me “you’re so lucky to have that hair” or “I would pay a lot for some of your hair”, it makes me mad. Hair or material appearances should not be what you see when you look at someone. It’s about what is on the inside, not the color of one’s hair or skin! I have strawberry-blonde hair so I get called a “ginger” from all races. According to some people, I only have “half a soul”.
Being called a ginger hurts just as much as being called the N word. I like to drink Starbucks so I’m a “Typical white girl’? That term is degrading to teenagers like me. Just because I am white, does not make me privileged. My dad only makes about $30,000 a year. My mother is unemployed and homeless! Being white does not make someone racist or privileged. Do you see colleges or scholarships for “white” people? No, but you see them for African Americans. Also, to the African American boys that get mad when a white girl says she has a preference: For MOST of us, it’s not because you have dark skin, it’s because our mind is not physically attracted to you. Stop calling us racist or our DNA makeup. Our generation only has control of the future, not the past, so get over it.
Kaitlyn Gravatt,
West Long Branch, NJ.
Monmouth University
Whenever I click on Twitter I see #whitegirlproblems. How is Starbucks running out of my favorite drink a white girl problem? How is my eyeliner on one eye not matching my other eye a white girl problem? It is hurtful to be put into this stereotype that we care more about superficial things over bigger issues. The white girl problem hashtag goes more in depth with the idea that if girls are interested in something then that means they are a certain type of person. My interest in Starbucks or makeup should not make me a superficial white girl. People should not make me feel bad for my interests or make it a joke on twitter. I should not be wondering if I get on line in Starbucks or post a picture with my drink is someone going to call me a basic white girl.
I believe that “white girls” get put into a very strong stereotype. Pumpkin spice lattes, Ugg boots, twitter, flannels, etc. are just a few of the common things that are stereotypical “white girl” attributes. If a girl shows up with any of these things they are almost automatically stereotyped into the “white girl” category. It is easy to do and nonetheless funny at times but every girl that shows up with some fluffy, comfy, and expensive boots should not be classified into being a stuck up, snobby person.
Though I don’t lose sleep over it, I hate being called a basic white girl. Just because I wear leggings, or am a greek woman, or even get the occasional Starbucks, Im not basic. Im not ditzy or dumb I hold a 3.4 GPA in college where I’m NOT here for my MRS degree.
I acknowledge the fact that I am a white female, but that does not automatically mean that I go to Starbucks every day after school to get a pumpkin spice latte.
REPOST from http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/gwens-take-making-peace-making-coffee/
Gwen’s Take: Making peace and making coffee BY GWEN IFILL March 20, 2015 at 10:52 AM EDT
I woke up one morning this week to discover that Starbucks had decided to launch a new initiative at its coffee shops, branding their paper cups with a #RaceTogether hashtag and encouraging baristas to chat customers up about race.
My first thought: what an admirable idea.
My second thought: heck no.
So I dashed off this tweet: “Honest to God, if you start to engage me in a race conversation before I’ve had my morning coffee, it will not end well.”
Nearly 400 people retweeted it, which is a fair amount in my Twitter world. But what I found most interesting was the people behind the tweets — black, white, other — who for their own reasons felt Starbucks might be going a step too far. That’s actually not quite the interpretation I intended.
It’s true that I was unsure that empowering someone to goose me into a sensitive conversation at a time of day when I can barely say “Good morning” was a good idea.
But talking about race, I think, is actually quite a good thing. It’s how we do it that matters.
My friend Michele Norris of NPR has been dipping into these waters for some years now with her Race Card Project, an online discussion forum that invites people to talk about race in six words. The stories that emerge from these comments are invariably enlightening, and take us well beyond the racial straitjackets we usually live in.
On St. Patrick’s Day, for instance, the conversation was largely about what it’s like to be Irish. That’s because race is not just about conflict; it’s also about culture.
That’s why a Pakistani friend can laugh when people tell her sister she looks like the Indian actress Mindy Kaling. (She does not.)
It’s why young African Americans don’t laugh when they notice that a white, tattooed alleged mass shooter in Mesa, Arizona, was subdued with a Taser, while a black University of Virginia honor student emerged bloodied and battered — allegedly by apprehending officers — after an altercation outside a bar.
It’s also why, as admirable as it is, the Starbucks plan is a flawed one. A “conversation” about race cannot be a fleeting one. It certainly cannot be an under-caffeinated one. And it is, most importantly, not a black and white one.
Check out the conversation we’ve launched on this website.
It is about the nation we have become, and are in the process of becoming. It is about demography and destiny. It is about the distance we have come, and the distance we have yet to go.
It is not exclusively about conflict, but we seem to only want to have these conversations when conflict forces it out of the closet.
There are so many good ways to talk about this. Yes, at the barista’s counter, but also at our kitchen tables and in the workplace.
So yes, let me get my latte first. But let’s not end it there. I’ll meet you on the road.
Many Different Roads, But All Connected, six words on race and cultural identity by Ethan Tribsh of Marietta, GA. Photo Credit: Cindy Brown Photography
Read more about Michele Norris and Crossing the Racial Divide in Marietta, GA. One Church was founded by slave owners, the other by former slaves.
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Gwen’s Take: Making peace and making coffee
My friend Michele Norris of NPR has been dipping into these waters for some years now with her Race Card Project, an online discussion forum that invites people to talk about race in six words. The stories that emerge from these comments are invariably enlightening, and take us well beyond the racial straitjackets we usually live in.
