A whiter shade of pale

How about: How does it feel to be a HUMAN BEING? I cannot understand this question of how one feels ones own racial classification? I know how one feels its culture(xhosa,zulu etc) and the practises and beliefs that goes with it. But how do you feel YOUR own racial classification? In posing that question it brings to mind that we as a NATION we have consistently and intentionally posed the wrong questions (with the help of media of course) We have simply become involved in a skewed and false debate around racism,its practises and the arrogance of that practise. Our constitution dictates that this is a non-racist(non-racial) country and it therefore binds all of us to act acccordingly. If you dont,its a crime. But if we look at the manipulative direction taken by the questions posed, the responses becomes intentionally racist leading us to false conclusions. As a nation,we have failed to come up with THE national question or terms of reference of HOW we will disabuse ourselves of racism, the longstanding effects and the obvious pain that we carry on all fronts. Our courts have FAILED to act strongly against racist abuses.The institutions who are supposed to deal with these issues on a national basis, have failed with strategy,tactics or a common direction we will take into building a non-racist nation. They have made no significant inroads organisationally or institutionally. So who measures? It should be media who SHOULD HAVE BEEN at least, our conscience. WHY, because they are best placed to have been independent,honest and transparent and obviously influential. But the wholesale failure on their part is a colossal embarassment. The impatience shown by our new generation is as disingenuous as the all pervasive chauvinism. The more we waste time on this critical question the more we set ourselves up for a time-bomb waiting to explode in a very nasty way.

..I agree with KK - are we trapped in the reality version of the Chris Rock show?... life is complex and tough - our race discussions attempt to reduce all this complexity to a 'black 7 white' thing...

The major obstacle with south africans black and white is that
they have not overcome their racialistic atitudes.Why even
as recently as 2008 when the SA chinese took the government to court to win a case that lasted 8 years there was plenty of rantings and negative ravings from black and white south africans.
Even now in 2009 I still experience it very often.

Very wastelandish. I wonder if the TS Elliott feel was deliberate and mocking in the same way that his middle class, affected women come and go talking of Michaelangelo. Is that how Dodd sees the debate on race?

i think its actually quite immature and unrealistic to wish away discussion of race or even race based issues.
look at america - when did slavery happen? is there a difference in the type of lives american whites live vs american blacks? is there still unfounded prejudice?

just to touch on mj sun's discussion: peace bro. i hear your argument but as an African South African. Im still beefing witht hat court ruling. Being a South African of Chinese descent is one thing but it doesnt make you black, same thing with Indians.

being white in south africa is something. no white kids are forced to ride taxis coz they parents were denied the right to study to be pilots and accountants, and instead became nurses and teachers. where are the white nurses and teachers - in private hospitals & schools. how much do they earn vs the mass of black teachers.

not wanting to acknowledge racism/ race differences as it were is just unrealistic in a country where my father still is still alive witht he scars of yesterday. where i grew up in a place with separate beaches for blacks & whites. where a black man in his 40's gets sent to the store by a man half his age based on race. where a maid in glenwood still calls her employer master.

when you're white, its easy to want o get rid of race discussions and race as a whole. its that easy for you when you're white.

ask me how it feels to be black: its an everyday struggle!

To echo Kitty Kat's and mj sun's sentiments, looking at others as humans just like you, is the challenge we all face as SAns. The apartheid indoctrination will take generations to undo. I have great difficulty trying to understand why you think we can magically overcome our racial problems a mere 15 years since our independence. Just look at the US who is still trying to overcome the legacy of slavery and racism. Brace your self Alex Dodd, you're in for a long ride!

@silondile jali
The suffering under apartheid was not confined to Africans. Remember that other racial groups of color, Indians, Chinese and Coloreds... suffered as well, but admittedly to a lesser degree. By creating further divisions between blacks (Africans, Coloreds, Indians, Chinese, Malay ....) you are playing into the apartheid strategy of DIVIDE AND CONQUER. Remember since the Chinese were in such small numbers, that the apartheid government saw no danger in giving the Chinese "honorary white status" under apartheid so that they could buy property and conduct business in white areas, and attend white schools. Yes, there are some blacks who benefited from apartheid in the past that will continue to benefit in the new SA. Unfortunately, in the interests of unity and moving towards a non-racial society, we have accept these exceptions.

What disconnected driveling Bullshit!

The fact is that it is a struggle everyday for most south africans
black and white.Even in the past it was a struggle for people who were non white.It was very clear.Certain non whites did sell us out and still do.
If you look at our townships you would see your PNP,Checkers,Clicks...etc at the expensive of the small retailers.
We sell ourselves out by voting for a party to rule us based on race only to find it is not different to the previous one we voted.

SA is the most beautiful country in the world make no mistake about it. We have to correct what happened in the past. You and me must teach our children to love one another, as they do today. Tomorrow when we are all gone, they will all embrace this country much better then USA, Canada you name them.

Let us learn to speak, talk and joke in more than one language, what a life we have.

@silondile jali

I agree with you.

I don't understand what the white folks are complaining about honestly. They live in the best parts of our country, they wine and dine in the best restaurants and they pamper themselves in the best spas and resorts. To me it seems like they are having a ball in the very country that that they claim is hostile towards them.

I'm a product of a nurse and my father who works in a firm. They live in a lousy and tiny 4 roomed house in the township and their idea of eating out is buying the occasional takeout from Chicken Licken. I have lived all my life in a permanent recession and my parents have worked triple hard to make sure I got a descent education.

Sometimes I wonder if it was worth it. For my first job, I had to go through a psychometric test and 3 interviews and I was damn proud of myself when I got the job. Three of my white colleagues who are the same age as me(early twenties) and had no previous working experience like me literally waltzed into their positions. They got their jobs through connections, the one guy doesn't even have a degree! Then they complain about affirmative action?! Please! I had to prove that I had brains because to the employers I was incompetent by default.

What do white folks know about suffering? Let them try and live in a township for a month and let's see if they will survive.

I was chilling on my patio the other day, when I heard the maid who works in the flat above me calling her employer 'madam'. A woman in her sixties calling a woman who could be her own daughter madam. I was so hurt by this and it's on days like these when I'm reminded of how tough it is to be black.

What can I say, the white majority are living like tourists in this country while we black folks tend for their every need and make them even richer by the day!

Sad but true.

"...like the riveting local mini-series, Noah's Arc, about a Xhosa doctor who loves his family but can't shake the memory of the beautiful Afrikaans girl he once loved 30 years ago), it feels boring being white when I watch SABC -- like I'm trapped in a version of South Africa that doesn't match the energy on the streets..."

Think what I feel like watching Faiths Corner, Zimbabwe, Yesterday and District 9 - Still wanna discuss race..

we first need to drop the pretending about the racial love that we are supposedly feeling since tutu declared us a rainbow nation.deal with the realities that we all experience on a daily basis and also realize that my reality might be foreign to you and vice versa.

@ Kitty Kat - I know what Alex Dodd means about feeling your race. I tend to define my cultural identity by what I am not - not from any cultural group in SA which has its own specific language, food, traditions. I'm not Scottish, Irish, or any other kind of European. So what does that leave me with? Being white (in my home country) and being (literally) a remarkably pale South African nearly everywhere else.

@Clare,the conundrum is that feeling white is inherently racist.Now I am not trying to point fingers and am only trying to get my head around this claim. I begin with the premise of hearing a claim in CT of people pronouncing themselves to be proud to be coloured! Now I battle with that claim simply becos I am yet to understand what it is to be coloured. If one goes back to the era of racial classification and the process of classification, we can all agree that the pencil tests and others were demeaning and insulting. And here I point to families who were literally divided by this process,forced removals,loss of property etc etc. I then ask how can you after all that be proud of that process in being classified a coloured. Now it is the same as feeling white. It is an extremely loaded statement because it speaks to an affirmation against the background of our CONSTITUTION where we as a nation agreed to the principle of non-racialism. Hence my conclusion, at what point do we pitch the correct questions in order for us to begin a process to disabuse ourselves.

It is my belief that the media has a responsibility to contribute to nation building and I must say that they are failing to do so when they pose these lousy questions. Hafajee and Moya once admitted to the fact that no one can claim to be objective (which is a claim made by our media) and therefore people like Alex D can claim to be objective but their right wing unsubstatiated quotes about the killing of "white farmers" gives it away. The truth of the matter is that SA is in a very unique position in the world and there are no lessons to be learned from anywhere in the globe. We have a black majority, we are in africa, we are a relatively prosperous country, sizeable "white" african minority, a large section of the population (accross "racial" lines)that wants to see progress. We just need to talk about more innovative ways of dealing with this unique challenge such as teaching "white" kids african languages at school,removing the lies in our history eg few hundred boers killing "thousnads" of Zulus etc. Instead of wasting energy praying at the "voortrekker" monument, 1820 settlers monument we should be thinking and asking more foward looking questions as the media and the public.

@Kitty Kat, with all due respect but I think you also have to get your head around alot of things concerning questions of race/culture(as all of us do). Where I agree with you is that as a nation we need to need to critically examine our past as well as what it means for our future and the future we would like to see/build. In addition, it would also be interesting as to whom will determine/and lead it and whether it'll be inclusive. In my opinion it has'nt been inclusive.

Now concerning the coloured community, it is no secret that Apartheid definitely affected them, and that things like the pencil test were very demeaning BUT for many who consider themselves to be mix/malato/creole/coloured emphasis is on the mix heritage of many of these communities. In Brittain where coloured/people of mix race are the largest growing( as is in South Africa) you find that the dominant 'races'(for lack of better word) in most cases try to force their identities-in South Africa its either black of white(likewise in Britain). For me that's just wrong and that goes against our constitution of non-racialism. Tell me why is it fine to pronounce urself either black or white and not a coloured South Africa? Why is it that many people (not all) of these two groups(white and black) lay claim to history and how they define 'others' who doesnt necessarily fall rigidly into these 'paradigms'. You do get coloured people who call themselves black and others call themselves white...its their choice. And then u get most who see themselves within SAn context as coloured and there is nothing wrong with that. Apartheid affected all communities and the coloured community also has to deal with the contradictions of the past BUT so must black African and white people.

Oh made a mistake...with coloured people the largest growing community. Meant in Brittain...specifically England. But then you also get people of mix race and heritage in South America, other parts of Africa and parts of Europe. In most cases, similar questions arise as stated in my previous post. ;)

With articles and comments like these, the race sickness in SA will never go away. SA's disease is not absolutely unique, race is just an excuse. What many people are trying to put in motion here is what happened in Zimbabwe, Germany and Rwanda. This is typically where a previously badly behaved minority group gets saddled, permanently and inescapably, with all the country's ills down to runners and refugees. Usually the saddling is done to distract attention from the country's other woes; crime, corruption etc etc.

The final phase of the illness, that which D Harris, Kit Kat and KT et al currently just stop short of is to advocate action. Action has been through dispossession, a hoe to the head or a whiff of Zyklon B. Maybe they are waiting from the word from on high. Mr Malema; your cue.

HI K.T. Maseko
I can identify with everything you said.I grew thinking of these very issues.Most of the Whites in SA treat non-whites with contempt.All the years during Apartheid I suffered but what made it worse was - white people who said that IT WAS THE LAW and they could do nothing about it.That was not true- they just enjoyed the privileges and the "fat of the land" . I still remember people like Clive Rice and Jimmy Cook who continued to believe that they were the best in SA not the best that the LAW allowed.

Yes we go on talking about "boys" and "girls" who do menial work even though they are mature adults.Most whites still judge you by the colour of your skin and still believe that because you are black you are beneath them.

So I will end by saying to Everyone in SA - SHOW SOME RESPECT. And yes acknowledge your fellow South Africans as your equals capable of everything you are capable of.

@lala: What is colored? It is a racial desciption of your skin colour to define you according to a race classification! There is no cultural practises or traditions of this group. Whatever is mooted is highly questionable because it comes from somewhere else. mimicry or assimilation whatever you want to call its still borrowed or copied. That is the point of departure. We must be very careful of our twin challenges in SA,ie: white supremacy and black chauvinism. When we begin to deal with the issues of NATION formation and NATION building the result of this must be: to attain a non-racial,non-sexist and democratic society. This national program should never seek to assimilate someone else's society. It cannot be because our challenges are SOUTH AFRICAN in particular and global in general. But in articulating what it is we seek to do, it would be very stupid to dismiss groupings. What is our SOUTH AFRICAN consciousness to seek to built ONE NATION!

Kit Kat. I agree with you to a large extent. But, does that mean that Black Consciousness must be thrown out of black people's internal discourse (And here I completely understand that only a portion of black people subscribe to the philosophies of black consciousness)? Surely it can't be right - if a white/coloured/purple person is prohibited from identifying themselves according to race - for black african people to be allowed to maintain such an overtly race-based discourse?

Kit Kit, well articulated re: your response to Lala. I'll second that opinion, although I'll err on the side of caution regarding cultural practices of coloured people - I would be commenting from a position of ignorance.

K.T. Maseko, silondile jali.
So you DO want to talk about race? Its fine with me. I am Afrikaans and proud of my race. I assume you are proud of your race as well, unlike the author of this ridiculous article.
1)Where do you get this notion that whites are inherently racist?
Do you have statistics to show me?
2)So you say black people are not racist? So was Rwanda all about a class war or a soccer riot?
3)Do you feel that there's a external sense of superiority being focused on you, or is it a inward feeling of inadequacy?
4)How can black consciousness be allowed but white consciousness is a taboo?

I'm proud of my culture, intend to keep it, and raise my children like this. But I will also teach them to respect black people and encourage them to learn a African language. We must stop this ridiculous mud throwing...

@Simon Hartley: When I think about BC I am immediately reminded of Marcus Garvey's wonderful expression:"black is beautiful". In unpacking all of this very important and critical beliefs, differnt ideologies etc, and linking it to BC,there MUST BE SOME natural contradications. The SOUTH AFRICAN programme of action will never be fluid because then we will ignore tribalism, etc etc.

@Kitty Kat...the way you talking its as if culture is homogeneous. Culture adapts and lend from each other whilst in many cases still have a unique blend. And what may I ask you is wrong with some cultural practices in some coloured communities originating from somewhere else. Are you saying they less South African? Many coloured communities practice their cultural and traditional pratices. And others don't or their heritage is to diverse to.And that is fine too IMHO.
What is interesting to me, is that your vision of a future South Africa is only built on a narrow perception of who can participate and that some are more equal than others. You should really do yourself a favour and read up more about the coloured communities in South Africa, as well as open yourself up for what you would read as well. U cannot dictate (just because you don't understand or won't/accept)that people not call themselves coloured. Nelson Mandela talked bout his coloured lineage in his ancestry...so who are you? And he talked bout this with the full understanding of what it means as well as these communities equal role in South Africa. Though u may say that you want a non-sexist, non-racist(ial) SA...ur view bout coloured people seems to suggest that you'd be part of the problem in us not reaching that goal.

Funny laugh-out-loud writing ! He said, "not like kwaito.", and not like "J.B. Coetzee's "Disgrace"". And the stuff about "not blowing your own vuvuzela", what can I say ! LOL.

This is an exciting and definitely "idiosyncratic" perspective of whiteness, one which obviously doesn't necessarily apply to other white people, but a very interesting one nonetheless. I think we should just appreciate the commentary, as those who are not white, and encourage other whites, hopefully those who are equally creative and entertaining, to share their individual perspectives as well. We'd be pleasantly surpised at the heterogeneity of feelings and reflections which is often clouded and lost in the traditional way we choose to tackle the debate about "race".

And everybody else who is not white would learn a whole lot from just listening and restraining themselves from the overeager passing of race-based judgment. The same should apply if it was a Black author expressing their unique (not cliche) perspective on being Black.

Allowing individual and deeply personal expressions on this topic of race/racism, even those that are reluctant to tackle it in the traditional manner as this author is, is exciting. It's a breath of fresh air, because quite often in engaging the race topic traditionally, we lose sense of the individual experience. Plus, we don't do a whole lot of listening to one another. Sometimes the race debate doesn't have to be a shouting match !

So, I appreciate the author for taking us elsewhere a little bit, even if it is a small step. Thanks for fresh and entertaining perspective.

Let me tell you another dull hum platitude Alex. Whiteness, both as a social and psychological phenomenon, only exists in relation to blackness. Before "Europeans" encountered non-European, especially "Africans", the distinction between white and black was largely nominal, concerning shades of difference in objects or states, and not defining social phenomena. Put it this way, it is only possible to feel "white" in relation to an other, "black". Notwithstanding this, your other, "black" may share similar perceptions and feelings as you do, depending perhaps on other identifying aspects of that other's being, such as whether they're Catholic, Protestant, atheist, Jewish (and yes there are black Jews), middle class or working class, likes sushi or doesn't like sushi, listens to kwaito, or perhaps doesn't listen to kwaito, and so on. In other words, one can't define what it feels to be black or white in the simple manner you pose. Each person, black or white, has multiple ways in which they may or may not perceive, enjoy, think or simply be, as a person. It is this which defines our humanity. We all come into being in a world that, these days, that has a basic uniformity in the predominant languages we speak. More than ever before, we have the potential of experiencing our humanity as an evenly shared culture in which our varying tastes, thoughts, needs, fears, dreams, etc. can be validated and recognised as having a singular source of vitality .i.e. the human spirit, regardless of whether we think of "spirit" in secular or religious terms. Unfortunately, the relatively uniform world of language and culture in which we exist isn't one that has superseded its history and traditions deeply embedded in a past of division and exploitation. When Europeans shipped some 10 million Africans across the Atlantic in the 17th and 18th century, they were, in fact, beginning to write their identity as "whites" in the forced labour and tortured bodies of those they enslaved. Since then, it has all indeed become a kind of hum drum story inadequately described as “race relations”. And the story of race relations is a hum drum one, precisely because no identity conceived on the stain of blackness, slavery, oppression, continuing exploitation of cheap and subordinated labour, inequality and uneven development in the world, can soar into a sublime of pure self-identifying colour, the pure joy of the other’s absence. Your wish for pure white sublime can neither happen in South Africa, nor England, America, or anywhere else in the world, because the text of the relation of opposites can never be redrawn without a deep and meaningful change in the conditions that sustain that transcript.

People, the past is the past, which is why it is spelt using those particular letters.. We need to look at fixing the present, which will affect our and our children's future. We need to create jobs for everyone, including the currently commercially unemployable, the unemployed and the recently retrenched. Once we all have food in our stomachs and clothes on our basics, then we can worry about getting around to sorting out the racists of both/all varieties. I have a system, see www.mrrecycle.co.za, to view just one option available to us, which creates jobs and combats climate change for a small fee to the middle and upper class. Together, using the right systems, we can attend to the most important stuff, and then worry about losers mindsets. Imagine creating a climate of social, economic and environmental upliftment within a disadvantaged community, and the resulting spin offs. By providing walk within walking distance of most of our fellow disadvantaged people, we even minimize the need for so many taxis, thereby making the roads safer and minimizing at the same time the atmospheric pollution!
We can, together, turn this country around! Have a fantastic day, Martin

Jesus Christ the comments on this page are pathetic. Especially Trotsky, I mean, can you not think whatsoever?

If you would have bothered to read the article instead of stopping after the headline you would have realised that the author contextualises 'whiteness' within South African race relations, which, unless you were born yesterday, should be quite obviously a factor in all of our daily lives.

Most of you people seem to feel that it is unfair that 'white people' can have any opinion about South African life in the context of their own skin, as though there is no such thing as having feelings about the fact of skin colour. Well wether you find it uncomfortable or not, people have opinions about living in their particular shades of skin, white people, black people, Indian people, coloured people, chinese people.

Denying this fact is just foolish.

I feel this article was very well versed and I enjoyed the perspective, and I can relate to many of the authors concerns. Especially the fact that race discussion feels so flogged to death that it pains me to be involved with it. But denying it is unrealistic. Race is still an issue for us, clearly, and we should rather talk about it than commit the genocide people like SA Eish would rather have us do.

To say race debate should be avoided is foolish. We all need to make an effort to deal with the race challenge. It is easy for white person and the few politicians as well as the few BEE beneficiaries to say we should forget about the race and enjoy living together but for many African South Africans it remains challenge. No matter how you try to ignore the race, the first thing you saw when you open your eyes in the morning reminds you of the race difference. Killing of farmers and BEE is the only worry white South Africans have. 15 years, do you expect African person to have forgot about everything? The people who born in 1994 are only 15 years now maybe they will forget but the more white people try to hold on their believe of race supremacy the more the 15 year old became aware of the past.

We need a government that will intentional uplift the status of all people. Remove the legacy of apartheid on our face, remove shacks. Why the employer is always white person, you hate what you see in your tv because you know is true. whate man rich and racist. black man poor and accommodating. The race issue will still haunt this nation for many years to come, you just have to deal with it.

i feel for you Alex Dodd, my friend you are in for a long ride.but never lose hope, your great-great-grand daughter might be the next best kwaito artist after spikiri.

First of all thanks for this article, it certainly has given so many of us a platform to talk freely about race in S.A.

I want to say we need to embrace our history, it has made us who we are, painful as some of it was/is; we absolutely have a story to tell generations to come. What we should now do is respect our differences. I cannot expect an Afrikaaner to change everything he/she knows about their culture as it is as important to them as my Sesotho culture is to me. What I do expect is r-e-s-p-e-c-t!!

We cannot change all that's happened, we can however learn from history and hope like hell it doesn't come back ot bite us on the black/white side...by learning to co-exist without trying to make any race superior than the others. This is Madiba's ideal S.A.

Well done Alex. Your 'le Zulu Blanc' brother should be proud of you, as I am sure he is. Your personal and textured narrative speaks of intelligence and wit. You do paint a 'wasteland' experience amid all the talking heads.

My two cents worth as a white boy. As a country we lack the personal and moral strength to resolve the issues. The most likely scenario is a centuries long bickering and finger pointing exercise. Long may the interstices hold : )

@ Trotsky. Your analysis is too clever for us, could you put that in simple English? Something like: "whites are white because blacks are black. And its the white's fault".

The point of Alex's article is to see nuance and subtlety. See the human person, the individual. How does your thesis extend that or do you oppose her point?

@ mmesa mapena. Indeed the ride is long : ) And as sure as hell will bumpy. But is the only hope to become a kwaito star? Sounds a bit narrow and chauvinstic to my white ears : )

@Lala,yr comments remind me of an intellectual in WCape who has formed a colored association.He declares that his org caters for everyone.When asked what he meant by everyone:He responded by saying" We are open to black-coloreds,we are open to white-coloreds,we are open to chinese-coloreds,we are open to indian-coloreds and we are open to colored-coloreds"(?) Your comments also reminds me of Marike De Klerks declaration when describing coloreds:"these ppl are a negative ppl,they are the leftovers, they are non-persons. These are ppl that were left after the nations were sorted out, they are the rest". There are very many derogatory descriptions (not by me) and I suggest you go and read Mohammed Adhikari's book on the "racial identity in the SA Colored community". My point is that it was challenged way back in the 1930's if this group constituted a distinct racial group with its own historical trajectory and destiny. For further clarity, I also suggest you look at the history of APO, NEUM,NLL etc etc for their historical content. I further suggest you unpack the historical context of slavery in the Cape Colony and certainly use Du Preez readings for further consciousness. Cissy Gool,Alex la Guma,Kies etc etc has made invaluable contribution in their interrogations of "coloured". I must also remind you: That one should never use one's own biography to make a point. YOUR POINT OF DEPARTURE MUST ALWAYS BE BASED ON FACTS.

@silondile jali : this 'white' is a nurse, and my sister is a teacher. I earn no more than my 'black' colleagues. Ive never been to a spa or fancy resort, and neither have any of my family and friends with paler skins been able to afford such luxuries. A good start to overcomimg your racism would be for you to drop your belief in the prevailing mythology that all whites are rich.

Race-Hatred is fed by such myths. If an ethnic cleansing of the 4 million white South Africans occurred I reckon that a majority of the 44 million black citizens would, deep in their hearts, support such a genocide, believing that 'the whites deserved it'.

mandingo giddy-p - I have read the article, thank you, and know that it is about whiteness in South Africa. However, it is just as possible to imagine "whiteness" outside of a wider history and tradition of racial oppression in the world as it is possible to imagine white without black, so I see no point in confining my comments to South Africa. My key point, if I have to take up John Smith's challenge and state it even more simply than I have already, is that the relation between white and black is a social relation that has its starting point in slavery. Given that, all subsequent discourses of whiteness have emerged out of traditions (since slavery) of white self-conceptions based on a notion of white superiority over the other, the black race. In plain terms, the very idea of conceiving oneself as "white", whether in South Africa today, or Nazi Germany in the 1930s, involves conceiving yourself as a being superior to other, the black race. Now we can conceive of others "in-between" white and black, who have at various times been denied the privileged definition of whiteness, such as the Jews for instance, who have had to prove somehow that they were deserving of the supposedly superior status of whiteness. The Nazis, of course, and far right movements today have never been interested in allowing Jewish people to take up the burden of that proof --- whiteness for them means something even narrower i.e. a pure, somehow uncontaminated race, that can only come into its own by brutalising and eliminating those "in-between" and supposedly tinged with "blackness." I come back to the point I would say over and over again - even if it does bore people like Alex Dodd who wish to walk around dreaming that it is possible to live "whiteness" without coming to terms with its shadow, the dark slate upon which "whiteness" is written - that whiteness cannot be conceived without understanding that it is based on the oppression and indeed exploitation (both in material and psychological terms) of an other - "blackness". You can go through the entire modern tradition of European literature, and if you read closely enough (for instance in the Bronte Sisters, Henry James, Faulkner, etc, etc.) you will see that even fictional white social worlds, where there isn't an immediate black presence, involve counterposing white to its absent other, in order for that fictional white social world to borrow and fill out its self-conception and integrity.

@trotsky. Your thesis: "whites are 'white' because they oppress blacks". The anti-thesis: "whites are 'white' because they are oppressed by blacks"; the synthesis: "people oppress people".

If we can move beyond a simple Marxist analysis we see that oppression is part of the human condition. Not that we agree with it, nor do we support it. But surely being human is more than being white, black or oppressed/oppressor? Your thesis reminds me of the aphorism: "we love humans in general but hate 'them' in particular".

If we stop the conversation at that level we surely will not progress far. It is not for me to defend Alex Dodd, who I am sure will be better than me at it, but her 'dream' appears to be to see the individual, the personal, if you will, the human.

Class/race based discourse misses this because it is rooted in a stagnant loathing of the 'other class'. That is the road to conflict and obliteration that your Nazi example points out.

A failure to see the individual person results in a failure to see their need for individual treatment.

John Smith - my understanding of Alex Dodd, and I do think I read her very well, is that she indeed counterposes her whiteness to blackness (in the short statement, "It doesn't feel like kwaito" most blatantly) as the awful text of something that she wishes to move on from and continue to be blissfully white without the burden of having to feel guilt for her white privilege. Nowhere do I see a genuine appeal simply to be considered as an individual above the double-bind of what "whiteness" really means. All I see in Dodd is a sense complacence in an identity that implies privilege and race superiority. I too wish that we could all perceive, validate and address each other as individuals rather than as racial others. Unfortunately, as long as the grounds upon which we relate to each are based on persistant racial inequality, persistant social division, persistant unwillingness to recognise and thereby intellectually surpass the unblemished traditions out of which our current flawed identities are forged, then we will never reach that state in which we are fully human and completely free to feel ourselves as "individuals" without reference to an other that we either despise or pity or treat with paternalistic disregard. Put another way, the individuality does not exist as a self-contained, self-identifying object, beyond the realm of the intersubjective context set by language, culture, ideology, and, I beg to add, economic and social standing. In other words, we exist and are mutually constituted by the particular, historically referenced, form or mode of our relation to others. Even Robinson Crusoe could not exist as a self-reflecting hermit without his Man Friday.

Dear John Smith - my understanding of Alex Dodd, and I do think I read her very well, is that she indeed counterposes her whiteness to blackness (in the short statement that being white "doesn't feel like kwaito", most blatantly) as the awful text of something that she wishes to move on from and continue to be blissfully white without the burden of having to feel guilt for her white privilege. Nowhere do I see a genuine appeal simply to be considered as an individual above the double-bind of what "whiteness" really means. All I see in Dodd is a sense of complacence in an identity that implies privilege and race superiority. I too wish that we could all perceive, validate and address each other as individuals rather than as racial others. Unfortunately, as long as the grounds upon which we relate to each other are based on persistant racial inequality, persistant social division, persistant unwillingness to recognise and thereby intellectually surpass the blemished traditions out of which our current flawed identities are forged, then we will never reach that state in which we are fully human and completely free to feel ourselves as "individuals" without reference to an other that we either despise or pity or treat with paternalistic disregard. Put another way, the "individual" does not exist as a self-contained, self-identifying object, beyond the realm of the intersubjective context set by language, culture, ideology,tradition, and, I beg to add, economic and social standing. In other words, we exist and are mutually constituted by the particular, historically-cemented, mode of our relation to each other that we find ourselves in. Even Robinson Crusoe could not exist as a self-reflecting hermit without his Man Friday.