White

I recently read a book entitled Learning to be White. It was an interesting and thought-provoking look at how white consciousness is formed, and the history of "being white" in America.

Here is a very simplified summary of some of her ideas. These were backed by examples, studies and more fleshed-out reasoning in the book.

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The price of being accepted into the "white" community is to disassociate with those who are not white, and do dissaociate with the part of yourself that would like to be friends with everyone. Social pressure and the desire to belong exert psychic strength to enforce racist attitudes and behavior; often at high cost to those who comply. This often takes the form of shaming the person who exhibits opinions or behavior that don't conform to the white community.
"We don't play with people like that"
"How could you think it would be ok to be friends with them?"

White racism is built on the shame of being different from the white norm (wanting to know/befriend non-whites) and fear of being rejected by one's own community. Self-hatred and shame manifests outwardly as vilification of the other.

Much of fostered racism has its roots in classism: "racial strategies devised to hide and thereby to promote or protect economic class interests." Upper-class, wealthy whites used racial language and rhetoric to divide the poor into white and non-white interests. This kept them from uniting and demanding social change that would benefit their economic class, and saw poor whites voting for wealthy white interests over their own.

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I happened to catch an interview with a strongly anti-immigration polictian while reading this book, and was immediately struck by how what I was hearing was upper class, weathly white rhetoric. And racisim, disguised. "Keep them out because they are not like us."