on the unbearable lightness of whiteness on the unbearable lightness of whiteness by photo by backbone campaign | cc by 2.0 




to be white and from money is to live a life of largely unrecognized privilege, bequeathed as it is from one<u+2019>s first wet, howling breath. in the affluent socio-economically partitioned town of saratoga springs, ny where i<u+2019>m from there was actually a railroad track serving as the demarcation line between affluent whites residing on one side and the other side of which nothing was known because you just didn<u+2019>t go there, ever. it was literally the <u+201c>wrong side of the tracks<u+201d>. 




raised in that remarkable state of incurious joy and suffering within narrow undiluted lines of stratified suburban sameness, i could not know or question the things kept from sight. thus racial determinism was assumed passively, an acquired naivete fueled with the aspirational angst of middle class parenting that served as an omniscient narcotic fog, like carbon monoxide <u+2013> not enough to be lethal, but just enough to render the critical faculties permanently dull until finally the things kept from sight could no longer be seen even upon close observation. 




to be white is to watch but not see while being seen but never watched. it is to know that for whatever law enforcement is or is not, they are something that will never have anything to do with me. it is to know that on those rare occasions i am pulled over, it really is about a busted tail light. 




to be white is to know that when a retail clerk approaches me, its about customer service and not the<u+2026>
on the unbearable lightness of whiteness
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