on the subject of passing and "colorwashing"

[mimesere]

this is why I don't talk about race, you guys. srsly.

So, I am half middle eastern (persian) and half chamorro (native to Guam).

My mom and my family on my mom's side will *happily* tickybox "white/caucasian" on a form that asks them for it, but if you straight up ask them if they are white, they will say no. Not only no, but *hell* no. This is for many reasons, not the least of which is the part where Middle Eastern, as a *race*, is difficult to categorize and isn't considered separate the way that Black or "Asian" (and I put this in quotes only because there's so much that's covered under Asian that it's uh. kind of a nuts category), but let me tell you, white people? Don't generally consider Middle Easterners to be white.

here's the other thing: I can pass for a lot of things, sometimes Italian (????), most often Latino (which, to be fair, is as much a function of my last name as it is anything else). Most of the time, it's not an issue (no, really). I do not tend to get treated any differently by my peers (though this is because of the people I choose as my peers) and I tend to stick to places where I know being brown is not going to be an issue (survival instinct, ahoy). I do not feel especially comfortable in large groups of primarily white people, but then I did not spend *time* with large groups of white people growing up. At a con, at a concert, in a classroom, in the workplace, I will seek out other people of color because I feel safer with them.

I don't have to make my race a big deal. I choose to do so because it's important to me and because the place where I live makes a lot of assumptions on the basis of my name and my skin tone. I have had to say to people that I am Middle Eastern when the inappropriate jokes come up or when someone asks me why I didn't see 300 and what could I possibly have against Frank whores whores whores with bonus racism! Miller. I don't want to listen to it. The way that I don't want to listen to misogyny or homophobia or anything else. And it's easier to make people shut up with that stuff when they're faced with the fact that I belong to this group, that it's *me* they're insulting.

But the people who can pass and choose to? I don't blame them for that either. I think it's troubling and it doesn't especially make me happy, but there are plenty of people for whom passing is the choice that makes them most comfortable. There are things to be discussed there and, denial of agency or "colorwashing" or whatever, if I know they're a person of color, even if they don't say they are or even if they flat out say they are white, I'm still going to group them in with people of color because they're my people. They're my people who are, uh, REALLY PROBLEMATIC, but they're my people nonetheless. Sort of like gay republicans. Where I am PUZZLED but, you know, I can't...uh. Deny them. I swear that comparison made way more sense in my head than I'm sure it makes when I type it out. I mean, mostly I just feel bad! and want to give them hugs and be like, "it's okay, babies, no one will lynch you because your HUGE BODYGUARD WAS IN THE FSU AND IS TERRIFYING."

And maybe that is totally hypocritical of me, because if other people don't get to decide who is and isn't white, then what gives me the right to decide who is and isn't a person of color (well. other than the part where one of them is half Black. I'm pretty sure that qualifies you as a person of color whether you say you are or not)? The person is still making a choice as to their identity and I should totally be fine with that choice. Except, you know, whatever. Call it colorwashing, I don't even care. I still count them as my people and it makes me feel better to know that they're there.

I uh, also laugh at the people who think Wentworth Miller is white. FYI.

Comments

[escritoireazul.livejournal.com]

(Ok, so Wentworth Miller is some hot actor, right? Or something? I don't actually know. The WM with whom I'm familiar is this guy who wrote this system for passing law school exams, and who apparently has a really hot son, also called WM and I'm assuming that's the one people on my flist reference, but it is such a disconnect for me. It makes me laugh.)

But the people who can pass and choose to? I don't blame them for that either. I think it's troubling and it doesn't especially make me happy, but there are plenty of people for whom passing is the choice that makes them most comfortable.

What do you think about passing because that's the default? I'm probably not going to say this right, since my brain isn't working after I've been trying to study, but I'm going to try. I mean that I am multiracial, but I look like the whitest white person to ever white. I often feel like if I identify as a POC I am appropriating the experience, because, obviously, I haven't dealt with any of the negative aspects of being a POC. (Not only do I look like the whitest white, etc., I was adopted into an extremely white family.) So while I have huge issues with the idea of passing, there is no way I'm going to check the box for non-white because I haven't had the difficulties of being non-white.

(I have SO MANY issues with passing. It's one of the first things I told people here, shockingly enough, because we had this big orientation for minorities and talked about issues and I pass as white, straight, and sane, and I am none of those things. Yet I pass, and because I pass I don't always feel like I have the right to claim the label because I haven't dealt with the difficulties, and can, in fact, choose to not deal with them since I pass.)

I have the feeling I am just rambling here, so I will stop now.

[mimesere.livejournal.com]

You should always feel free to ramble :)

My main issue with passing-by-default is that if it's, um, a white person-not-you who is making the assumption that you are white, then it smacks of color-blindness in a skeevy way that makes me want to punch people. If it is a choice you are making for yourself for whatever reason, then that is you and not something I can judge.

*thinks* Like, if it's an assumption based in unawareness or willful blindness or whatever, then it's a major issue for me. If it's something else, then that's...something else. Which is really not clarification of anything at *all*.

It bugs me when people look at, say, Edward James Olmos or Wentworth Miller or Gabe Saporta and is like, "Oh, totally a white dude," because they're not obviously a person of color. Which is not on the person passing (though none of these guys do) but on the observer. And it's not that I think everyone should have magical OH IT'S A PERSON OF COLOR radar, but the way that the default assumption of white in the absence of any outward markers makes people invisible makes me really angry. Like, almost all of my issues with passing have to do with the culture that makes it safer/easier/whatever to be white or thought white than to be able to say, "Hey, no, I'm totally a person of color." My issues with people who *do* pass are mostly of the, "But it won't get *better* for everyone if you pass, because not everyone has that option."

So, yeah. It is problematic!

and this:

is Wentworth Miller.

[ladyjestyr.livejournal.com]

The thing you said in the last post about Europeans considering Latinos as "white" rather got me thinking, and I'm trying to work out what makes a person a 'person of color' (apart from self-identification, of course, which is probably the primary thing). I can see where the European perspective comes from; I imagine it's focusing on the fact that Latino people are of Hispanic descent (excluding the fact that Central and South America already had indigenous people living there, and I'm sure some of them were involved in the process, even if involuntarily), and from a European perspective 'hispanic' isn't going to be contextually different from 'germanic' or 'italian' or whatever.

(And bear in mind I'm Australian; race issues here tend to focus on a) indigenous Australians and pacific islanders, and b) people of middle eastern or asian descent. People of mediterranean European extraction are almost always identified as "white" here; the differences are perceived as a function of culture, rather than race. I think, or I could be talking out my ass and hopelessly out of touch, but that's how it seems to me at least. And I am, you know, middle-class-privileged-Anglo-girl so it's not an issue where I've grown up being intrinsically aware of the finer distinctions.)

Hmm. I guess - would you identify, say, an Italian person as a PoC? A Greek person? A Spanish person?

[mimesere.livejournal.com]

I would not identify most people of Mediterranean descent to be of color. Like, I recognize that they do not identify themselves as such and, generally speaking, European doesn't ping for me that way.

For a lot of people, and this is especially true with Central and South America, it's not just an issue of what color you are or where your parents hail from or whatever; there are issues of class and discrimination and religion and all of that other stuff that goes into it. And there is also the question of the separate subculture between Spain and Central and South America. I try to be really careful of it (also with the Portuguese rather than Spanish in Brazil thing), but it's all...messy.

Ditto the Caribbean. Ditto the Pacific Islands. It's all just...messy and there isn't one answer of "Yes, this person is white because..." or "this person is of color because...."

[ladyjestyr.livejournal.com]

Reading up, your comment above about "And it's not that I think everyone should have magical OH IT'S A PERSON OF COLOR radar, but the way that the default assumption of white in the absence of any outward markers makes people invisible makes me really angry." makes perfect sense - I have to confess that's what my default assumption is, not because I'm trying to be all whitewashy, but because I just don't notice. Not something to be really proud of; the only thing I really have in my defense is that racial issues and awareness are framed very differently in Australia, and there are different problems at the forefront (on a specific level; the broader problems of racism and prejudice are largely universal, of course).

I suppose the key thing to remember is that "caucasian" != "white", and that issues of color are as much about privilege and prejudice as about the scientific definitions of 'this person counts as caucasian'? I think?

Argh. It is hard, yo. (Oh my poor privileged self, boo hoo.) I thought for years that being color-blind was _good_. It's only in the last couple of years, with all the fandom kerfuffles, that I've really seen the point about why it's not. (And thankyou to the intelligent eloquent people of fandom, who've explained it so clearly.) At least I'm learning, I guess.

[ladyjestyr.livejournal.com]

"what my default assumption is" - I should more accurately say "what my default assumption has been". Trying to change. :)

[mimesere.livejournal.com]

There are a lot of things that make up the...construct? of race. Class and privilege and whatnot are all a part of it and that's where things get complicated about it. I *wish* that there were a clear answer, but sadly there's not and as mosca says below, the complications do make it so that the assumption of "oh, this person is white because they're not obviously something else" is easier and less scary to make. So it's understandable. It also just *really* frustrating.

So I occasionally make these posts and then I go back to being quiet about it for a while and things (hopefully) get better. I dunno.

[mosca.livejournal.com]

I can see where the European perspective comes from; I imagine it's focusing on the fact that Latino people are of Hispanic descent

Which is a false assumption: people who identify as Latino can be of European, Native, and/or African descent. Most are two or more of the above. Increasingly, there's a movement toward asking people whether they identify as Latino and then asking what race(s) they identify as. I suppose that on some level it is a cultural and language difference, although levels of anti-Latino discrimination in this country make it seem like a racial difference.

Most North Americans wouldn't classify people of Italian, Greek, or Spanish descent as PoCs, but as recently as seventy-five years ago, many would have. My 88-year-old Jewish grandfather, who has blue eyes and had blond hair, remembers when he wasn't considered white (although he passed, certainly). Race and ethnicity are complicated in this part of the world, and I have no trouble understanding why people from your part of the world find our reactions and classifications so confusing.

[mosca.livejournal.com]

I have very little to add here beyond noting that I love your posts on race because they are smart, and because they nicely balance toughness and generosity. You're making me think complicated thoughts about the odd social role of people who, like you, are clearly/probably nonwhite but the kind of nonwhite is unclear. And people who appear to be one kind of nonwhite but are actually another (i.e. my former neighbor who is Latino but looks black and gets treated as such). And the "reverse passing" of people like my dad who gets stopped in the airport because he looks like he might be Middle Eastern or Latino (or, you know, TV's Francis Capra). It's all complicated, and when fandom (or others) "whitewash" it's an annoying and rude and destructive but ultimately understandable impulse because complicated is scary.

And now I am going to sit back and daydream about my interracial inter-class genderqueer OTP and silently judge fandom.

[mimesere.livejournal.com]

Stupid world being all complex. Meh.

Yeah, no, I can't judge people on any flavor of passing because so much of it is wildly subjective both on the part of the passer and on the people who don't question it.

[annaalamode.livejournal.com]

You know what is not scary? Ben and Charlie's adorable (and tragically torn apart) hat stealing love!

[claire.livejournal.com]

I am really, really, really bad at telling who is 'white' and who is not. Seriously. Call it facial short-sightedness or just social retardation, but hell, not only would I not assume that Wentworth Miller was 'white' if I met him, I might be hard fucking pressed to determine that Halle Berry was not white confronted by a picture of her.

You can laugh at me anytime, though, I laugh at myself often.

[mimesere.livejournal.com]

*g* I have to admit, that's a new one by me, but hey! At least there's...equal opportunity going on there?

[anglwitscbdwngs.livejournal.com]

I will totally read all of the comments. But first! I laugh all of the time when people think Wentworth Miller is white.

Funny enough my roommate first year in college (who is mixed and used to run the cultural org) used to put him on her flyers and people would be all WTF!!?? But like he did a movie where he played a light skinned Black man who passed as white earlier in his career (the Human Stain w/ Anthony Hopkins.)

And funny enough he was interviewed about it and the interviewer was like "what's it like playing a Black man?" and WM was all "ummm...easy?"

anyway back to the comment section.

[mimesere.livejournal.com]

*G* The Wentworth Miller thing makes me laugh forever. And every time I see him, I just think back to his guest spot on Buffy and then I can only sort of flap my hands at people in the middle of hysterical laughter and go, "DUDE, what is that foulness?" and yeah. I heart Wentworth Miller a lot.

[tablesaw]

Well, this'll teach me to look for other posts after responding to the one linked by MF.

I think some of your terms mean different things to me, but I completely get what you mean. The importance of "my people" is, uh, important.

[mimesere.livejournal.com]

Despite how all these posts make it sound, I really am big into inclusivity. It's just that I want it to be precise. Also for people to stop sucking.

And it gets really complicated with the...source that I'm talking about, since the people in question run the gamut from very very out and proud about their race/ethnicity/heritage to passing (badly, but trying to pass nonetheless).

Ahh complications of identity. *hearts*

[neverneverfic.livejournal.com]

sadly i totally thought wentworth miller was white. mainly because his brother on prison break is white. but after i was told he was a poc i now look at him and am like ohhhhhhh how was i so blind. HOW?! laugh away, i deserve it.

[folklorefanatic.livejournal.com]

I know it's a bit late to comment on this, but I just wanted to say it was a great, thought-provoking essay for me. The part about gravitating towards other PoC really hit a chord and resonated with me. I didn't even realize until a few months ago that -- Duh! -- as a kid, both of my best-best friends were biracial. I knew they were biracial; it just never crossed my mind WHY the two girls who I felt the most comfortable with were both PoC. I felt close to them because they were 'like me.' Mind you, I could pass and they couldn't, but those kind of thoughts simply never occured to me as a child, at all. As an adult, I live in such Suburban Whiteland(TM) that I'm lucky if I run into someone who's Persian (one family we are friends with is Persian). My brother's good friend is Vietnamese, but he's the exception to the rule. There are virtually NO people of color here in Western PA outside of the cities. Often the difference in class is the first thing that I notice, because I have come to expect that there will be no PoC besides me in a room, and that people won't know I'm a PoC unless they ask.

I don't think it's wrong to consider other PoC your people. I would have a difficult time addressing them as white people in discussions related to race, because I don't like passing when it's purposeful, but in my mind, they would be PoC anyway.

Don't even get me started on the complications of Caribbean-American cultural and racial issues. Man, oh man.

Tangent:
As a 'pale-skinned' PoC who grew up first in a relatively integrated neighborhood but then moved to three consecutive white, middle-upper-class, conservative neighborhoods, I had the exact *opposite* problem -- everyone thought that because THEY had assumed I was white, my brother and I were obligated to pass as white, even though my dad clearly couldn't.

It was...infuriating, to say the least, and fed in no small part by anti-affrimative action sentiment. Because, you know, your race is totally dictated by the white people who think that a single phenotype doesn't change, ever, and that you shouldn't recognize who your family members and ancestors are and what your culture is because being white is so much EASIER and then you won't be one of 'those people' who are freeloaders!!!!11!1 Never mind that people treat my father differently and had he and my mother been born ten years earlier, their marriage would have been ILLEGAL and they would have been arrested when they tried to travel South to fly to the West Indies. ARGH.

Ah, high school -- the years when I wanted to punch every other person I encountered. Good times, good times.

Anyway, thanks for talking about this.

[sthlmsyndrom.livejournal.com]

It's probably a bit late for me to be commenting, but I just stumbled across post trough metafandom.

You mention the fact that Europeans considering Latinos to be white, and I'd like to mention why I think that happends, from my experienses as a north european.
Basicly it's this- we don't use the word race (anymore), during my whole school life it's always been ethnisity, using the word race is considerd to be kinda racist (at least in Sweden). Now there are probably a lot of other issues playing in, like the fact that latinos came from Spain, and Spain is in Europe, and we are white here right? ;)

I found you post to be very intersting, to a large part because should I choose not to tell anybody, no one would guess that my father is an arab. I'm always met with disbelife- it took a close friend of mine a year to belive that I wasn't as white as my skincolor would have people belive, and that my father actually came from the country next to her home country.
The disbelife takes energy, because I'm not obiously an "other" that meens I have to constantly tell people this (and while I plan on continuing to do so, it's not always fun), and deal with the zoo animal treatmeent that may follow.

Oops, I was planing on talking moore, but I think I've babbled enough for today =D