ome viewers come to our web page expecting to learn about the positive aspects of white American culture. There's nothing wrong with that. Indeed, we would love to meet their expectations. White American culture has many wonderful elements and traditions. Furthermore, white Americans are entitled to feel good about their culture, as is anyone.

After looking over our material, these same viewers write to us expressing their disappointment and dismay. Some claim we are not talking about culture at all. Others claim we are biased or racist against white Americans. Rather than finding uplifting and celebratory descriptions of white American cultural accomplishments, they find material largely given to examining the role of whiteness in the racial structure of the United States. The uplifting text that exists focuses on how white Americans can help create a multiracial society.

"White American culture is the dominant sub- culture in the United States. In that way it differs from other racial/cultural groups."

The cultural tourist would have us believe that cultures can be placed side by side, compared and admired in characteristics such as music, drama, myths, athletic accomplishments and heroes from history. Indeed, they can. The cultural patriot would agree, adding that one's own culture can never be seen as wrong. Either way, an element remains missing.

The missing element is power. Rather than encouraging a cultural narcissism or pandering to a political correctness in which white American culture can do no wrong, we focus, first and foremost, on looking at how white American culture has contributed to the historical and current racial structure of the United States. White American culture is the dominant subculture in the United States. In that way it differs from other racial/cultural groups. Side by side comparisons and cultural celebrations obscure this fact.

Compared to other racial/cultural groups in the United States, white American culture holds greater power to control resources, set rules, and influence events. This position of dominance is not an accident, but rather a product of our history, involving elements of economic and political struggle. In the past, this struggle included practices such as enslavement and genocide of people and cultures of color, justified by an avowed white supremacy that celebrated whiteness as God's appointed agent. Today the rhetoric is muted and the consequences of white cultural dominance are less catastrophic to cultures of color.

"We believe there is a way for white Americans to develop a positive appreciation of their culture, but that way does not lie in simplistic denials of history."

But dominance remains a fact, and if the trend has been to soften its impact, we as a nation have hardly reached the point where racial/cultural groups exist side by side in a multiracial, democratic equality. White cultural advantage continues, promoted not so much by avowed supremacy as simple denials that white cultural dominance is still a force. Some go as far as to deny that white American culture exists at all.

If race relations are to change, then white American culture must change. And white American culture is best changed by those who have the power to change it, i.e., white Americans. This is all the more pressing as our world enters a new era. White American culture was created with a frontier mentality that encouraged a nearly ravenous exploitation and consumption of newly appropriated natural resources, and a disregard of those defined as not white. In our contemporary world, these elements of white culture are clearly becoming dysfunctional. The other can no longer be pushed back, but rather lives among us. Resources are disappearing and there no longer are regions of the world so naive or unexplored that the hungry grab for more can continue unabated.

In time we hope to publish material on white American culture that will speak to the needs of the cultural tourists, and even the cultural patriots. For now, our resources are limited, and so we are forced to set priorities. We believe there is a way for white Americans to develop a positive appreciation of their culture, but that way does not lie in simplistic denials of history. More important, it does not lie in a contemporary cultural patriotism. Developing a sense of cultural affirmation lies first in recognizing and understanding the fact of white cultural dominance, and working toward the creation of a truly multiracial society.

Jeff Hitchcock can be contacted at jhitchcock@euroamerican.org.