Letters to the Editor
1996
P-Bryant.Avey-1@umn.edu
Date: Mon, 27 May 1996
Subject: I just looked at your Web site
I looked at it briefly and really liked what I saw. I think you're
right about not knowing if anyone else has anything like it :-) I think
it's very interesting. I'll add a link to your page from ours when I
get a chance.
Thanks for contacting us!
Bryant Avey - InterNuntius - MW
Wed, 29 May 1996
Jeff,
Thank you for your suggestion. We will link to your page from
our European American Database. Thanks.
-----------------------------------------------------
Rob Hurd (301)-405-2939
Editor, Diversity Database University of Maryland
inforM, University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742
hurd@inform.umd.edu
http://www.inform.umd.edu:8080/EdRes/Topic/Diversity/.WWW
Thu, 30 May 1996
Subject: Link to C.A.R.E.-page
Hi there,
Nice top see the logo on yet another homepage. I will add your
page to the list of links on the C.A.R.E.-page.
Take C.A.R.E.,
Louis Nagtegaal
--
Visit the C.A.R.E. page at
http://www.pi.net/~enclos/eng_care.html
Voor Nederlandse tekst
http://www.pi.net/~enclos/care.htm
Sun, 2 Jun 1996
dennisw@darkwing.uoregon.edu
Subject: Re: new site (www.euroamerican.org)
I have just added your site to the Anti-Racism Resources home pages, and
will within a minute or two make it the "site of the week."
I am very intriged by the work that you are doing, and will be sure to
explore the web site more fully when I have the chance.
Keep up the good work!
Dennis Westlin
From: msedano@aol.com
Date: Mon, 3 Jun 1996
Subject: Re: Examining whiteness and white American culture
Congratulations on your new website. Your choice of terms, however,
bespeaks an innocence or perhaps blind ethnocentrism that fails to respect
one of the core semantic sources of ethnic division, viz. the subsumption
of all Americans under a term "America" intended to convey the limited
notion of the US of A. Your choice of terms, while conventional, ignores
the existence of millions of Americans with amerindian roots and european
links. "euroamerican" thus implies Mexicans and all points south. It's
this type of conventional expression that replaces sincere analysis. If
the site is not racist re-examine your semantic base, find a more
exclusive term, or refocus your conception; as a chicano, ie united
statesian of mexican descent, would you include me as a "white american"?
I wouldn't - neither by skin color nor attitude. I'll look in on your site
from time to time, though, because you are onto a useful point. If more
United Statesians examined their ethnic roots we'd all be in abetter
position to understand others' experience.
Msedano@aol.com
Tue, 04 Jun 1996
From: "m.d.c.bowen"
Subject: hmmm
it is interesting that you present whiteness as a subject for study.
overdue. but i would hope you make significant distinctions at the
outset.
it occurs to me that it is a significant mistake to appeal to
americans on the basis of whiteness. i don't believe that you seek
to support any white supremacist agenda, but i find it highly
unlikely that 'white' can undergo the semantic reversal that black
did precisely because becoming white has been a rite of social
passage for so many immigrants for so many generations, whereas
becoming black lacked the legal standing of state enforced racial
discrimination.
in other words there is no nutrality in whiteness and you will only
clutter your efforts by using the same term as white supremacists.
euro american sounds more appropriate and as a new term lacks the
baggage of 'white'.
whiteness, it occurs to me, is only skin deep and acts as a civic
badge of honor which has only recently been successfully robbed of
power. white supremacists will continue to attempt to re-infuse some
racial/skin distinction with social power. multiracialists, as
regards their attempt at census reclassification also seek to
empower racial definitions. though white culture is certainly worthy
of study (and by white culture i mean what it is that racially white
folks do to become and remain 'white'), the distinction between that
and the anti-racist and multicultural aims of your project must be
made abundantly clear.
there is clearly a difference, as well, between americans and
europeans. considering the differences between american mainstream
culture and various european cultures can be most enlightening. the
perspective of expatriots would certainly shed much light on the
subject, particularly that of non-white american expatriots living
in european countries. if anyone recognizes the social distinctions
between europeans and american 'whites' it would be those brought up
under the thumb of white supremacy here in the u.s. who have been
fortunate enough to live where white supremacy is much less
effective
Tue, 04 Jun 1996
From: "Kevin Martin (Homebrewer)"
Subject: Your page
Your page is very interesting. As an African-American male (soon to be
married to a European-AMerican woman) I find it informative and well
done. It is actually very interesting to read about some of the
experiences that white americans have. Oddly enough there is very MUICH
IN COMMON with what a black american deals with...on a personal level
at least. The feeling of walking on eggs that is described in the Cape
May essay is actually very common to all of us it seems. Slightly
different reasons but very similar nonetheless. Keep up the good work. I
will be visiting again and Ill update my web page soon to reflect the
logo.
P.S. Its about darned time that someone tried to show the white
experience in a light that didnt lead down the destructive road of
blame and jockeying for superiority. BRAVO
Sat, 08 Jun 1996
From: Roger Jackson
Subject: Your Site
Dear Jeff:
When I saw you post for your Internet site in one of the newsgroups, I thought,
"Of course, the guy is joking. This has to be a racist site." The study of white
American culture? I have been studying things white my entire life.
So it was with that, ahem, open mind that I clicked on Netscape and visited your
site. Imagine what I found. A very thoughtful effort, neither sappy liberalism nor
rigid defensiveness. I got a couple of themes out of the site: 1) White people
need to put their whiteness and the consequences of it in perspective, in a honest
by constructive fashion; 2) All have spent a lot of time letting a lot of external
and destructive forces define the social agenda. And this must end.
As a black American, I have always felt that I knew much more about white
folks than white folks knew about me. Not only that, I felt like they didn't care
to know. If this site forces one person -- black or white -- to alter their
one-dimensional perceptions about one another, I will be happy
Sat, 08 Jun 1996
Subject: Race Relations
Greetings and Love,
I have just visited your page for the first time,it
will not be the last.The info. you give on the net is well needed.I am a
25 year old Anti-Racist White man.I live in Hawai'i with my son and his
mother,my son is 2 years old,He's japanese and Irish.I lived in
Sacto.CA. before I moved here,in Sacto. I was a member of S.H.A.R.P. and
the A.R.A. Citrus Heights. I was raised to except people for who they are
and where they came from,culture conscience,my Mother was very
politically active in the community She challegend tom metzger on race
related debates and She taught us,I have Sisters and a Brother,about our
culture and not to be ashamed of ourselves and to never ever downpress
someone else because of Their culture.Living in Hawai'i has shown that my
Mother was right, on the Island racism is not a major issue the only
culture complaining are the wealthy whites about reverse racism and how
Their children suffer at school,I have lived here 3 years and I recieve
tons of Aloha everyday,I think it's more of an attitude about ourselves
that Whites are now feeling the hammer they've been swinging for so long
it's about time that we as Whites start exposing the racism that we have
hidden from our ownselves,the educational LIES,the real deal about the
slave trade we need to educate our own after all OUR FOREFATHERS started
the whole racism trip and the only one who can stop racism is us the
White Man and Woman,it's our problem to solve,not the Black man,not the
Asian man,the White man.
I will keep in touch keep up the good works.
Respect and Love,
Ihiyahrisch
Sat, 08 Jun 1996
Subject: Hello there!
Great web page Jeff.
I'm always interested in seeing pro white movements across the nation, especially that
being of educational enrichment. I'm for preserving racial harmony in this country and
see an alarming increase in the rise of cultural imperialism among non white trusting
organizations. Today, 6-8-96 I was taunted at by a member of the nation of islam at an
intersection near the neighborhood where my grandmother lives, simply because it is a
black neighborhood, and I am white.
I am 22 years old and a college student interested in seeing the advancement of the
white race, and all races who are "willing" to live peaceably together.
joepoole@ghgcorp.co
Fri, 15 Jan 1904
Stephane F. Kallos
skallos@infobahnos.com
Subject: White Web Site
I can't help but feel that the creators of this web site don't quite
know what "white" is. "White" is a descriptive term for those with
light colored skin, however it is not used in that sense in the United
States. Although I am identified as being "white", I am actually a
Canadian of British descent. My friend, also labelled "white", is
from Romania. Our cultures are very different, and it is unfair to
stereotype us as the same because our skin colours are the same.
Surely, those with black skin feel the same way. I resent those who
say "You enslaved me". I did not: I never took a single person as a
slave, the person saying this was not enslaved, and we don't even have
proof that my ancestors enslaved his/hers. For all we know, my
ancestors could have been one of compassionate few who fought slavery.
There is no "white culture", but there sure are a lot of interesting
cultures whose population happens to have light colored skin (and it
is not white skin - it does have colour!!!) Point being, as usual,
Americans have gotten themselves confused one more time, and this web
site, though surely it is not the intention, will only heighten the
confusion and ultimately create more racism
Tue, 11 Jun 1996
From: dmoorman@interaccess.com (Dave Moorman)
Subject: Re: Examining whiteness and white American culture
Jeff - This is an interesting concept and one which may be valuable, but
I'm repelled by your use of the word "white". If focuses solely on a
physical characteristics and brings with it the aroma of racism! You have
the right idea in your URL; Www.euroamerican.org. European-American or
Euro-American is a much better term that "white", which focuses attention
on a person's cultural background, not on an irrelevant physical
characteristic.
You are right that by first examining your own culture, you can learn
about others more easily. Your first step in this regard should be to
stop being "white" and become an European-American. Try it, you'll like
it!
Dave
--
Dave Moorman
Downers Grove
Illinois, USA
Be big, don't belittle
Thu, 13 Jun 96
From: "Phillip H. Savage"
Subject: Your Article
I read your article concerning your family's trip to Cape May, New
Jersey. What came through loud and clear is how complex, contradictory,
and irrational the concept and implications of race have become in our
society. Before 1954, race in this country meant one thing: white
superiority and white right. Few events occurred that challenged the
average white person's racist beliefs. Then, Brown v. Topeka, Kansas,
decided on May 17,1954, began the process of altering and undermining
this perception of race. Later, the civil rights activities of the 60's
and 70's, and the achievement of some racial parity in jobs, education,
etc. among educated and trained black persons accelerated the process.
We are still in that process, as noted in your letter, when you write of
the many reactions today to race matters in this nation. Prior to 1954,
those reactions might have been mouthed by politiciacs and "do-good"
whites, but few other white Americans would have been visibly identified
with them.
Today, more than 2 million interracial marriages exits here in America.
My wife and I happen to be one of them, having married in 1972. We have
two girls, one, who graduated this year at Macalester College, and who
will seek Master Degrees from Columbia University's Union Theological
Seminary, beginning this fall, in Divinity and Social Work. The other one
begins St. Mary's College, the only Honors College in Maryland.
Formerly, for 12 years, I was a national official of the NAACP, serving
as Director of the Tri_State Area, which included Pennsylvania, New
Jersey, and Delaware. I left the NAACP in 1972, to seek a congressional
seat from Philadelphia. Unsuccessful in my effort, I turned to private
employment for a period, followed by a short stint with the government of
Pennsylvania and, then, with various agencies of the federal government:
General Accounting Office, Securities and Exchange Commission, and the
Department of Housing and Urban Development, where I now serve as a
member of the Senior Executive Service (SES).
I also serve as President of the Interracial Family Circle (IFC), a group
that fosters interracial activities in Maryland, Washington, DC, and
northern Virginia. We welcome participation and support. We publish a
monthly newsletter, Collage. For more information, please write to Post
Office Box 53291, Washington, DC 20009; or call 1 800 500-9040.
In our next newsletter, I will include reference to your Web Page and
encourage our members to visit it.
Character, not color, ought to be our guiding light. Then, we can make
right choices and have the right attitudes in our relationships with each
other. As long as we see ourselves or act, first, as white people or as
people of color, we can only perpetuate the irrational legacy about race
left to us by generations of ignorant and bigoted people.
You can e-Mail at my residence, here in Bethesda, Maryland, at:
bekah@nicom.com
Date: Sat, 22 Jun 1996 23:19:12 -0800
From: "Prostitutes' Education Network"
Subject: Visiting
Interesting! I think I read one of these articles before in a midwest anarchist
magazine....I'll definitely explore!
Check my site at out http://www.creative.net/~penet/
From: ResistDef@aol.com
Date: Mon, 26 Aug 1996
Subject: letter for web page
This is a letter for the web page. Please post it there. I couldn't find
any other letters, just some articles that seemed to be white-bashing, to be
honest with you.
The fundamental problem with the web page is in its reliance on "white" as
though it had meaning. Let's take a look at what it means. To the U.S.
government, it means all those peoples originating in northern Africa,
southwest Asia, and Europe (presumably from Iceland in the west to the Ural
Mountains in the east, and from Norway-Sweden-Finland-Russia in the north to
Spain-Sicily-Italy-Greece-Bulgaria-Ukraine in the south).
That's a lot of territory, and the word "white" doesn't begin to provide a
suitable site for analysis. To use "white" with any honesty, you must
include Arab-Americans, Berber-Americans, Yemeni-Americans,
Egyptian-Americans, Israeli-Americans, Kuwaiti-Americans, Iranian-Americans,
Pakistani-Americans, Indo-Americans, Assyrian-Americans, Syrian-Americans,
Jordanian-Americans, Lebanese-Americans, Palestinian-Americans,
Turkish-Americans, Slavic-Americans, Greek-Americans, Germanic-Americans,
Italian-Americans, Swiss-Americans, Spanish-Americans, Portuguese-Americans,
Franco-Americans, English-Americans, Celtic-Americans (Americans deriving
primarily from one or more of the six Celtic nations), and so on.
It is absurd to say that Russian-Americans (and I mean Russian ethnic) and
Irish-Americans (and I mean Celtic ethnic) are remotely similar to each other
or to Yemeni-Americans and Iranian-Americans (and I mean Persian ethnic).
The diversity is broad and deep.
The first and most fundamental issue to address is the diversity within the
"white" community. It is deep, it is pervasive, and it is fundamental to
understanding the actual people you are talking about.
I saw no reference on your web page to recognize this first and most
fundamental element that must be addressed before any knowledge can be
acquired. Oh, sure, you can cram in lots of white-bashing, but in the sense
of learning about the subject that seems to confront this web page, "white"
diversity must be examined, understood, and valued. Without that level of
appreciation, the whole enterprise must collapse, unless it is intended for
white-bashing, only.
Sincerely,
Dale Warner
for
Resisting Defamation
From: scott a. barrett, sbarrett@alumni.uark.edu
Date: Thu, 12 Sep 1996
Subject: your website
Jeff,
I congratulate you for creating such a badly needed site. I've
read quite a bit of the stuff you have here, and I like it. I'm
surprised that the response hasn't been better -- 8 letters in June, 0 in
July, and only 1 letter in August. But, maybe word just hasn't gotten
out yet.
Certainly your site is something that I've been looking for.
While growing up, my two best friends were half Cherokee Indian and half
Chicano. I never saw a black person in my school in the twelve years I
was there, until one year in high school, and he wasn't there long.
Since then I have had some good relationships with Blacks, Latinos,
Filipinos, Irish, etc. I spent a year working and traveling in Europe
and Africa learning more about life and other cultures. I spent a year
working with Black, working-class revolutionary movement based in
Oakland. I majored in Black Studies at San Francisco State for a year.
And I lived in a very poor, multi-ethnic neighborhood in San Francisco
for two years, learning much about how hellish life can be for those at
the bottom. I learned how different reality is for blacks as compared to
their white counterparts in these States. African Americans are treated
with more suspicion by the police and all the major institutions in this
society and respect is much harder for them to obtain than it is for
whites, citizen or foreign. Many whites falsely believe that things have
gotten much better and easier for blacks, and furthermore they have a
zero-sum view of our world in which the more the blacks have the less the
whites have. This is not a healthy world-view.
I believe that while we, the descendants of Europeans, have made
tremendous progress in terms of economic vitality and technology, we have
had to sacrifice some of our humanity in return. We have often conquered
and subjugated in order to expand our power and economic well-being. We
must strive to attain a better balance between our desires and our
compassions. We must come together not to dominate other peoples, but to
better ourselves as humans. Afterall, the measure of a civilization is
not in its expansive economy, advanced technology, or great military
machine, but in the healthiness of its human relations. So that race
relations is better known as human relations.
Please visit my website at: http://alumni.uark.edu/~sbarrett
for info on race relations and budget travel.
Peace be with you, Scott A. Barrett (a.k.a. Stranger in a Strange Land)
From: Brian Kammer, BKammer812@aol.com
Date: Fri, 4 Oct 1996
Subject: warms my heart
Dear friends:
It warms my heart to see this site. It deals with an issue that truly needs
to be addressed by white folks.
When I was in law school at Northeastern University I saw a lot of tension
among the students. NU has a history of being one of the most progressive
law schools in the country. That progressivism was really driven for the
most part by students of color, although this was not acknowledged by many
white students. During my time there, white students became increasingly
critical of the various student groups and other institutions that addressed
the needs and aspirations and struggles of students of color. Dean David
Hall, the first African American dean of a US law school, came under fire for
his support of law school organizations such as the Black and Latino oLaw
Students Associations. This all has happened in the context of the rise of
a national political climate of racist backlash, of course.
I saw that many white students felt that the Black Law Students Association
and other organizations were discriminatory against whites. And that the
support of the Dean amounted to favoritism and anti-white discrimination.
The atmosphere became quite volatile.
My response to this was to start a student group that would discuss and
interrogate whiteness. It was to be attended by white students primarily
(for better or worse: I may have been mistaken in this approach). The
explicit agenda was to discuss ways of acting in solidarity with students of
color, thus taking up part of the burden - historically shouldered mostly by
students of color - of trying to create a truly democratic multicultural
educational space - in the face of intense white backlash and resistance -
from both white students and professors.
The group was fairly controversial - primarily among white students.
Students of color, for the most part, expressed to me that it was a good
idea. It was about time white people started taking responsibility for
dealing with the problem of whiteness and white supremacy, and how these
forces impacted on school politics. Many white students felt that they
should not have to be classified as white. Others genuinely wanted to
explore whiteness and racism and were relieved that there was a forum to do
so.
Unfortunately, I graduated and left town before it got too far off the
ground.
So, I'm glad to see this site up and running. I guess my only quarrel with
what I've seen so far is that the idea that whiteness as an ideology may be
"nothing but false and oppressive", in the words of David Roediger, doesn't
seem to get play. Writers like Roediger, hooks, James Baldwin, Toni
Morrison, etc. have argued that whiteness is a pernicious force. It is only
racist. It isn't white culture that "has some good points"; rather, it's
when "white" people embrace the diversity from which they spring, and when
they embrace "blackness" in a sense, that the good comes through. This
argument resonates with our collective history here in North America, in my
opinion. bell hooks and James Baldwin - also James Cone - have all argued
that white people must become black in order to truly subvert the racist
economic, political, and cultural institutions which dominate our lives in
this country.
As Mr. Hitchcock's pointed out in his speech in Washington, Europeans and
other caucasians assimilated into American culture by asserting their
"not-blackness". Whiteness is thus a negative identity, a void. A devil's
bargain between rich and poor whites: "You may be poorer than me, but we're
all free whites!"
To me, whiteness is something to struggle against with all our power, even as
we self-identify as whites in order to understand and dismantle the
structures of white privilege from which we benefit. We need to be "race
traitors", and work with other "white" people - and people of color - to
construct a new vocabulary and identity that embraces life, faith, community,
solidarity, and love. I suspect that "blackness" involves precisely these
things. One concept is built on a lie, and one has its foundations in the
struggle to live in freedom and dignity and fellowship.
I'm interested in hearing Mr. Hitchcock's and other's views on this.
My e-mail# is : BKammer812@aol.com
Thanks,
Brian Kammer
From: "b. dooley"
Date: Sun, 29 Dec 1996 15:07:51 -0500
Subject: Letter to the Editor
I really enjoy the site!
I am a white, 22 year old male and very proud to be white.
It seems that non-white organizations have been taking a more
aggressive role seemingly toward segregation. I think that this
site is excellent.
There is power in UNITY. If more organizations would make UNITY
their focal point and attitude, the US would be moving in a
positive direction. It seems that everyone wants to blame someone
else for their problems:
whether it is:
black person saying that they are oppressed by whites
or
white person saying blacks get good jobs and don't
have to be as skilled as whites (affirmative action)
as long as a quota has been met.
If the general attitude of the country can move toward UNITY and
self-reliance
and responsibility, I will be happier.
Thanks.
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