The Tools of Whiteness

While reading Bree Picower's "The unexamined Whiteness of teaching: how White teachers maintain and enact dominant racial ideologies" I became extremely interested in the tools of whiteness. This is an idea that I have never thought of, but yet subconsciously always new was there. I definitely see these tools being used around me, and may have even used them myself at one point in my life not realizing the harm it could have done. It was not until college that I realized how harmful colorblindness is and the tools that go along with it are. It is so easy to say, "I don't see color" or "Color does not matter to me", but as I have come to realize through my education and teaching myself that to say this type of statement is to not acknowledge a part of someone's identity. White people try to combat racism with these tools like, "Stop trying to make me feel guilty", or "just be nice", and even "It's out of my control". These types of tools are just as bad as being colorblind. These are excuses for White people to avoid talking about their race, and how it might be effecting them. I am guilty of this. I have never felt comfortable talking about my race, but also I do not think about my race that often. I know this is a problem, and something I need to work on especially as a teacher. This goes along with White Privilege. Part of White Privilege is the relief that Whites do not have to think about their race because White's are seen as the "default" race. Reading about these tools was extremely helpful, and I think that all White people need to be aware of these tools to understand why something they say that think is not racist actually is racist. As you can see in these interviews done by the WhitenessProject.org some of these White people are guilty of using these tools, and they may not even know they are. Some say ignorance is bliss, but in this case ignorance is ignorance and it is not helping anyone.