Recently, I watched Chelsea Lately during a episode of my insomnia. The host, Chelsea Handler, poked fun at one of the guest cohosts that she would go him to fix electronics over the Jewish cohost, because he is Asian. The prodded cohost began ranting about stereotypes, specifically how it’s not O.K. to generalize and assume that every Asian is good at computers. When he was told to relax, and that it’s positive, he responded that it wasn’t a positive stereotype.
Either the White Way or the Highway
To understand whiteness is to understand the gap between what America says it stands for and what it actually is. Whiteness is a system of cultural norms and advantages that positions white people as the default, the “normal,” and the most protected group in society. It sets whiteness as the standard for what it means to be human and creates rules based on personal biases about how society should operate. Anything that isn’t white or …