"As such, who is white and who isn't is not as simple as it once was. While often used to denote the skin color of Europeans in relation to Native Americans and (enslaved) Africans, "white" is better understood as an indication of racial privilege: who is considered white is less about how pale they are and more about whether they are the right kind of pale. Many Arabs have fair skin, and my own is more olive than brown. This racial ambiguity affords me some degree of acceptance- until my ethnic background is inevitably brought to the foreground.
Whiteness, then, is more than skin color. It is, as race scholar Paul Kivel describes, "a constantly shifting boundary separating those who are entitled to have certain privileges from those whose exploitation and vulnerability to violence [are] justified by their not being white".
Whiteness is the privileging of those racial, cultural, and religious identities that most resemble the typical characteristics associated with fair skinned (Western) Europeans. Consequently, the terms "white" and "people of color" are not descriptive- they are political. When we talk about "white people", we are not really talking about skin color but about those who most benefit from whiteness. When we talk about "people of color", we talk about those who are excluded.
I continue to have misgivings about the terms- due to the proximity of "people of color" to "colored" as well as the danger that it can collapse the needs and issues of certain marginalized racial groups into others- but the lack of better terms necessitates their use at times."
Author's Note, White Tears/Brown Scars- Ruby Hamad
