White Light

The Daily Taylor has been a bit light on sociological material of late, so I was glad to receive this thought-provoking article in The Atlantic featuring commentary by my uncle, Matt Wray, a professor of sociology at Temple. The article thoroughly explores the dilemma of being white in post-white/post-racial America.

My uncle has focused much of his whiteness research on the more reactionary segment of our demographic - those who, in a sense, retreated into their more comfortable conception of rugged, conservative white American individualism. Most of my experience, as a member of the later generation of the 80s/90s, has fortunately been with white people who are far more comfortable with racial and cultural diversity. Most - and I thoughtfully say most, because I can easily think of notable exceptions - of the white people I know that are in my age and socioeconomic cohorts are quite amenable to having ethnically diverse friends, neighbors and even family members.

What's more, I tend to think there's a significant subset of white Americans that genuinely buy into the sort of attitude or outlook embodied in the conclusion of the aforementioned article; they are as or perhaps more familiar and comfortable with many aspects of other cultures and ethnicities - like hip-hop, for example - than with aspects of culture that have traditionally been considered "white" - country/bluegrass music, for example. One social implication I'm tempted to draw from this observation is that, much like white light, white American culture in the 21st century will include all different kinds of cultural and ethnic wavelengths. White children will, on average, be as comfortable eating sushi as they will be eating hot dogs or apple pie. It's just an idea, not a set-in-stone Nostradamian prognostication, but I'll be interested to see if it bears out.