I am no stranger to the parental advice burdening Black youth with the responsibility of being “twice as good” as white students, or code-switching in order to be successful. Often, navigating whiteness, in both academia and the workplace, means sacrificing our authentic self-expression as it relates to race, gender and sexuality in hopes that playing whiteness effectively distances us enough from the realities of our marginalized identities. It hurts to agree with Derrick Bell’s assessment that “Black people will never gain full equality in this country,” and to perpetually witness our “empowerment” in white-dominated spaces continue to serve the interests of white supremacy. [1] “You play the game and give the white world what it wants just to get through the door. Then, once you’re inside, you blast that door wide open for others to follow you.” [2] I have played whiteness as a survival tactic my whole life — I’ve played it so well that I’ve managed to end up in a field that is predominantly white. As I read April Hathcock discuss her participation in this game and reflect on “Lifting as We Climb,” I wonder at what point do we retire the charade?
Using this idea of “Lifting as We Climb” as a point of departure, I call into question the effectiveness of playing white, a strategy that echoes “Racial Realism,” in its attempt to dismantle whiteness from within and argue the continued reliance on the “master’s tools” reinforces the same apparatus of whiteness it seeks to tear down.[2] This ideology requires us to accept a perpetual status of subordination as the foundation to prevent social and political self-sabotage rather than encouraging the oppressed to liberate themselves from white supremacy. Playing whiteness to trojan horse our people’s way into the LIS profession must recognize that the diversification of the field alone will not lay the foundation for material change. We must use Critical Race Theory (CRT) to further disrupt white hegemony and its indoctrination of “objectivity, neutrality, meritocracy and color-blindness” so that we no longer need to surrender our identities to find our place in libraries and archives.
It’s important to stress that playing whiteness is not the core focus of Hathcock’s article, I am highlighting this point to discuss what I find problematic about this reconstruction of identity catering to whiteness. This is a difficult argument to levy as the refusal to act in accordance with whiteness can cost one their job, home, or promotion. [4] The isolation she speaks to, as a result of the lack of diversity in the profession, also resonates with me as one of three Black students in my cohort. A critical reframing of diversity initiatives is long overdue, and I agree that effective mentorship programs can alleviate the anxieties surrounding the whiteness of our profession. But how many handfuls of applicants from underrepresented communities are needed before we begin to divest from whiteness. This gradual approach to change buys whiteness more time to reify its power in new ways.
When we consider the reasons why whiteness is so pervasive in LIS laid out by Chapman-Smith, the “rampant dropout rates among minorities, lack of early engagement with archives or other historical sources, and an educational system that places the bulk of minorities at a disadvantage,” I hope that it’s clear that validating whiteness should be low on our priority list. [5] I think often of “Mothering While Brown in White Spaces, Or, When I Took My Son to Octavia Butler’s Exhibit,” where Cecilia Caballero recounts being forced out of an exhibit, almost immediately, by staff while white women and their children enjoyed a space designed for them. [6] The irony is not lost on me – whiteness will continue to exert its dominance even in an exhibit dedicated to the woman who gave us Parable of the Sower. In the comment section of “White Librarianship in Blackface,” user, nina de jesus, makes clear the limitations for marginalized people in the field. “I did all the right things. I got a prestigious scholarship… published an article in this very journal. I’ve been attending conferences, given talks and such. And yet, I am still stuck in the same part-time position I got when I graduated three years ago.” [7] I ask again, how do we possibly change from within for the sake of others when we ourselves are reminded of how the system recognizes us?
There are several, more effective, ways to dismantle whiteness within LIS. One, is with the establishment of community-based archives and programs – organizations for us – can empower marginalized communities, cultivate identity construction, and help communicate the value of archives to those who may not be aware of our field. Another is through counternarratives that challenge power. Dunbar uses the example of the ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archive in Los Angeles in his discussion of counterstories as a means to “construct alternative realities to those constructed through social institutions of dominant culture,” and serves as a great example of how these two processes are intertwined. [8]
Bell boldly claims equality is a fallacy and that any step forward is an inevitable step backward for Black people. Perhaps, Bell should redefine what it means to be equal. When asked to define freedom, justice and equality for the Black man, Malcom X stated, “Equality has nothing to do with whites. We don’t want to be equal with the white man, he’s not the criteria or yardstick by which equality is measured.” [9] He goes on to say equality is the opportunity for us to develop our dormant potential, find independence and establish our own society. As I stated earlier, I agree that we will never achieve equality in this country; the United States is so deeply entrenched in white supremacy that I cannot fathom reforming or performing our way out of it. As I continue to work to dismantle whiteness instilled in me, I urge us to invest in our own identities and communities and learn to recognize appeals to whiteness are tools of the oppressor to reinforce the status quo.
[1] Derrick A Bell, The Derrick Bell Reader (New York: NYU Press, 2005): 74.
[2] April Hathcock, “White Librarianship in Blackface: Diversity Initiatives in LIS,” October 2015, http://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2015/lis-diversity/.
[3] Audre Lorde, “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House,” in Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches by Audre Lorde (Berkeley, CA: Crossing Press, 1984), 112.
[4]Derrick A Bell, The Derrick Bell Reader (New York: NYU Press, 2005), 75.
[5] Mario H. Ramirez, “Being Presumed Not to Be: A Critique of Whiteness as an Archival Imperative,” The American Archivist 78 (Fall/Winter 2015), 250.
[6] Cecilia Caballero, “Mothering While Brown in White Spaces, Or, When I Took My Son to Octavia Butler’s Exhibit,” Chicana M(other)work. https://www.chicanamotherwork.com/single-post/2017/08/23/mothering-while-brown-in-white-spaces-or-when-i-took-my-son-to-octavia-butler-s-exhibit.
[7] nina de jesus, “White Librarianship in Blackface: Diversity Initiatives in LIS,” October 7, 2015, http://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2015/lis-diversity/.
[8] Anthony Dunbar, “Introducing Critical Race Theory to Archival Discourse: Getting the Conversation Started,” Archival Science 6 (2006), 115.
[9] reelblack, “Malcolm X - Interview At Berkeley (1963),” YouTube video, 40:57, June 11, 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZMrti8QcPA.
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