On Being White

A few years ago, Henry Louis Gates presented our family history to our family and relatives and on my father's side of the family, there is a paper trail going back to Charlemagne.  On my mother's side of the family, we traced back to Africa.

Charlemagne or Charles the Great, numbered Charles I, was the King of the Franks from 768, the King of the Lombards from 774, and the Emperor of the Romans from 800. During the Early Middle Ages, he united the majority of western and central Europe. He was the first recognized emperor to rule from western Europe since the fall of the Western Roman Empire three centuries earlier. The expanded Frankish state that Charlemagne founded is called the Carolingian Empire.  SOURCE:  Wikipedia

Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

I remember Gates telling the assembled group that as far as my father's side of the family was concerned, we were AS WHITE AS WHITE CAN BE...  and, while that got a laugh or two, it was not meant to be funny but more along the lines of being an INSULT..  as you can well imagine by looking at his photo (right).  That really bothered me because in all my interactions with Mr. Gates, I always perceived him to be my friend.

From that day forward, I have seen/witnessed numerous situations where WHITE FOLKS are being made to feel guilty for being WHITE simply because WHITE FOLKS think that they are better than everyone else...  or, so is the perception.

Interestingly, when I lived in Egypt from 1962-1966 and traveled through Europe, many Egyptians and Europeans resented my presence but not because I was WHITE but because I was an AMERICAN...  and, the reason for that was because AMERICANS felt like they were better than everyone else.

NOW...  it's a matter of WHITES thinking they are better than everyone else...  yet, the similarities in HATRED are the same...  WHITE or AMERICAN...  it really does not make any difference...  you have something I don't have so I am going to make you feel guilty...

REMEMBER...  this sentiment against WHITES is coming from only 13% of the population...  Blacks only represent 13% of the US Population....   Hispanics/Latinos represent a larger percentage at 18%, but there is no reason for them to be concerned it seems...

SO...  WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?