On Racism

I'm currently working through the book "A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America" by Ronald Takaki and it has left me with the question...how does one define "white" when very few people in American history can truly claim a purely "white" heritage?
I had a funny and embarrassing experience once where I opened my big mouth and a comment came out completely wrong (i.e. made an ass of myself) by saying the word "colored" rather than "of color" (which is what I meant) to an African-American woman. She turned to me and said, "Honey you white people have far more colors in your skin then we do." Well said. She's absolutely right. Then again, I am third generation Japanese and don't look it. My "whiteness" has been unquestioned in some circles and alienating in others so how does one define "white" or choose one's "culture" if blood and circumstance don't exactly align? The lines get a bit blurry.

Stupid questions here but I'm going to ask them anyway:
1. What is the relationship between structures of power and the creation of categories of difference, especially when these categories are visible and impossible to conceal?

2. Do "white people" have a culture? What is it? Is it something that crosses the borders of socio-economics, religion, gender and sexuality? How do you define a "culture" of the dominant (read: normal) group? How are you defined by it? Within it? Because of it? Through it? In relation to it?

3. Is "culture" manufactured (as suggested by Adorno/Horkheimer/Benjamin)...socially and CONSCIOUSLY created and is this creation (at the very least) in part responsible for the categories of difference that we find ourselves in or place others in? Who gets to tell you you're white? Who gets to determine your degree of "otherness"? Who tells you your history? Who or what defines your existence and how does this definition work to your benefit or add to your struggle?

4. How we do change or challenge our understanding of socially constructed difference? How is consensus created/sustained? How do we understand racism as a process and see it when it is institutionalized, commercialized, normalized and even (dare I say) democratized? How do you explain racism to people who see it as someone else's problem or as 'old news' or to those who'll base racial equality on the "successes" of people such as Powell, Rice, and Alberto Gonzales or to those who feel threatened by the "increasing" disappearance of white male faces in the workplace or in the classroom?

bell hooks has done so much work on these issues (as has Cornel West). Someone posted to a discussion board the question "Are whites the only ones capable of racism?" I wonder if the problem with this question (other than the obvious issue of power and privilege) is that the real question, the unasked question, is that why are so few "whites" writing on the issues of racism except as a thing of the past or as something that "minorities" focus on? Why is it that the issue of racism in "white" discourse is only relevant in terms of "reverse racism"? I think whenever you have someone writing on racism or sexism or homophobia, you have to ask yourself: what does this person have to gain from their argument? How are they distant or connected to what they are discussing? Why am I reacting to it in this manner? Is my reaction a result of my personal experience or simply some preconceived idea (or socially constructed notion) of difference?

peace!

"Turn the body language upside down. What does it look like?" --Anne Waldman

"To summarize: (1) in real subsumption all use-value is drawn into exchange value; (2) but with that the external origin of the measure of time (based on the externality of use-value) recedes and measure is flattened onto the process itself" --(from) Antonio Negri's "time for revolution"
(someone OBVIOUSLY thinks I'm smarter than I am by giving me this but hey, I do love a challenge!)


and now for a little wordplay:

summarily speaking
the subsumption of value
is written on the body
the results of worth
are measured in blood
the waste of this
is defined in terms
boldly sterile
staring you down
until you sweat market value
and are sold into slavery
or welded
"wed"
to your spot on the assembly line.
don't worry though
your children will reap the benefits
of this
world-manufactured
bliss.
--assemblage--

My consciousness fell asleep at the wheel
My conscience, unfortunately, is a caffeine addicted
insomniac who has the habit of befriending
thoughts in repetitious exile
all of which of course
is part of a carefully orchestrated
A S S A U L T
on that mad monkey
who plays masturbatory politics
with one hand on the bible
the other in the air (salute!)
All hail the Jester King
and his royal court as well
attending this lovely enacted
mockery of democracy
as their little imaginary world
slowly collapses
upon itself. Spent.
-hope it was as good for you as it was for me-
warring isn't "fucking" though
the difference is often lost
Weakened by the fluidity
of lines on a map
places whose names few can pronounce
and a matter of vocabulary
beyond "exit strategies" and other formalities
such as answering the question
"So what? Who's to blame if the condom broke?
Remember Clinton said it depends on your definition of is
and now we agree so
this...well this...
It's an acceptable risk sort of thing."
--CONFESSOR--

--I don't have an "aversion" to work...just to stupidity. So can I call in sick of you?--

"you are the perfect drug the perfect drug the perfect drug"--NIN from the Lost Highway
Soundtrack