Topic > Understanding Whiteness: Its Impact on Race…

Whiteness is a term that has been discussed throughout history and through academic authors. Whiteness is defined in many ways, according to Kress “the pervasive non-presence, its invisibility. Whiteness sometimes seems to be everywhere and nowhere, present even throughout the history of the United States, and yet having no definable history of its own. Whiteness as a historically rooted cultural practice is then enacted on an unconscious level. Knowledge created from the perspective of Whiteness then transforms into “common sense,” while practices or behaviors enacted based on the unexpressed norms of Whiteness become the only acceptable way of being” (Kress, 2008, p. 43) . This definition, for example, of whiteness has become hegemonic. I define it as racial ideologies that have been established throughout history. This formed racial segregation between whites and non-whites and led to discrimination and injustice. White privilege has also been a factor in whiteness; it's the privilege that white people get better advantages. In today's society, media has become a very important factor in everyone's life. We communicate with the media, with memes, videos, images and animated gifs to create meaning. We especially see the ideals of white in sports. Through memes, we stereotype certain racial groups such as Latinos as lazy or African Americans as weak or ignorant. Memes show that athletes are less strong than white athletes. In today's society we have what is called color-blind racism, which means that "race does not shape a person's experience or life changes, but racial inequality still remains the cultural difference between different groups" (Dickerson, 2015, page 4 ). So even today there is racial inequality, and whiteness still shapes social norms, and the media shows racism and inequality. Although, in my opinion, racism is sometimes unconscious because we try to become even more society