‘White mask’: strategic career move or have I snaked the mandem?
White mask refers to the sociological theory that ethnic minorities adopt a dual identity. This means that they are more likely to change their behaviour, dialect etc when speaking to their white counterparts.
Other rather, derogatory, terms you might have heard to describe these people may be Coconut, oreo or anything that denotes being white on the inside, despite appearing black.
If only ‘white face’ meant I didn’t get ‘random’ searches at airports and stores of a certain price bracket. I think there is a fine line between altering certain behaviour and attitude for appropriate situations. Not speaking like you are from ‘ends’ is a sensible move at an interview, for instance. The insidious problem lies in young black people feeling like they have to erode their cultural customs to be accepted by their white peers. This is doing white face, for the sake of making others feel comfortable to be around the colour of your skin.
The term should not apply to your genuine passion for things: if you don’t listen to Bashment, Grime and prefer the 1975 and Lana Del Rey, it’s not a big deal and anyone who makes you feel less than for liking them should take a long hard look at themselves.
But I feel that that is a relatively harmless micro-aggression I face when the term Coconut is applied to me. I take actual offence when evidence of my seemingly coconut attributes are not actually things that are exclusively white. If I ate plain at Nandos, I would understand and laugh off the remarks.
It is however offensive to suggest that I am white because of my written communication or level of education, as if to say that being intelligent is a white attribute. To be told I am moving white because my passions are literature and philosophy is offensive, as if I defy some stereotype by loving academia.
We are not poorly represented in higher academic institutions because black kids from ‘ends’ aren’t smart enough for Warwick, Cambridge or Edinburgh. We are misrepresented because of a range of racial and socio-economic barriers that do not favour us. Although, we are starting to see some change. With greater visibility of BAME groups at higher education institutions, we are eroding the idea that we cannot make it. This endeavour is made even more frustrating when people act like that is some act of treachery against the BAME community, as if we were born to die in ends.
The other problem with this is that it detracts us from genuine displays of ‘white face’ which is an enemy of progress in this civil rights struggle. I am referring to respectability politics wherein members of marginalised groups attempt to police other members and show their social values as being continuous and compatible with mainstream values, rather than challenging those same values that do not accept these differences.
I do believe there is a fine line for example, I do make a conscious effort to be articulate, which arguably sounds white on the phone. But that is not an expression of disdain for my cultural heritage and history or an attempt to police my other black friends into acting this way so Seb and Harry don’t fear us. The danger of white face is with members of the community who want to apologise for being black believing that renouncing anything to do with their heritage makes them more acceptable to their white peers.
I have encountered this often at university and it is striking when fellow black people seem to be apologising for being black by showing disdain for the ‘hood rat’ black people.
In part, I understand the need to show people that despite your background you are not a statistic or bound for failure. So to dislike BAME friends who perpetuate negative images of us as being violent, aggressive, pot heads; I imagine my white friends show the same kind of distance from bigots and do a collective eye roll when their racist grandma or MP gets loud.
But to imply that black people ‘do not make it easy on themselves when they are weed dealers in ends’ is victim blaming because, whilst that is a crime, you don’t seem to show the same kind of disdain for your best friend Tom who is showing up to every seminar high on Molly, E, Charlie. And the police don’t seem to.
You can criticise and snub Tolu, Femi or me even, but that does not make our society more colour blind.
We have three duties: be unapologetically black, be unified and respect that we are not a homogenous group of people. And that being black may look white to some, but if its authentic own it.
I own the use of coconut when applied to me because it’s not implying that I am ashamed to be black but that I am making moves in practices that are traditionally considered white. So to me the logic of implying that I am wearing a ‘white mask’ makes about as much sense as calling Simone Biles white for her involvement in gymnastics: a traditionally white sport. But our movement should accept the many different kinds of ways to be beautifully black: that is how we make our society truly colour blind.
