All Hail Whiteness
In the 1920 book, Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil, W.E.B. DuBois uses a series of poems and essays to explore the historic rise of white supremacy, and the operation of democracy along race, class, and gender lines. The second essay of the book is titled Souls of White Folk, and it explores both the causes for, and the implications of whiteness being seen as superior throughout most of the world. Within the third paragraph, DuBois makes a powerful and revolutionary statement that embodies the major argument of the essay. After describing whiteness as a gift for some and an aspiration for others, he then poses the question, “But what on Earth is whiteness that one should so desire it?” The answer DuBois provides to his self-imposed question is shocking- “Then always, somehow, some way, silently but clearly, I am given to understand that whiteness is the ownership of Earth, forever and Ever amen!” (DuBois, 22)
The impact of this statement in the realm afro-pessimist discourse is significant. At first, I was repulsed that something like that could be said with such confidence by a black intellectual (and one that I look up to). Yet, what was most disturbing was how much I resonated with the statement, and how it seemed to be accurate in many ways. That inspired me to use this essay to examine just how true DuBois’ statement is. Is whiteness the ownership of the Earth, forever and ever?
The evolution of Dubois as an intellectual is notably one of the most interesting aspects about his life. His growth mirrors the very sequence of slow awakening, unveiling and becoming disillusioned to one’s identity that he discusses in his 1903 work, Souls of Black Folk. At the beginning of his career, DuBois had a more limited scope- focusing in on Black America, and especially- black men in America. As DuBois progressed in his career and his travels, he became increasingly enlightened to the realities of all black people, not just in America, but all over the world. It is from this vantage point that he began to see the world from a more Pan-African point of view.
However, the more DuBois learned about his culture, the more he wrestled with the existence of white supremacy in its universal totality. This gave way to yet another point of view- Afro-pessimism. In Darkwater, DuBois illuminates his afro-pessimistic perspective by painting a very bleak picture of the role that white supremacy plays in the creation of what we know to be reality. Through this he argues the case that as long as white supremacy has the power to subvertly reinforce anti-blackness there will never be any justice or equality for black people- not just in western society, but in the world.
The Souls of White Folk essay in Darkwater is essentially a series of supporting arguments for DuBois’ claim that whiteness is the ownership of the earth- providing historical evidence and explanations of how universal white supremacy came to be. DuBois knew, as many intellectuals now acknowledge, that race is a construct. And by being a construct, that mean race is something that was invented and not something that always was. However, in the first paragraph of his essay he suggests that upon the creation of race, “the world in a sudden, emotional conversation, has discovered that it is white, and by that token, wonderful!” (DuBois, 21) In other words, with the construct of race came the equally sudden and illogical conclusion that whiteness would be the norm- and thus, anything else an inversion. DuBois is genius is his illustration of how Western societies have succeeded in making something with no logical or historical basis, such as the supremacy of “white” people, seem not only plausible, but undeniably true.
White supremacy still exists and thrives today because of its success in manipulating discourse in every aspect of society. The power of white supremacy lies in its invisibility. Yes, we can visibly see the police brutality and different disparities that exist because of racism. However, the most impactful and lethal methods of gaining and maintaining power are ones that don’t involve force, but rather cooperation. White supremacy, as one of the most significant hegemonic structures in Western society, has derived much of its power through indoctrination. From school to Church to media to businesses, anti-blackness and pro-whiteness are reinforced constantly. As DuBois says in Darkwater,“how easy, then, by emphasis and omission, to make children believe that every great soul the world ever saw was a white man’s soul; that every great thought the world ever knew was a white man’s thought; that every great deed the world ever did was a white mans deed.” (DuBois, 23) and so-on. Even in my own life I recall learning a white-washed history that had me praising white saviors. When learning about the World Wars we were taught that the U.S. and the Allied powers were the good guys. However, even this, as DuBois points out, is a lie- told to maintain the illusion white purity in a world where Western nations only go to war with each other when there are land and brown and black people to be conquered (DuBois, 27).
W.E.B. DuBois uses Darkwater to go several layers deeper than he does in Souls of Black Folk and by looking at how white supremacy has created solidarity amongst the white nations of the world. By observing Eurocentrism, we are able to see the strategy of white supremacy in justifying the inferiority of all non-white races. The aspect of this information that brings about the most pessimism is the seeming reality that European nations have this almost supernatural ability to exploit others that brings them together. To this day, the world has never seen an empire as great and as far reaching as that of white supremacy. The reason for this, as DuBois explains, is that these nations realized what there was to gain in banding together and focus on oppressing people of color. The only time they seem to turn their gaze from the oppressive lens of looking at dark bodies is when there is an opportunity for them to gain more control over more dark bodies. So again, we ask the question “Is whiteness the ownership of the Earth,” and how would this even be determined? Well, I did some research and came across a NY Times article done in 2016 in which they reviewed 503 of the most powerful people in American culture, government, education and business. In this review, they found that only 44 people of the 503 were minorities. Of course, a list of the powerful is subjective, but the people here have an outsize influence on the nation’s rules and culture (Park, 2016).
In the world, we can still look around today and see the influence of colonial powers in the continent of Africa, and Central and South America. The wealth gap in the world is also racialized, with one and seven white people being millionaires as of 2017, in comparison to 1 in 50 for black people (Jan, 2017). It was just 2 years ago that the world had its first black major super hero movie. Public school history is still white-washed. Black and Hispanic men are still put in jail at a much higher rate, for a much longer sentence than white people who have committed the same crime. And to top everything the President of the United States is Donald J. Trump.
The harsh reality is that whiteness has and has had world domination for over 400 years and we know that to be true from the function of power structures, from the coverage of history books, from the health and wealth disparities in our society, form the white-washed beauty standards, and the list goes on. Yet, these structures remain largely unchallenged because of the belief that race is biologically determined, and that whiteness is privileged because it is inherently more deserving of that privilege. The afro-pessimist says this is a reality that will never change. So, then that bring ups the second part of the questions which is “is whiteness the ownership of the Earth forever and ever?”
Knowing what we know, it is clear that for any sort of true equality to arise, a large part of White America would have to be willing to release some of their power, and all Americans would have to unlearn a lot of their most foundational beliefs, they would have to unlearn their history, and the meaning of their identity in the world. Or on the opposite extreme, there would have to be a violent transfer of power- which is not only unlikely due to the many divisions that’ve been created between dark people of the world, but there is always a risk of replicating old systems due to our reliance on what we already know. Many of us are stuck in a white supremacist, capitalist, patriarchal mindset with no way out because the tools for becoming educated and aware of those systems are strategically reserved for the privileged. And even once one has the knowledge, the types of discourse they are going up against are powerful and highly accepted by the majority.
When coming to these realizations, it’s easy to go into a depressive philosophical stupor and re-evaluate the meaning of life and the nature truth. Nevertheless, although many of my personal opinions reflects afro-pessimistic viewpoints, I would say I do still have hope for the fall of some of these structures within mine or my children’s lifetimes. As the number of Americans, especially in my generation, become more knowledgeable on the nature of racism in this country, the future has potential for equality.
Works Cited
B., Du Bois W. E., and Evelyn Brooks. Higginbotham. Darkwater: Voices from within the Veil. Oxford University Press, 2007.
Park, Haeyoun, et al. “The Faces of American Power, Nearly as White as the Oscar Nominees.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 26 Feb. 2016, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/02/26/us/race-of-american-power.html.
Jan, Tracy. “Analysis | 1 in 7 White Families Are Now Millionaires. For Black Families, It's 1 in 50.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 3 Oct. 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/10/03/white-families-are-twice-as-likely-to-be-millionaires-as-a-generation-ago/.