our obsession with whiteness, our obsession with blackness

Today, my [almost] completely socially conscious and justice-oriented education professor (or so I thought) spoke on divides in our education system. He mentioned rich and poor, suburban and urban, black and white. But wait a minute, "black and white?" 

So now, I urge us to reconsider the use of black and white as opposites; when discussing race or when equating white to 'good' and 'pure' while equating black to 'evil'. Here's why:

1)When we talk about race and ethnicity and use black and white we consciously or unconsciously fail to acknowledge [and erase] the struggles of so many people. What about the experiences of Latin@s, Egyptian-Americans, multi-racial and multi-ethnic people, or those who identify as anything but white or black? What about those who identify as bi-racial or multi-racial and have come from both white and black families? This type of binary thinking oppresses all those but white people.

AND

2) We have developed a frame (see Joe Feagin's work on and theory of "white frame" - particularly his newer book entitled The White Racial Frame), with which white people see and associate blackness with violence, exoticism, evil, etc., and similarly associate whiteness with purity, angelic qualities, heaven, goodness, etc. Subconsciously, we use these associations in our everyday actions and thinking which we affirm when we hear about violence in black and brown communities or see this magnified in the media. We must always actively seek out alternative sources for news (for example, Colorlines, a progressive magazine that addresses these issues in a holistic manner, often reported on by members of the frontline communities*.)  

*Frontline communities refers to those who are directly affected; a group who are oppressed by another and/or multiple systems/institutions.