What I call the Wigger Fallacy is the idea that being black in America is a matter of culture, of how you talk and act and think and dress. It is the mistake that wiggers make, who are white but try to act black.
It is a fallacy because what makes you black is nothing like that. It is how white people act towards you because of how you look. Ask any black person who grew up in white suburbia listening to rock music and speaking perfect White English.
It is this fallacy that seems to lie behind the spread of the idea that Bill Clinton was the first black president. Or that Barack Obama – and the black middle-class in general – is “not black enough”.
The fallacy is rooted in a confusion between race and culture. Yes, Black America does have a culture of its own that is noticeably different from mainstream America. But that culture is a side effect of being black, not the cause of what makes people black.
The cause is racism: if you do not look white, then whites will not fully accept you as one of their own. Not even if you talk white and dress white and act white and think white and listen to white music. Not even if you die in some foreign land defending the country.
Not only do blacks who grew up in white suburbia know this, but so do Korean adoptees. Since the 1950s Korea has sent more than 100,000 babies to America. Most were brought up by white parents in white towns. They grew up white, knowing few if any Koreans, and yet they are not fully accepted either. Because of how they look. It has nothing to do with culture or money or education. It has to do with race.
The Wigger Fallacy lies behind the phrases “not black enough” and “acting white” – that the key to being black (or white) comes down to how you act or think, that it comes from your values, your “background”.
But the truth is you are just as black whether you grew up in the ghetto or suburbia, whether you listen to rap or rock or both, whether you are Afrocentric or not. And, for the very same reason, no amount of acting white can ever make you white.
Both blacks and whites want you to act a certain way. Not all of them, but enough of them. They make you think that it is some golden road to being acceptable. But if you are not being yourself, how can that be acceptable? And will you ever be truly happy? And what lies at the end of their road?
What makes you “truly black” is living in a black skin in a white country, one that is still racist. The black experience, as they say. It is being yourself in a country that will never fully accept you for who you are.
See also:
Abagond 
“[Black ]culture is a side effect of being black, not the cause of what makes people black.”
Excellent analysis and truly well said.
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Very good post.
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That last paragraph is disturbingly true…
A YT vid; http://youtube.com/watch?v=aHHeT_qEz_o
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“[Black ]culture is a side effect of being black, not the cause of what makes people black.” &
“What makes you “truly black” is living in a black skin in a white country, one that is still racist. The black experience, as they say. It is being yourself in a country that will never fully accept you for who you are.”
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Wow..that’s deep and very true.
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Thanks all, though I am a bit disappointed that Blanc2 did not disagree with me! And thanks Olivia for the video.
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How can I disagree with you? I’ve lived significant portions of my life for 25+ years among and within black families. I’ve become personally and intimately familiar with this dialectic. I’ve seen plenty of wiggers.
I went through all of the Kubler-Ross phases, from white guilt through trying to act black to trying to be “down,” etc. Eventually, through experience coupled with maturity, I have learned that people are just people, and I treat them thus in my personal life.
As for me, I’m just a sort of nerdy white guy who happens to find black women beautiful — a preference, not a fetish. I’ve learned that there is no need to apologize for that or try to act like something I’m not.
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Wow, that is interesting. I never thought of applying the Five Stages of Grief to something like that. But I agree that there should be no reason you should have to make excuses for being who you are.
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I’m being facetious, of course, about the Kubler-Ross reference. A white person of emerging racial consciousness, coming from a hick town as I did, does go through phases of awareness, as would anybody of growing awareness in any area.
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Sorry, I did not catch the facetiousness. It made such a good story the other way.
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This post is so on point, I wish both black and white people would embrace this mindset.
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It grew out of a comment I made on your blog in answer to starkitty. She asked me what I thought about white men who are culturally black because of where they grew up. You know the type 😉
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great post.
I do need to add I hate that word.
I hate that word because white people use it. Because it is directed at another white person they/we think it is fair game. I say any variation of that word is too strong for me. To call another person a whigger, and it is always derogatory, is to really say “you are acting like a Ni@@#$”.
Go ahead and act out whatever culture you feel comfortable in, I have no problem with Eminem. I don’t care how down you are, that word is not OK with me.
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Thanks Abagond. I appreciate this post as it has answered some questions that I’ve had over the years as I’ve been in relationships with White men from those backgrounds. The kicker is, they really felt Black. One ex BF told me that he felt like a Black man trapped in a White man’s body. I guess since he was White and living in the ‘Hood of Baltimore, he felt entitled to think that way, I guess. But it was hard being involved with a person like that because you suddenly are not “Black Enough” for their limited frame of reference, although skin color qualifies their preference, since many of that type are into Black women. Nevertheless, this quote truly says it all: What makes you “truly black” is living in a black skin in a white country, one that is still racist. The black experience, as they say. It is being yourself in a country that will never fully accept you for who you are.
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Wow, that is like what Siddity said about them: she was “too white” for them.
Welcome starkitty! I know you lurk, but welcome all the same.
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I will get better, I promise. I don’t mean to lurk, sometimes it’s difficult to jump into a blog discussion if you don’t feel confident in your knowledge of the subject. This one, I know ALOT about!! Thanks Again!!!
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well said
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The truth of the matter we are all americans here in the usa and will probably find ourselves defending our own country and our families on our own turf before long. we need to get past these various cultural polarities before we become divided and fall.
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“Wow, that is like what Siddity said about them: she was “too white” for them.”
Same here. They don’t like women like me. The feeling is mutual. I always find WM who behave like that annoying.
You have a post “Black women that white men like.” How about a post “White men that black women like.”? (My punctuation is all wrong there, isn’t it?) From looking around at all of the BW/WM couples I know (and I know of quite a few), it seems we prefer to date Mr. Whitey McWhite. 🙂
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Excellent suggestion. I am thinking of doing a post on it. I get a good number of search engine hits for it: “white men that black women like”. If you or anyone else wants to do a guest post on it, I am open to the idea. Or if you can point me to good sources of information online, that would help me too.
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Would Mark Wahlberg be considered a “wigger” even though he didn’t grow un in white suburbia but mostly Blacks and Latinos?
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To be honest, anybody that dresses like that or acts like that is a clown. Does not matter if you are white, black, yellow, or green. To act “ghetto” shows that you have no self respect in yourself to learn proper manners and how to use proper dialect. Now the fashion behind it is funny also, wearing baggy clothes and looking like a slob does not mean you are “down”.
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Has anyone else here checked out the “wigger” entry on the Encyclopedia Dramatica, or am I the only evil basterd here?
http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/Wigger
I particularly enjoy this poster…
Heh, heh…
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My goodness, I guess I ought to weigh my two cents on this one, since I have come in here stating I was so lucky to say my “social life was the black American experiance”.
By the way,the key word there is “social”,just to clarify that means I never thought I was living the black American experiance. I knew from a very early age that there was racism and discrimination against black Americans because of their color and I wasnt that color.
But lets face it, white Americans have been copying black Americans since country music took over the banjo, minstral black face ,whites imitatied the cake walk and the jazz era had whites dancing the charleston, tap dance and the lindy hop (white people were so much hipper than white people today, my god Taylor Swift? what in the heck is that?).
Any white boy thinking their punk rock is their theme of identity is so ignorant they dont know they are just doing an abheration of chuck berry and little richard.
I just didnt put up any artifucial filters. I knew the real cultural roots and didnt put any white artists who copied those roots as a substitute.
And yes, I was raised in an integrated envirnment and most of all was accepted by my black peers into their social stratasphere. I was very lucky and it filled me with rich experiances that I carry with me to this day and makes me part of who I am. And no one can take that away from me.
I am way too far into my life to be affected by judgements , psycho analisys, criticisms or uptightness.When I touch my drums on the stage or at home , I am paying tribute to those rich experiances, I could even say I am “praying” in those moments, entering into a transe like state that evokes all my past experiances and the present ones in Brazil with Afro Brazilian culture
I can only say that I have repeated this process in Brazil, in terms of being totaly blown away by the Afro Brazilian culture and have absorbed an immense amount of that culture into my daily life and musical life.
Yet , I would never think I am Brazilian and its the same with the black American experiance .But no one could deny the information and life lessons that I have absorbed and live in my daily life.
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“But that culture is a side effect of being black, not the cause of what makes people black.”
So maybe wiggers are just imitating the culture, not blackness itself. Since they don’t actually believe that wearing fubu and saying “sup my nigga” to their white friends actually makes them black. I grew up in a mostly black neighborhood and until junior high probably would have been described as a wigger. But that all came from pressure to conform from my black friends.
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That’s quite interesting, Jason, being that elsewhere you are claiming to not understand what it’s like to be the only person of one color in a roomful of people of another color.
Oh, how our dogma and rhetoric comes unwound when we look at the empirical evidence of life, neh?
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Nah, that’s ridiculous. Why would I say that? I often choose to put myself in that position. Daily. The point I was probably making is that I can do that BY CHOICE If I want to, but I don’t have to. POC HAVE to all the time. And they have to learn to be comfortable with it. That’s an unfair privilege or if you prefer advantage I have in life. It’s already quite simple, no need to twist my words or oversimplify it. Why not address my points honestly?
If I had to work and live in that neighborhood for the rest of my life yes. but I don’t.
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So yes I know what it’s like to be the only person of my race in the room. But I don’t know what it’s like to have to do that my whole life in order to survive.
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Here’s the direct quote, Jase:
Black Americans are forced to grow up in a white dominated society and often find themselves in the situation of being the only POC in the room.
As a white American I don’t ever have to experience this. I do at times but only by choice. not necessity.
OK, fair go. But that raises another question then: you grew up surrounded by black people by choice?
But more to the point, you claim that it is a “privilege” (there’s that word again) to not have to deal with people of other colors.
Well, Jase, I live surrounded by people of other colors – mainly African Brazilians. Are they “privileged” then, with regards to me? And no, don’t say this is a “choice”. I guess I COULD commit social suicide, divorce my wife, say goodbye to all my friends and my career, move to Idaho and work in a McDonalds. And so could a black person “choose” to not be a functioning member of their society and never leave the home. I think that we can both agree that a “choice” which ammounts to social suicide is not a choice.
Again, this is where your “privilege” rhetoric leads you astray: it is generally an ADVANTAGE to be a member of the dominant bio-type, not a privilege.
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“OK, fair go. But that raises another question then: you grew up surrounded by black people by choice?”
nope. and again, if i were to remain a child forever stuck in that neighborhood than you would be right I wouldn’t have much privilege. But we grown folk now. Talking about grown folk sh*t.
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“Again, this is where your “privilege” rhetoric leads you astray: it is generally an ADVANTAGE to be a member of the dominant bio-type, not a privilege.”
Cannot “Advantage” also be a definition of privilege? See definition #6
1. a right, immunity, or benefit enjoyed only by a person beyond the advantages of most: the privileges of the very rich.
2. a special right, immunity, or exemption granted to persons in authority or office to free them from certain obligations or liabilities: the privilege of a senator to speak in Congress without danger of a libel suit.
3. a grant to an individual, corporation, etc., of a special right or immunity, under certain conditions.
4. the principle or condition of enjoying special rights or immunities.
5. any of the rights common to all citizens under a modern constitutional government: We enjoy the privileges of a free people.
6. an advantage or source of pleasure granted to a person: It’s my privilege to be here.
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“Well, Jase, I live surrounded by people of other colors – mainly African Brazilians. Are they “privileged” then, with regards to me? And no, don’t say this is a “choice”.”
Are you from the states originally? Did you move from the US to Brazil as an adult with free will? If so than it sure as f**k was a choice.
Besides isn’t this blog about racism in the US mainly?
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nope. and again, if i were to remain a child forever stuck in that neighborhood than you would be right I wouldn’t have much privilege. But we grown folk now. Talking about grown folk sh*t.
But your original point indicates that this never happens, except voluntarily. Obviously, in your case, it wasn’t voluntary. I mean it’s rare, I know, but then again, I’m not the one using absolutes like “never” and “not ever”.
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@King
Cannot “Advantage” also be a definition of privilege? See definition #6
All privileges are advantages (at least as far as I can see).
Not all advantages are privileges.
Being in the phenotypical majority may be an advantage, but it’s not necessarily a privilege (and it in fact may be neither, which is pretty much the case here in RdJ).
Also, note that of those 6 definitions, five define “privilege” in terms of rights and the sixth uses a colloquial definition that has nothing to do with the political context we’re talking about here.
Again, I think people have been using “privilege” for so long when talking about race in America that they really don’t stop to think about what it means and how it applies in most racialized situations. It’s just a buzz word these days.
Are you from the states originally? Did you move from the US to Brazil as an adult with free will? If so than it sure as f**k was a choice.
I came to Brazil as an adolescent at 16. I finally decided to live here, sure. But it seems to me that you’re mixing two different kind of choices here: one which seems to be in the ambient of day-to-day life and the other which seems to say “OK, you made one choice in your life and now it defines all you did”.
Let’s say – just for argument’s sake – that I did choose to live here and that I later found out it that it was unsustainable due to the fact that I couldn’t stand being in the phenotypical minority. I’d have to commit social suicide to leave, however, so does that mean the majority around me is privileged?
Clearly not: they might have an advantage, yes, but they have no inherent “right” that I don’t.
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So, if anti-racists used the term “White Advantage” in place of “White Privilege,” you would find that to be acceptable?
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“Black Americans are forced to grow up in a white dominated society and often find themselves in the situation of being the only POC in the room.
As a white American I don’t ever have to experience this.”
I don’t remember stating that I was forced to live in a POC dominated society.
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@King
So, if anti-racists used the term “White Advantage” in place of “White Privilege,” you would find that to be acceptable?
It’s not whether or not it’s acceptable to me, King: it’s what a focus on advantages or privileges means in terms of political struggle.
“Privilege” presumes that some specific socio-political force vouchsafes rights for one group and no rights for another. This is no longer what’s occurring in the U.S. Racism has evolved to a series of habitus and dispositions based on accumulated advantages and individual prejudices. Those prejudices are no longer institutionalized the way they were 50 years ago: they are more deeply engrained on a daily, practical level.
So railing against privilege, in my view, ends up making one look silly, outside of one’s co-religionists. One ends up preaching to the choir and avoiding any political discourse that might reasonably be used to generate change.
I happen to agree with Obama that without the integration of an intersectionalist perspective which can simultaneously perceive the interworkings of gender, race and class, we’re not going to generate much change.
In practical terms, this is why white upper-middle class professors and lecturers like Tim White get nowhere with the white masses when they browbeat them about their “privileges”. Joe Blow in the audience is well aware of what crap his life is and he’s not going to respond well to someone telling him that his power is maintaining the situation as what it is because he knows full well that the clown on the podium has far more power than he’ll ever see.
@Jason
I don’t remember stating that I was forced to live in a POC dominated society.
So you opted to do this when you were a kid, Jason?
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Is American society dominated by POC?
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No, but the society in which you grew up in obviously was, by your own admission.
By the way, “domination”, in social terms, isn’t a question of “who runs the police” or “who ultimately makes the most money”.
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“No, but the society in which you grew up in obviously was, by your own admission.”
eerrrrr! wrong. The society I grew up in was America in the 1980’s-90’s. Were blacks running s**t back then? It didn’t seem like it at the time but hey, your the expert.
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oh I get it, you didn’t see the part where I said…….
“>>>>Black Americans are forced to grow up in a white dominated society<<<<<and often find themselves in the situation of being the only POC in the room."
See Thad, finding yourself the only person of your race in the room doesn't mean anything without the first part. that's the piece off the puzzle I will always lack when it comes to understanding. Not that I feel I need to understand what that's like. I just need to recognize it as a privilege and stop taking advantage of it by avoiding situations where i'm the only white person in the room.
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ahahahaha
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lol white people
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Look at the people of nations in Africa that are black. Poverty, violence, ignorance. Look at any ‘enclave’ on Earth that is predominantly black, whether they were forced there through slavery, or immigrated, it is full of poverty, violence, indifference, and everything else you can find in the place it all started.
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Hey wigga, what’s up?
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Jimmy,
What’s your point, my wigga?
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@ Jimmy Kakapoulos
Please report to the Broken Record Dept:
https://abagond.wordpress.com/broken-record-dept/
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@ Abagond:
I see you changed the previous pic. It’s a perfect example of a white person trying to act as made up image of black people.
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“And so could a black person “choose” to not be a functioning member of their society and never leave the home. I think that we can both agree that a “choice” which ammounts to social suicide is not a choice.”
This is an old comment, but I found it interesting since black people do this all of the time.
I was making a pretty decent salary eight months ago working as a programmer, but quit since I was tired of being the only black person( and woman at that) in a room( rooms,actually) full of white people. I doubt that this amounts to social suicide though, since I didn’t have to leave the town I live in or give up any friends.
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LOL @ Herneith and BrothaWolf!!
@Solesearch
It’s fortunate that you’re (presumably) in a situation that permitted you to quit, and not experience financial/economic suicide. Remain blessed!
As far as a perecieved social suicide goes – that’s more of a subjective call because sometimes familiar or comfortable things like towns and friends aren’t always the best things to have impacting our lives in a positive manner.
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Depending on your career and geography, this may be an inevitability. Some fields just don’t have that many Blacks (or women) in them, and if you don’t live in a diverse area in the first place, then you may end up being the sole Black face amongst an office full of Whites.
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Matari
@Solesearch
It’s fortunate that you’re (presumably) in a situation that permitted you to quit, and not experience financial/economic suicide. Remain blessed!
Linda says,
So true. I’m posting a story about a young lady (black) who couldn’t find a job after graduatiing from college. She was using Monster.com — I guess they ask applicants to identify themselves by race –and she started to believe that stating her race was hurting her job search (a fellow post-grad student (white) had found a job quickly, so she decided to put her theory to a test.)
She decided to portray herself as white, and posted her resume as a “white” applicant — as expected, she got no responses as a “black” applicant and an abundance of responses as a “white” applicant — and she used the same EXACT qualifications on both resumes.
Welcome to America.
http://www.techyville.com/2012/11/news/unemployed-black-woman-pretends-to-be-white-job-offers-suddenly-skyrocket/#
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Linda,
Interesting post at Techyville.
The USA still loves to count/label people according to their so-called race. It’s an integral part of the maintenance of white supremacy/privilege. THEY of course excuse it by saying that they track these numbers in order to measure progress and such…
Monster isn’t the only job site that asks for one’s race. I’ve been asked this question more than a few times (via email) by potential employers after submitting resumes and cover letters for *open* positions.
The email request for VOLUNTARY self-identification often goes something like this:
“Our company is required by the US Department of Labor to request and maintain data on all applicants for employment. The information is used for statistical summaries of employment practices and to monitor compliance with equal employment opportunity and affirmative action requirements. As part of our Affirmative Action Plan, we are required to provide every applicant with the opportunity to voluntarily self identify themselves. Please find attached an Employment Application Self-Identification form.”
*************
The human resources/personnel dept always says that this self ID info won’t be shared with those managers doing the actual hiring – – – if you believe that, you should also know that I own several toll bridges in Manhattan that I’ll sell to anyone – cheap!
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Reblogged this on The Racist and Unoriginal Anglo-American Entertainment Industry.
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White English? It’s just English. The rest of your article is typical black garbage.
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@Lurker John
I would agree, but there are a variety of dialects within English. For example, southerners speak English but they have their own way of saying things that would be country English. Or AAVE and so much more.
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@ Lurker John
On the other hand, your comment is just plain garbage. Now do yourself a favor and live up to your chosen pen name by lurking, preferably forever.
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Its asymtotically rare for me to do like this but
@abagond my man
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anyone got a problem wit that let em tell it to me
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still dont shop at city blue
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To some degree, race is cultural. Look at Steve Jobs – half Arab by blood, but since he was raised by White Americans, and never practiced Islam, he was universally perceived as White, despite looking “ethnic”. The same is true of Ralph Nader (who was fully Arab).
But an Arab who practices Islam (especially if they dress differently) will never be considered White, no matter how pale their skin is.
Another example: someone with black hair, olive skin, and ambiguous features will be seen as White if their name is “Guglielmo Lo Iacono” and they have an Italian accent, but as non-White if their name is “Guillermo Lopez” and they have a Spanish accent.
Or look at the way European Spaniards are legally classified as minorities by the US government because they share their language with Latin America.
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