(The Federalist) — Is it wrong to take pride in being white? This is not meant as a trick question, but it might be a little tricky. Americans generally associate white pride with slavery, segregation, and skinheads. For most of us those are negative associations so, yes, we think it’s creepy to be proud that you’re white.
There’s a complication, though. If whites can’t take pride in our ethnicity, is it okay for blacks or Hispanics to have ethnic pride? Our society looks on that kind of boosterism with a much more tolerant eye. What’s the difference? Have we so succumbed to the siren song of privilege theory that white people are the only ones left who are not allowed to feel good about ourselves?
As David Marcus explained in this insightful essay, privilege theory is indeed a real problem. It helped re-awaken tribal loyalties that would have been better left shifting in their shallow graves. Everyone is better off when whites don’t think too much about their whiteness. It should be normal without being normative, and regular without being right. It’s having a one-story house. It’s writing in black pen. It’s Times New Roman.
