queenshulamit

Saying “we white people have no culture” sounds like this cool, self-critical, anti-racist statement but it’s actually making out that the ways white people (by which the speaker almost always means white Christian Anglophone Americans or occasionally white Christian Anglophone Brits) live/eat/make art/ think about ethics etc. is just the Default way of doing things and everyone else is wierd and fascinating.

queenshulamit

English is a language, not default human speech.

Christianity is a religion, not default human belief.

Western nuclear families are a specific social arrangement, not default human living arrangement.

White Anglophone cultures’ ideas about gender are a specific set of ideas, not default human gender.

The Latin alphabet is an alphabet, not default human writing.

Modern staff notation is a specific musical system, not default human music.

“White people food” is a specific kind of food (or rather several specific kinds) not default human food.

Christmas and Easter are specific religious/cultural festivals, and the specific ways they are celebrated in white Anglophone Christian communities are specific forms of celebration, they are not default human annual events.

Assuming white Anglophone Christian norms are just default human behaviour isn’t actually challenging racism.