white weekend links

• "Study: Medical Students Show Racial Bias" ("content creator" Jessie Coleman @ CNN.com, via The Independent Florida Alligator)

  For each of the 21 medical students who enter the room, Edna's fears are still to be discovered. They each see the same 55-year-old woman, each meet with the same brown eyes. They all hear the same Southern twang in her voice and the same tremor of fear when she asks if she could have cancer. The only difference is that 12 of the students see a dark-skinned version of Edna, and the other nine students see a light-skinned version.
  
  Edna is a computer-animated image projected life-size on the side of a white wall, and she is used in a study monitoring the interactions of medical students with virtual patients. The study, which has three of five authors from [the University of Florida], found white medical students were less empathetic toward black virtual patients in one-on-one interviews.
  

• "On Being Jewish and White" (The Girl Detective @ Feministe)

  I’ve written before on how angry I was when fellow progressives began to inform me that while some Jews consider themselves white, it’s only because they’ve assimilated into white culture. They never explained what white-looking Jews actually are, if not white, but the message was always clear: if we Ashkenazi (Eastern European) Jews think we’re white, well, it’s just because we wanted some of that tasty privilege so badly that we suppressed our real identity to get it. I’d known, of course, that many white extremists still considered Jewishness a race, but hearing such comments come from leftists surprised and upset me for a couple of reasons: 1) they were presuming to know more about a Jew’s identity than a Jew would, and 2) those who were people of color were surely familiar with the frustration at having others dictate how they should define themselves.

• "The White Stuff: What Does an Extremely Popular New Blog about White Culture Tell Us About Race in America?" (Samhita Mukhopadhyay @ The American Prospect)

  Lander didn't set out to write an academic treatise on whiteness. Rather, he set out to joke about it. What sets it apart from the hundreds of other well-written, funny Web sites is that it's hit a nerve--especially because it appeared at a time when America was captivated by the issue of race in the presidential primary. And so it's worth thinking about exactly what this blog tells us about whiteness and why its mostly white, affluent audience has so enthusiastically embraced this gently mocking rundown of their culture. . . . Stuff White People Like is a "safe" place for white people to talk about race . . .

• "Is 'White Privilege' Real?" (Michelle DiMartino @ "Exploring Race," a forum at the Chicago Tribune Web Edition)

  During my job search, I noticed that when I would go to a job bank, I was treated differently in comparison to minorities. The agents grilled me, not to help me get a job, but to find out why I didn’t have one. They wanted to know what I had done to make myself so poor. They also asked why I didn’t have a family member who could help me. Did they ask this just because I’m white? As someone holding a philosophy degree I cannot help but be, well, philosophical. Without a college degree you can’t earn a living wage, and without paying for college you cannot get a degree. If your parents don’t make a lot of money or if you don’t earn scholarships, then you will have to take out many student loans. When you leave school and can’t find a job, you can find yourself back where you started. Being any particular race doesn’t help you at all when you belong to the lowest socioeconomic class and you’re struggling to pull yourself up. I am white but throughout my life I have not known white privilege. Not in the least.

• "I'm Not Racist, I Have Black Friends" (Renee @ Womanist Musings)

  How much longer do white people believe they can use the I have a "black friend" card to cover their clearly racist behaviour? . . . I think I have finally figured out the mystery of the black friend...he/she is imaginary aren't they? ...Yep, your "pretend buddy" that you can whip out every time the word racist is thrown your way. Here is a little tip, next time you go to pull the "black friend" out of your defence arsenal, please be aware that this excuse has worn thin, and we (anti-racists) are on to your sorry, lying asses.

• "A White Man Does the Right Thing: The Courage to Stand against Racism" (Joe Feagin @ Racism Review)

  L. F. Eason III, a white North Carolina state manager with a distinguished record of state employment . . . was forced to retire (in reality, fired) because he would not allow the employees at his laboratory to lower the flag to honor one of the most infamous of the white-racist advocates ever to serve in the U.S. Senate, the unrepentant anti-civil-rights advocate, Senator Jesse Helms.
  

• "Who Wants To Marry A White Dude?: America’s First Interracial Reality Show in the Works" (by Iliana Rabun-Wood @ Giant)

  The premise is that this white guy who has an affinity for dipping into the chocolate goes on a TV show and chooses between a dozen or so sistas to find his true love. If VH1 airs this show, they’re going to have a lot of explaining to do. And no, it’s not a Robert DeNiro production.
  

And finally, a video that may well suggest--contrary to what I've been periodically saying on this blog--that perhaps white people should NOT dance more often than they do.