Are Younger People Less Racist?

Whiteness Project is an interactive investigation into how Americans who identify as white, or partially white, understand and experience their race.

Do you notice that people muse that racism will die out because "young people aren't racist" and that "racism will die out when more old people die."

This is a fallacy. We are all enculturated into a hierarchy based on race.

The Whiteness Project defines their work:

Whiteness Project is conducting interviews with people from all walks of life and localities in which they are asked about their relationship to, and their understanding of, their own whiteness. Each video interview is paired with a statistic that provides a greater societal context and offers an opportunity for self-reflection by the audience on their own thoughts about race.

Leilani, 17 believes that racism will go away if we stop talking about it. “Stop talking about racism. Just stop.”

Lena, 21, can pass as white. She asked her Arab-American father to not attend her basketball games because students would make fun of her. She shares “I think it’s much better for you if you look white.”

Nathan, 17, shares that "In America now being a white Christian is the hardest thing. Anything white people say about Black people is turned back against us. White people are put into bad situations like in Ferguson." He believes "white people are misunderstood.”

Makenna, 21, believes that she doesn't see color unless she has to physically describe a person, and that "our problems don't start out as race problems but become race problems because everything is made into a racist something now.”

The Whiteness Project illustrates that we have all inherited a system of hierarchy based on race, one which we can't disrupt without consciousness of whiteness.

The recent five-part series Let's talk about whiteness unpacks this for more learning and unlearning.

Fellow leaders and learners, I wish you courage and resilience for the journey.

Deanna Signature

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Post by Dee (Deanna) Rolffs (they/them)
December 14, 2022

Dee (Deanna) Rolffs (they/them), Owner & Principal Consultant at L3 Catalyst Group, is a coach, strategist, facilitator, and change agent applying the Process Consulting approach with anti-oppression and liberatory frameworks. Specializing in crisis and change leadership, they support brave and badass leaders and teams illuminate underlying issues, infuse learning, envision a just future, and walk a transformational path forward. Dee is committed to equitable systemic outcomes, healthy humans, and thriving teams. Dee serves on the board of the Grand Rapids Pride Center, is messily learning to practice medition, and is always up for truth telling about oppression and living life in liberatory joy.