White Race

 Frederick Joseph asserts in his book, The Black Friend, that white is a race, so he does not capitalize it. White is no more a race than Black is a race. As far as I know, there is one race, the human race. We do not say "Russian race," or "Swedish race," or "Australian race," and not everyone from those countries has white skin. 

Nationality or ethnicity is my preferred word. 

If you saw my neighbor Andrea, you would likely label her Black. If you saw her next door neighbor,Angie, you would likely label her White. You might identify Maria, around the corner, down the hall, as Hispanic if she talks; black by site alone. Andrea was born in Dominican Republic. Angie is also Dominican but she did not say she was born in that country.

Maria, may be Puerto Rican. She babbles away to me in Spanish, when all I can say is "hola, Maria," other standard greetings and "poquito." Andrea's bilingual friend may also be Puerto Rican. She appears to be like the other Puerto Ricans I know, first generation Americans. I do not know her well enough to question her heritage. Nice, friendly lady.

Joseph may liken Black people to descendants of slaves. But not all shades of brown peeps are. I know Jamaican, Puerto Rican citizens who actually may have been descendants of slave in their countries. I know a black Indonesian woman. She may have shared the same experiences that black skinned peeps in the U.S. of A. faced. She did not think her husband's family would accept her because she is black, she told me. 

The other not born in the U.S. of A. or first generation blacks, likely deal with the same discrinations as those descended from slaves. But they do not consider themselves black. Maybe Mr. Joseph meant there is not one white culture; but there is also no one Black culture. Go back to my first post on this book ~ blanket indictments never work. A lot, many, some works better in most cases.