What is in an identity, and what is left after “Whiteness” is gone?

My interest in critical whiteness studies, and working class whites in particular, stems largely from the fact that, where classifications are in order, my family would be classified as “working class whites.” This must have been true for my entire life, but I was not always aware of it. I was not always aware there were other class or race classifications, for that matter.

It took a while after realizing I came from the white working class, to realize my white privilege was contributing to a problem.  As Martha Mahoney frames it in “The Social Construction of Whiteness,”

whites have difficulty perceiving whiteness, both because of its cultural prevalence and because of its cultural dominance.

According to Mahoney, the privilege that comes from a white identity

requires reinforcement and maintenance, but protection against seeing the mechanisms that socially reproduce and maintain privilege is an important component of the privilege itself.

What does it mean to a white person when they say they identify as white? What would it look like for a white person to strip themselves of their whiteness? What identity would remain?

It seems, after having only begun exploration into what “whiteness” is, it is something of a social construction at the intersection of class and race.  Whiteness functions to exclude “the Other.” For many, whether they recognize its functions or not, “whiteness” is also an identity. Our society seems to expect everyone have an identity, which according to Merriam-Webster is the

sameness of essential or generic character in different instances.

When asked my racial identity, I say white. I do not really know what it means though, or more precisely, what it means to me. I do not feel tied by heritage or by culture to any European country, so plain old white seems to be what I am left with. 

If solving the problem of white privilege requires awakening whites to their identity rooted in whiteness, must there be something to fill the space in one’s identity after whiteness is gone? Identity seems so important that when someone is perceived to be lacking one, we go so far as to attribute it to mental illness.  Therefore, the space must necessarily be filled.  

Or, maybe identity alone is not so much the problem; maybe identity politics is the problem. In “The First White President”, Ta-Nehisi Coates states,

a narrative of long-neglected working-class black voters, injured by globalization and the financial crisis, forsaken by out-of-touch politicians... does not serve to cleanse the conscience of white people for having elected Donald Trump. Only the idea of a long-suffering white working class can do that.

In response to elites such as Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden defending their working class white friends' and families' votes, Coates states,

these claims of origin and fidelity are not merely elite defenses of an aggrieved class but also a sweeping dismissal of the concerns of those who don’t share kinship with white men.

Mahoney observed that,

in the logic of white privilege, making whites feel white equals racism.

This idea is also apparent in Coates’ criticism of whites feeling as though they need to defend those like them for being attacked on the basis of their white identity. Perhaps when politics makes whites feel white, whites are pushed to vote for the candidate they feel has their idealized interests in mind. In so doing, some who identify as white and feel attacked want to protect their identity's position of privilege, even if it comes at the expense of "the Other."

When politics are made to focus on identity, whites are inclined to recognize themselves as a group and to unite over common ground. When whites as a group are attacked, or are forced to see the “mechanisms that socially reproduce and maintain privilege,” they are compelled to bear down on their identity and support those with whom they identify and who appear to have the same privileges.

As of yet, solutions remain unclear. It seems the current social construction of “whiteness” ought to be dismantled and a new identity for whites put in its place. The new identity should be one that does not leave them feeling identity-less and does not privilege them over “the Other.” Perhaps a place to start is focusing less on identity politics and avoiding righteousness it can create.