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Kelci Mueller
Professor Lo
Race and Social Justice
November 9, 2015

Arguing Whiteness
The idea of whiteness has created many conflicts, arguments, and most importantly, the
idea of race. David Roedigers Whiteness and Ethnicity in the History of White Ethnics in the
United States and George Lipsitzs The Possessive Investment in Whiteness both had very good
arguments to show the idea of whiteness. But George Lipsitz had a better argument because he
used personal examples to back up his argument with the help of his key concept of white
supremacy, while David Roediger used history and facts within his key concept of not-yetwhite to back up his arguments. The reason I believe personal examples win the argument is
because it gives something to relate back to or maybe even understand. Sure facts are true and
proven, but they dont have a whole lot of emotion behind them. But even Lipsitz uses facts to
help his argument, but his facts are more helpful to understanding because it looks at whiteness
with more emotion, therefore more connection to the reader, so more understanding. On the other
hand, Roedigers argument just states the proven facts but leaves out the emotion it needs to
sustain an argument and to change the readers opinion. Lastly, Lipsitz has the better argument
for whiteness because not only does he have the facts or the emotion, he also has his own
opinion throughout his piece. Roediger doesnt state his own opinion, which takes away from the
emotion, which takes away from the argument because the reader cannot connect with him as a

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person. Emotion is the key piece in an argument that helps the author get the point across and
helps the reader understand, which is how the argument convinces people to think differently and
to change their actions.
The Possessive Investment in Whiteness by George Lipsitz has the better argument for
whiteness because he uses emotion in his writing to help understand the situation of white
supremacy. He tells a story of guy name Bill Moore, a white man, and a black rights activist that
was shot to death, and left on the side of the road. He was murdered because he supported the
rights of blacks to the full extent and people did not like that. Lipsitz tells this story because he
hears of black men and women dying every day for their rights, but not of a white man. This
inspired him because he felt that even if he is white, something could be done. The death of Bill
Moore wasnt about the death itself but the movement that happened because of the unusual
death of a white man fighting for blacks. It led Lipsitz to join as well. While in David Roedigers
piece Whiteness and Ethnicity in the History of White Ethnics in the United States portrays the
history facts, which state things that are proven and concise, doesnt show the emotion it should
when creating a solid argument. It made me look into myself and provoked me to think about
what I was willing to risk for my own beliefs. (Lipsitz XIII), this shows us what we can do as
well to help in the fight for black rights, even as someone who is white. Joan M. Jensen said in
Roedigers piece, Asian Indians were not white in 1923, so 65 citizens were stripped of
citizenship (Roediger 326). This statement is very factual, but it does not give you the emotion of
a story about one of these 65 citizens. It just states it with no meaning behind it, other than just
words. Lipsitzs used Bill Moore because he wanted to show how big of a risk someone will take
to get a reward. For Bill Moore, disapproving of white supremacy in principle wasnt enough;
he felt he needed to put his life on the line trying to end it. (Lipsitz XIII), this shows that Bill

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Moore had a very huge fight inside him for something that didnt directly affect him, which was
huge because people dont normally do things that are outside of their own benefit especially in
the idea of white supremacy. Lipsitz added this to add a large amount of emotion, so we can look
past what we want ourselves, and put the bigger picture ahead of us, even it doesnt directly
affect us, it will affect everyone around us. While Roediger uses history as an argument, which in
my opinion, doesnt help me look at what the big picture is and it doesnt tell me what I need to
do to change. It just tells me what is wrong but not how I can fix it. Emotion is the main thing an
argument needs to succeed.
Emotion is the key to getting a reader to connect with the emotion that the author portrays
in his piece. Even though Lipsitz whole article wasnt a story, his facts still had plenty of emotion
to keep the reader connected. When he would state facts, he used a story to add emotion so we
can understand how much the facts affected the colored population. Each of these policies
widened the gap between the resources available to whites and those available to aggrieved racial
communities. (Lipsitz 5), even without knowing what these policies are, his emotion gives you
a good idea that they were not fair to the colored community compared to the white community.
An example of Roedigers facts:
Nonetheless the precise relationships among Americanization, whiteness and loss of
specific ethnicity are extremely complex. One complicating factor is that immigrants at
times developed significant contacts with Black culture, and through those contacts
maintained elements of their own ethnic cultures that resonated with black culture, even
as they embraced whiteness. (Roediger 333)
This passage gives us facts like immigrants connected with Black culture because it reminded
them of their own culture, even though they were trying to join a new one. This gives us a look at

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what happened around 50 years ago, but it doesnt give the reader any emotion in order to
connect to what he is trying to say. While Lipsitz may use facts like these, but he puts more
emotion behind it and he also state what his own opinion is, which connects the reader to not
only the emotion the words portray but to Lipsitz himself.
Lipsitz has the better argument for whiteness because he gives his own opinion within the
piece. This makes his argument stronger because hes not just putting facts down on paper to
prove his point, he is showing that he actually cares about the topic and he tries to make the
reader care as well through emotion. But those of us who are white can only become part of
the solution if we recognize the degree to which we already part of the problemnot because of
our race, but because our possessive investment in it. (Lipsitz 22), he is stating with emotion,
that he can change things if he realizes that he is the problem, not because of who he is, but
because of what he invests in. This shows that he cares about not only the problem, but also
creating a solution to this problem. With his opinion, it teaches the readers what we can do to
help with the movement for rights. Roediger just uses many examples of other peoples work to
aid in his argument. This doesnt show his true emotions; so he therefore cannot connect with the
readers in a way that Lipsitz can. Lipsitz uses his opinion to show us who he really is as a person
and shows us not everyone agrees with white supremacy even if it is readily available to them. I
hope it is clear that opposing whiteness is not the same as opposing white people. (Lipsitz VIII),
this opinion states that whiteness and white people are not the same because even though the
term whiteness directly applies to white people, doesnt mean all white people have this idea
that they are the best race because of their skin color. It also implies that not all people are racist
towards other races or ethnicities just because they give into the advantages they had, because of
the color of their skin. Roedigers term Not-yet-white helps us explain his argument through

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his own opinion by telling us about people who are trying to become white. But this statement,
even though it is his own opinion still does not include the emotion that Lipsitz portrays
throughout his piece. So his argument of whiteness cannot connect like Lipsitz can, because of
the lack of emotion.
Evan though Roedigers piece is a very good way to give the facts of what whiteness is
through history and looking at the idea of not-yet-white, it does not captivate the emotion that
Lipsitzs piece does. Roediger gives us many examples of whiteness throughout history but he
doesnt allow his emotion to shine through his facts to help the reader understand and connect.
Roediger also doesnt voice his own opinion that often, he just tells us what is wrong with
whiteness through statistics and other articles. While Lipsitz gives us the statistic, but also adds
in why it matters, and why it is important to know these things. He does this through stories and
through his own opinion on the matter, which adds to the connectivity that draws the reader in
and helps the reader to understand where he is coming from. Lipsitz emotion captivates his
reader by making them feel something for the situation. It also helps them care so they can go
out and make a difference themselves. This not only will help black activists for black rights, but
also white activists for black rights to push the movement further and further until there is a
solution to the problem of inequality. Roediger does help that movement by giving us the facts
and the history, but Lipsitz pushes the movement to another level by taking those things and
giving them life and giving us real life examples so we can relate. Relation is the most powerful
thing to help with a movement. So I believe that Lipsitz is the better argument for whiteness
because with his emotion and his facts, he really helps change peoples minds to act and to solve.

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Work Cited

Lipsitz, George. "Bill Moore's Body." The Possessive Investment in Whiteness. Ed. George
Lipsitz. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, . VII-23., . . Print.

Lipsitz, George. "The Possessive Investment in Whiteness." The Possessive Investment in

Whiteness. Ed. George Lipsitz. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, . VII-23., . .
Print.

Roediger,David."WhitenessandEthnicityintheHistoryof"WhiteEthnics"intheUnited
States."..,..Print.