I am white. Blonde hair, light eyes, pale skin, white. My dad's side of the family is Norwegian and Swedish. My mom's side is Danish and German. I went to a Danish Lutheran church growing up and a German Lutheran college, and I've found that I try to connect my whiteness to place of origin. I'd much rather celebrate Syttende Mai or Octoberfest instead of generic American whiteness. I definitely related to the people in the first video of the set, with white people talking about race. It's uncomfortable!
One more recent aspect of my life is that I got married to my husband who is 1/2 hispanic. After changing my name, we started getting targeted junk mail in Spanish instead of English. I had a realization at one point while listening to the news a few years ago, when there was a story about a motel chain giving CBP/ICE a list of "hispanic" names that had booked with them. I realized... we'd be on that list! Sure, if a border agent saw me, it's pretty clear that I'm white. But there's some more white privilege! How likely would it be that they'd ask for citizenship documentation from me, compared to someone else with my last name who actually, visibly, had hispanic heritage?
