Educational Psychology—Limitations and Possibilities

Making the “Familiar” Strange 671
under surveillance in this time of “heightened security”; the hyper-visibility of blackness takes on
a whole new meaning under these conditions. There are increased opportunities and an accompanying
rationalization for this kind of social surveillance. What about my vulnerability, at the hands
of customs and immigration officials? It is inconceivable to either the officials or to onlookers that
I am concerned about my own safety. The fact that I, the only black person in sight, am involved
in an extended interrogation is confirmation to everyone in the vicinity that a black person is not
trustworthy. So potent is the 911 narrative regarding the potential danger of air travel that this
manner of treatment is performed under the guise of “safety,” not as a strategy of white racism. In
sum, this situation illustrates how a logic of white supremacy is reproduced and white subjectivity
is performed through interaction with discourses of gender and nation. The scrutiny and response
to my black female presence is unidirectional for only the view that whites have of me is deemed
important. Again, the fact that neither the gaze, nor the actions of the agents are questioned is
illustrative of how the process of white racial power sustains itself. The structures and ideologies
of gender, race, and nation, which construct “whiteness” as non-threatening, are constitutive of
the social atmosphere in which we conduct our daily lives. In this context, the privileging of
whiteness remains invisible to “common sense” views of the world (Crenshaw, 1997).
Recently I had to go to the dentist (I cracked a tooth while eating licorice!). Before my mouth was
frozen the conversation turned to this project. When I described the difficulties I have experienced
while trying to cross the border, my dentist (a frequent flier) acknowledged that traveling through
Los Angeles is becoming “more weird” but added that I am being singled out because “there must
be something in my file.” I should add that he is a white male in his late 40s. On my next visit five
days later, he told me that the evening following our conversation he had seen a television program
about crossing the border and a “blonde woman” (his characterization) had talked about how she was
being hassled when she went through customs ...
This story illuminates several issues that frequently arise in discussions, which include issues
of gender, race, and racism. First, it is assumed that I am the source of the “problem”—how
can an institution (or its agents) be at fault? Second, my dentist grants my experience legitimacy
(well sort of) because he has received confirmation from another (i.e., unbiased?) source, in this
instance a white woman. After watching this television program my dentist concluded that it is
simply “women” who are being harassed at the border. Regardless of our “visible” (i.e., racial)
differences, the end result is the same (i.e., harassment). So influential is the belief that race
makes no difference, the very power and privilege residing in his ability to “not see” race remains
unquestioned. His initial identification of me as the source of the problem also denies the fact that
whiteness is also a racialized position which designates members and outsiders. We were both
stopped, this blonde and I, but was it for the same reasons? If a white woman is harassed does
this mean that there is no difference when a black woman is harassed? Or is it not harassment
at all? And given the different cultural positions which black and white (blonde) women hold
in society, it is likely that her interrogation may be seen as unusual if not unjust, while mine
would be expected. To what extent is surveillance (as a suspect) a part of her daily life? The
fact that we occupy different positions in society owing to a racial hierarchy is not considered
in my dentist’s interpretation of these incidents. This denial of racial difference is significant
because the ability to acknowledge or negate the relevance of race is part of prevailing strategies
of white racial domination. That is, the assertion that our experiences were the same privileges his
position of white (male) racial power, which imposes one definition of reality as the definition of
reality.
The other day, while working on this project my girlfriend Kara called me from the airport to relate a
disturbing experience with an immigration officer (white, male, and in his late 40s). She was on her
way to an American destination for the weekend. She had not traveled in over a year and she was
unprepared for the aggression she encountered. The interrogation began with a question; there was