By engendering debate about the role of whiteness in American society and encouraging white Americans to become fully vested participants in the ongoing debate about the role of race in American society, Whiteness Project aims to inspire reflection and foster discussions that ultimately lead to improved communication around issues of race and identity.

Whiteness Project’s first installment, Inside the White/Caucasian Box, is a collection of 21 interviews filmed in Buffalo, NY in July 2014 and released in October 2014. The latest installment, Intersection of I, is a collection of 23 interviews filmed in Dallas, Texas in July 2015 and released in April 2016. This second installment features a cross-section of Millennials, ages 15-27, who share their views about race and identity. The project is ongoing and we are in production on additional installments.

Whiteness Project is conducting interviews with people from all walks of life and localities in which they are asked about their relationship to, and their understanding of, their own whiteness. Each video interview is paired with a statistic that provides a greater societal context and offers an opportunity for self-reflection by the audience on their own thoughts about race.

Although white people and white culture have been the dominant societal and political forces in our country since its inception, there has been relatively little self-conscious examination of whiteness as a unique racial identity, how white Americans experience their whiteness, and how white culture shapes our society. Most people take for granted that there is a white race in America, but what does it mean to be white? Can it be genetically defined? Is it a cultural construct? A state of mind? An ethnicity or a race? How does one come to be deemed white in America and what privileges does being perceived as white bestow?

Whiteness Project is a multi-platform media project that examines both the concept of whiteness itself and how those who identify as white, or partially white, process their racial identity. The project’s goal is to engender debate about the role of whiteness in American society and encourage white Americans to become fully vested participants in the ongoing debate about the role of race in American society.

After almost two decades of making films with my black producing partner, Marco Williams, I have come to believe that most whites, especially liberal whites, see themselves as outside the American racial paradigm - that their race is a passive attribute, as opposed to something that impacts almost every aspect of their lives. I believe this makes it difficult for many white people to empathize with people of other races and see their experiences as parallel to their own.

I do not claim to have clear answers about how best to challenge the structural racism that is woven through our country’s public and private institutions, nor do I have a specific agenda beyond my desire to create media that will challenge white people to become more self-reflective. I simply have found that honestly examining the role my racial identity plays in my day-to-day life, and, in fact, how it has shaped my life’s entire arc, has been incredibly illuminating and enhanced the quality of all my relationships, regardless of the ethnic make-up of those involved.

I believe that the country is not only ready for a discussion on whiteness, but is hungry for it. Although, it is hard to imagine any other white-majority country embracing and celebrating the wide range of ethnicities, races, and cultures that make up the nation, let alone electing a biracial president to govern them all, deep racial fissures exist in American society, and we are confronted with examples of inequality, prejudice, and structural racism on a regular basis. My experiences working on this project have repeatedly shown me that when white people honestly engage on this topic, it makes all discussions about race more productive and opens conduits to understanding that ultimately help to advance a culture of true equality.

Whitney Dow

New York, 2016

@whitneybdow

whitneydow.com

