Saturday, December 20, 2008

Stuff white people like

"All white people like hummus. In fact, if you find a white person who does not like hummus then they probably just haven’t tasted it or they are the wrong kind of white person. In either case, they are probably not someone that you want to know.

Putting out a plate of hummus and pita makes white people very comfortable. It reminds them of home since at any given time a white person has hummus in their fridge. Even the most barren white refrigerator will have a package of the stuff next to an empty Brita filter." (Thanks Marcy)

Ooh so that's why so many Lebanese think they're white... Funny blog Stuff white people like

1 comment:

Leila Abu-Saba said...

Lebanese-Americans lobbied the US Government back in the 60s to define Arabs as white. So we don't qualify for any affirmative action, and when colleges count up who is "diverse" on their faculty they are not allowed to log in any Arabs on the official count.

My graduate school had an adjunct faculty member born in Egypt, 100% Masri, with very dark skin, but he is not allowed to claim he is African-American anywhere. He is darker than Obama. He was born in Africa. But he is white by the terms of the bureaucracy. ???

Now in my case, I am defined among my Lebanese family as being very "white" because of my mother and my skin color. My brother Khalil is darker and looks more Arab than I do - pure chance. Anyway - I go to grad school and they tell me I am of color because I am an Arab. I had a hard time with this, because I feel I get a lot of privilege due to my "white" appearance. It's also my voice and bearing... very WASP-y due to my mother. Furthermore my relatives who are 100% Lebanese and darker than I am insist they are white. What to do?

Well I am applying to a workshop for writers of color which was founded by an Arab-American teacher of mine. She says I am of color and I qualify so I'm going.

Stuff White People Like is pretty funny. Of course it applies mostly to educated White People on the coasts or in college towns.