Wow! thanks for this great response!

Been thinking about this and got some ideas. Whiteness has ways of dealing with its internal dissenters, it always has. This issue of filling out forms is just one of many ways that we’re tricked into towing the line.

Some ideas …When filling out a form, click “Other” and then fill in the blank with any of these suggestions:

Human

A reference to one’s ancestry. Whiteness was invented only a few centuries ago. Even in Europe, I hear, people don’t identify themselves as white like they do here in the USA. Instead, they identify with their nationality, or some other construct such as occupation, religion, etc. What was our family before we were white? eg, Franco-American, German-American, Italian-American, Euro-mutt, etc (I like that last one!)

A reference to some cultural affiliation, eg, nerd, hippie, punk, gamer, coder, etc

Or … since absurdity is a traditional counter to hierarchy, some silly made up word, eg, gleek, sporf, shulk, etc.

Not sure how this would go over with HR or the DMV, but if enough people do this then maybe it will get people thinking in a new direction. And, of course, disavowing whiteness does not absolve us of responsibility to face up to and undo the damage that white supremacy has done. There’s no get out of whiteness free card — it takes work.

Just a few thoughts …