Acting White?

Here's Georgetown Associate Professor of Law James Forman, Jr.'s blog on Acting White.

Last year, when I taught an all-African-American male American Literature class, I heard the comment - "You're acting white" or more commonly "Stop acting white" - more than once, usually in the context of someone studying, eagerly participating in class discussion, or using sophisticated or unfamiliar vocabulary. That's what I heard young African-American men identify as "white" behavior.

What do white people associate with "acting white?" At the end of the day at one recent equity training in Southern California, I was cleaning up the room and discovered someone's notes left on one of the tables. We had engaged in some discussion about cultural traits and behavior, and obviously the writer had heard something that didn't sit well with her. Scrawled across the back of the notes was the question: "White people act stiff?!?!?"

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