In the United States, acting white is a pejorative term for white cultural appropriation usually applied to African-Americans, which refers to a person's perceived betrayal of their culture by assuming the social expectations of white society. Success in education in particular (depending on one's cultural background) can be seen as a form of selling out by being disloyal to one's culture. The term is controversial, and its precise meaning is hard to define. Nevertheless, the idea that minority students suffer from the negative prejudices of their ethnic peers is currently accepted as generally true in much of the American media—as expressed in articles in The New York Times, Time magazine, and The Wall Street Journal—and in American society.
Read more about Acting White: History of Usage, Case Studies and Research, Commentary
Famous quotes containing the words acting and/or white:
“She does not realize that the only difference between us is that she is on one stage and I on another. I feel that I am acting just as much as she is.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“It seemed a long way from 143rd Street. Shaking hands with the Queen of England was a long way from being forced to sit in the colored section of the bus going into downtown Wilmington, North Carolina. Dancing with the Duke of Devonshire was a long way from not being allowed to bowl in Jefferson City, Missouri, because the white customers complained about it.”
—Althea Gibson (b. 1927)