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PBS Online Series: "The Whiteness Project"

An interactive online series from the PBS POV program is bringing everyday white Americans, who would not normally engage in a project about race, into the racial discussion.

According to the producers,  “We take for granted that there is a "white" race in America, but rarely is the concept of whiteness itself investigated. What does it mean to be white? Can it be genetically defined? Is it a cultural construct? A state of mind? What privileges are exclusive to Caucasians?”

This last question is the subject of Whiteness Project: Inside the White Caucasian Box, an interactive look at how white people process their perceived advantages or disadvantages. The project is created from interviews shot in Buffalo,  that represent a cross‐section of the city's white population. 

You can view the project at whitenessproject.org, and join the conversation using the hashtag #WhitenessProject.

There is a Twitter chat with director and producer Whitney Dow, at #docchat Wednesday, October 22 from 1 to 2pm. You can ask Dow a question by posting to Twitter with the hashtages #WhitenessProject and #docchat.

Then, on Monday, October 27, you can ask Dow anything in a Reddit AMA at 2:00 p.m.

WXXI News will also be exploring this topic further in the coming weeks.

Before retiring in March 2025, Randy Gorbman was WXXI's director of news and public affairs and managed the day-to-day operations of WXXI News on radio, television, and online.