The C.O.W.S. w/ Gail Lukasik: White Like Her, “Passing,” and Racial Classification Confusion

The Context of White Supremacy welcomes Gail Lukasik. A fictional writer, Lukasik began to research her mother’s family history and racial identity. She submitted her information to a television program focused on genealogy and discovering family secrets. The information obtained revealed that Lukasik’s mother had been “passing” as a White person. Lukasik chronicled the revelation of family secrets and what this information reveals about the System of White Supremacy in her book, White Like Her. We’ll ask how this information changed her understanding of what Racism is and how it works. Lukasik writes that she grew up thinking of her mother and herself as White Women. With this new data, she now thinks that the White classification may not be accurate for her. Racist jokes are mentioned a number of times in the book, as is sexual intercourse between Whites and non-white people.