White people don't want to give up whiteness because they fear being treated the way they treat people of color.

And it's very easy to understand that dismantling whiteness would lead to greater equality at the academic level. It's hard to actually do it, to take off the bulletproof vest.

The comments also show the oh-so-common confusion.

Nobody is asking anyone to give up their culture! (I got into this on another thread too).

Nobody is asking British people to give up fish and chips, pointless parades and Doctor Who, for quick examples. Those things are culture.

Whiteness is not culture. It's a construct that hurts everyone (including white people) that's very hard to let go of.

It's like I hate having to tip in a restaurant. When I eat out, I either have to enable a system of servitude that has racist roots and put myself in the position of the oppressor...or stiff somebody. And while we need to dismantle the system of tipping (which is part of the system of racism), until we have, we're stuck having to tip.

By which I mean I'm stuck with my white privilege (which sometimes goes away when they find out I'm queer and Jewish) until we fix the system. What I can do is try to elevate people of color with my words and when necessary my deeds. I.e., keep tipping.

I would gladly give up whiteness. I would love to get rid of it. I'm stuck with it for now, but at the very least I can use it to elevate Black voices when I can.

But I am not giving up fish and chips or Doctor Who. Which is actually a pretty good example given the very handsome Scotsman who will soon be taking over the role.