Keeping The Fayth

No Apologies for Queer White Tears By Faith Cheltenham Delivered as a keynote address to the 2016 BlaQOUT Conference at UC Riverside on April 9th, 2016. Black girl drinking White People Tears Gif White tears is a term that has a startling effect on white folks. Developed over time to describe the phenomenon of white people being upset at the very act of discussing race, it’s evolved into a funny yet, extremely effective way to describe white people’s discomfort in discussing the very racism they perpetuate. One of the earliest articles available online about white tears written by a person of color is the 2007 College Student Affairs Journal article “ When White Women Cry: How White Women’s Tears Oppress Women of Color ” by Mamta Motwani Accapadi. In the article, Accapadi describes a case study of a white woman bursting into tears when being pressed by a woman of color about diversity resources at the college that employs them both. Instead of working on the issues aff