The Digitization of White Women’s Tears Current Issues in Education, 22(1) 1 Volume 22, Issue 1 January 7, 2021 ISSN 1099-839X Shaping the Futures of Learning in the Digital Age The Digitization of White Women’s Tears Niki Messmore Indiana University Abstract: Social media is a digital mirror of society. Across disciplines, scholars have written of social justice as it exists and as it should be within higher education and beyond. Looking to social media spaces where higher education practitioners and scholars interact with one another, we can see how scholars who discuss social justice initiatives can themselves perpetuate systems of oppression. Utilizing Mamta Motwani Accapadi’s (2007) article “When White Women Cry: How White Women's Tears Oppress Women of Color” as a foundation, I reflect through poetry on how white women in positions of power within higher education engage in harmful behavior in digital spaces. Finally, I provide recommendations on how fellow white women can disrupt these acts of oppression. Keywords: Race, Social Media, Whiteness, Gender Citation: Messmore, N. (2021). The digitization of white women’s tears. Current Issues in Education, 21(2). Retrieved from http://cie.asu.edu/ojs/index.php/cieatasu/article/view/1908 This submission is part of a special issue, Shaping the Futures of Learning in the Digital Age, guest- edited by Sean Leahy, Samantha Becker, Ben Scragg, and Kim Flintoff. Accepted: October/27/2020 The Digitization of White Women’s Tears http://cie.asu.edu/ojs/index.php/cieatasu/article/view/1908 Messmore: The Digitization of White Women’s Tears Current Issues in Education, 21(2) 2 Mamta Accapadi told us in 20071 The power, the fragility Of White Women’s Tears Mamta Accapadi told us About “One up, One Down” White women always thinking they’re “down” When that reality is disrupted? They cry a river Their whiteness a raft Carrying them downstream Far from judgement But on social media? Minoritized folks share their voice In a way they can’t always at work In the digital space there is power In the digital space there is voice In the digital space… There’s still white woman’s tears. We keep seeing it in higher ed These white women with 3 letter acronyms C. R. Y. They take issue with a meme Because they got time in an 80-hour work week Because they got time to misgender folks They call folks a dumpster fire Because folks talk about oppression at work Because folks aren’t shiny happy people Because folks aren’t Cis, White, Nondisabled Content with the status quo Call them out? Call them in? 1 For more information on this reference, review Dr. Accapadi’s 2007 article “When White Women Cry: How White Women's Tears Oppress Women of Color”. Messmore: The Digitization of White Women’s Tears Current Issues in Education, 21(2) 3 Watch the digitization of white women’s tears Pie is delicious But the P.I.E. defense mechanisms?2 Leaves a bitter taste The bitterness of “The Black List” Threatening that these minoritized folks won’t get hired The bitterness of Their privilege of legal teams Threatening a lawsuit Online or off White Women’s Tears Are a protective force (for them)(for us) But what can we do? We white women? How do we hold our people accountable? How do we hold ourselves accountable? We retweet (online and off) Folks of color and their critiques We dam their white women tears We talk to them We teach We visibly interrupt their acts of oppression We make it known that it is unacceptable If there’s a Black List? They’re on it We can’t let White Women’s Tears Keep drowning folks 2 For more information on this reference, please review Dr. Watt’s 2007 article “Difficult Dialogues, Privilege and Social Justice: Uses of the Privileged Identity Exploration (PIE) Model in Student Affairs Practice.” Messmore: The Digitization of White Women’s Tears Current Issues in Education, 21(2) 4 References Accapadi, M. M. (2007). When white women cry: How white women's tears oppress women of color. College Student Affairs Journal, 26(2), 208-215. Watt, S. K. (2007). Difficult dialogues, privilege and social justice: Uses of the privileged identity exploration (PIE) model in student affairs practice. College Student Affairs Journal, 26(2), 114-126. Author Notes Niki Messmore Indiana University nmmessmo@iupui.edu Guest Editor Notes Sean M. Leahy, PhD Arizona State University, Director of Technology Initiatives sean.m.leahy@asu.edu Samantha Adams Becker Arizona State University, Executive Director, Creative & Communications, University Technology Office; Community Director, ShapingEDU sam.becker@asu.edu Ben Scragg, MA, MBA Arizona State University, Director of Design Initiatives bscragg@asu.edu Kim Flintoff Peter Carnley ACS, TIDES Coordinator kflintoff@pcacs.wa.edu.au mailto:nmmessmo@iupui.edu mailto:sean.m.leahy@asu.edu mailto:sam.becker@asu.edu mailto:bscragg@asu.edu mailto:kflintoff@pcacs.wa.edu.au Messmore: The Digitization of White Women’s Tears Current Issues in Education, 21(2) 5 Volume 22, Issue 1 January 7, 2021 ISSN 1099-839X Readers are free to copy, display, and distribute this article, as long as the work is attributed to the author(s) and Current Issues in Education (CIE), it is distributed for non-commercial purposes only, and no alteration or transformation is made in the work. 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