White-Trash Autoethnography: An Analysis of CRT Fact and Logic Flaws

Abstract

This autoethnography represents a strong counternarrative to the fiction that society tells about Whitetrash (a.k.a. poor whites in the bottom income quintile). The stories told about White-trash males in school and society wrongly reflect a master narrative that portrays these students as lazy, incompetent, low class, or low-intellectual individuals who care very little about education. My counternarrative challenges this portrayal by highlighting personal struggles to move ahead despite the racism and discrimination directed against a White-trash male within a public school system that is located within a predominantly black neighborhood. This research continues with analysis of critical race theory’s fact and logic-flaws; and it concludes with calls for action against discrimination. This paper expands discourse in critical white studies by addressing preconceptions that marginalize white-trash people, which is a legitimate and necessary function of academic discourse.