whitewashing

plural whitewashings

1. countableuncountableThe application of whitewash.
2. countablefigurativelyuncountableThe effacement of errors or bad actions.

   The institution insulted history by peddling ludicrous whitewashings — describing the Watergate criminal conspiracy as a “coup” by Nixon’s political rivals fed by fake scoops purchased by the Woodstein investigative duo at The Washington Post.

   2007 July 15, “The Nixonian Whitewash, Scrubbed”, in New York Times

   1 more example

   Some persons are sincerely incapable of understanding that to denounce mud slinging does not mean the endorsement of whitewashing; and both the interested individuals who need whitewashing and those others who practice mud slinging like to encourage such confusion of ideas.

   1906, Theodore Roosevelt, The Man with the Muck Rake

   Synonyms: whitewash

3. countablederogatoryuncountableThe process of whitewashing, of making over (a person or character, a group, an event, etc) so that it is or seems more white (Caucasian), for example by applying makeup to a person, or by covering over the participation of non-whites in an event and focusing on only white participation.

   While whitewashing remains a modern problem, it has a long history in American film: In the very first Hollywood movie, 1910’s In Old California, white actors played non-white roles.

   2016 October 5, Leah Williams, “How Hollywood Whitewashed the Old West”, in The Atlantic

   1 more example

   In both films we see the consolidation of a colonial power structure of Western saviour and African victims. [...] The director responds that 'the question doesn't even come up' when his whitewashing of black history in ancient Egypt is challenged. Scott and like-minded defenders of racism take the century-long Hollywood whitewashing of African history and heritage as normal. This [...] is now challenged through audience racism fatigue, alternative narratives of Africa, […]

   2020, Opio Dokotum, Hollywood and Africa: Recycling the 'Dark Continent' Myth from 1908-2020, African Books Collective, →ISBN, page 259

   Antonyms: blackwashing

1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of whitewash