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A review by schomj
Good White People: The Problem with Middle-Class White Anti-Racism by Shannon Sullivan
5.0
Just finished a few minutes ago, so my thoughts are a bit of a jumble. May come back and clean this up later, after I've had more time to process.
Introduction - 5+ stars. Most of the rest of the chapters were closer to 4, but rounding up the book rating because as a whole it is changing how I look at the world and (I hope) making me a better person, which was kind of my goal. The most surprising parts of this chapter were: 1) the introduction to the idea that US racism is sustained on a bedrock of classism-as-deflection-strategy ("we're not the evil racists, it's the poors over there", 2) that white allies are a unicorn (frequently talked about, never seen) and 3) the phrase "ontological expansiveness" which to me seems more meaningful than cultural appropriation, as the concept of trespassing signals why it's problematic.
Chapter 1 is probably the hardest to get through -- I think it took me two weeks while the rest took me a couple of days in total. I blame that on the Kristeva. But it could also be the content, the idea of taking ownership of white identity in a non-supremacist way.
Chapter 2 was eye-opening. Taking seriously the idea of critically understanding white slaveowners and white family histories of racism, it reminded me that people usually have good-to-them reasons for making bad choices. And rather than sweeping those things under a rug to hide from their awfulness, Sullivan advocates taking them out to look at them clearly, forgive when we can, and learn from those mistakes a better way of living. Putting it all on "them" continues the cycle of othering that led to slavery.
Chapter 3 was about child-rearing and how taking a color blind approach merely perpetuates unconscious practices of racism. Once again, you can't defeat racism by pretending it's not there or by othering/scapegoating the lower class. I'd wanted a little more related to dealing with racism in elders, but as Sullivan states, it's easier to teach children than re-teach adults. One question I have is whether there's a term for respectability politics within white communities? Or is that just classism?
Chapter 4 was about the damaging impact of white guilt/shame, and how they operate on a foundation of white privilege and classism, rather than having any positive impact on racial justice. It also dealt with the concept of race traitors, which... I'm from the northern US. Most of the racial messages I've received have been covert, so the thought of anyone actually using that phrase is kind of baffling to me. However, I have had my behavior policed when I'm not performing whiteness correctly, which is maybe the same thing? Or close? Still muddling through this.
Conclusion - still processing. There's a lot here. Quoting the final section, as it's a pretty concise summation of the book as a whole.
Introduction - 5+ stars. Most of the rest of the chapters were closer to 4, but rounding up the book rating because as a whole it is changing how I look at the world and (I hope) making me a better person, which was kind of my goal. The most surprising parts of this chapter were: 1) the introduction to the idea that US racism is sustained on a bedrock of classism-as-deflection-strategy ("we're not the evil racists, it's the poors over there", 2) that white allies are a unicorn (frequently talked about, never seen) and 3) the phrase "ontological expansiveness" which to me seems more meaningful than cultural appropriation, as the concept of trespassing signals why it's problematic.
Chapter 1 is probably the hardest to get through -- I think it took me two weeks while the rest took me a couple of days in total. I blame that on the Kristeva. But it could also be the content, the idea of taking ownership of white identity in a non-supremacist way.
"Rather than cede the meaning and effects of whiteness to white supremacists, whiteness can be developed into an identity grounded in racial justice that is in solidarity with people of color working against white racism."
Chapter 2 was eye-opening. Taking seriously the idea of critically understanding white slaveowners and white family histories of racism, it reminded me that people usually have good-to-them reasons for making bad choices. And rather than sweeping those things under a rug to hide from their awfulness, Sullivan advocates taking them out to look at them clearly, forgive when we can, and learn from those mistakes a better way of living. Putting it all on "them" continues the cycle of othering that led to slavery.
For Southern slaveowners "The two alternatives to [oppressive and exploitative industrial/Northern capitalism] were socialism and slavery, and it was only slavery that was morally sanctioned in the Christian Bible"
Chapter 3 was about child-rearing and how taking a color blind approach merely perpetuates unconscious practices of racism. Once again, you can't defeat racism by pretending it's not there or by othering/scapegoating the lower class. I'd wanted a little more related to dealing with racism in elders, but as Sullivan states, it's easier to teach children than re-teach adults. One question I have is whether there's a term for respectability politics within white communities? Or is that just classism?
"The result [of color blindness] is a strange kind of pride in one's interpersonal cluelessness."
Chapter 4 was about the damaging impact of white guilt/shame, and how they operate on a foundation of white privilege and classism, rather than having any positive impact on racial justice. It also dealt with the concept of race traitors, which... I'm from the northern US. Most of the racial messages I've received have been covert, so the thought of anyone actually using that phrase is kind of baffling to me. However, I have had my behavior policed when I'm not performing whiteness correctly, which is maybe the same thing? Or close? Still muddling through this.
Calling for white people to be constituted by self-love is not a call for them to be delighted about being white racists or benefiting from white privilege. In the mix of negative and positive affects that make up white people--even, or perhaps especially when the negative far outweigh the positive--it is a call for them to nourish their positive affects with regard to whiteness so that a different kind of political and interpersonal action on their part will be possible.
Conclusion - still processing. There's a lot here. Quoting the final section, as it's a pretty concise summation of the book as a whole.
While they cannot do it in a solipsistic vacuum, white people need to figure out new ways to take up their white identities. No one else can live their whiteness for them. So what will they--we, I--do with it? The best answers to this question will be ones that emerge apart from the abjection of white trash, the othering of white ancestors, the distancing strategy of color blindness, and the dominance of white guilt, shame, and betrayal. By developing a critical form of self-love that helps transform whiteness, white people can make positive contributions to struggles for racial justice.