White Out: Understanding White Privilege and Dominance in the Modern Age

Description

Colleges across the country, and the nation as a whole continue to be divided along racial lines. White Out: Understanding White Privilege and Dominance in the Modern Age is about the role of Whiteness and a defense of White dominance in an increasingly diverse society. Whiteness is socially constructed, just as race is undoubtedly a social construct, documented through various periods in history. This book proposes that White Out is a learned habit that serves to defend White dominance in a multicultural age. White Out is a strategy that covers systems, dispositions, and actions that cannot cover the full indentation or impact. However, the action of blotting, either intentional or unintentional, serves to obscure experiences of people of color in lieu of a competing definition of reality. The authors introduce the White Architecture of the Mind as a metaphor highlighting the mind as a collection of walls, doors, windows, and pathways that influence individuals to react based on a systemic logic that was socially constructed reason. White Out, a byproduct of a White architecture of the mind, is a set of individual actions, choices, behaviors, and attitudes that are guided by a system that predisposes these attitudes and perpetuates privilege for core members of a dominant majority. The often-unconscious purpose in denying privilege and articulating colorblind ideology is to support a larger system and view of reality. The concepts covered in this volume include: White Pain, Whitefluenza (privilege as a virus), White 22 (White if you do, White if you don’t), Whitrogressions, Angry White Men, White Pilgrims, and Good White Friends. Cover Contents List of Figures Acknowledgments Chapter One Introduction: The White Architecture of the Mind White Out Social Construction Implicit Bias Dominance Beyond Whiteness Higher Learning Volume 1 and Beyond Notes Chapter Two White Pain: I Hurt Too Empathy and Solidarity White-Upping the Other Emotional Appropriation Injustice versus Systemic Injustice Black Lives Matter? All Lives Matter! A Way Forward Notes Chapter Three Whitefluenza: How Privilege Is an Epidemic with No Known Cure Introduction and Epidemiology Endowed Privilege Admit Your White Privilege Shedding Whiteness Confronting Disease Notes Chapter Four White 22: White If You Do, White If You Don’t Straight White Male When the Desire to Help Hurts When to Sit Down—The Speech Heard ‘Round the Internet Notes Chapter Five Whitrogressions Now I’m the Victim Microagressions Outbreeding the Trash The Problem with Caucasian The N[word] for White People Becky and Shaniqua A Way Forward Notes Chapter Six Angry White Men: Making America White Again “Angry White Guys…” Building Walls White Occupiers and White Student Unions White Christmas “I Don’t Know…” A Way Forward Notes Chapter Seven White Pilgrims at Thanksgiving Whites Are the New Slaves Lighthearted Racism Affirmative Action But Black People Are Intimidating Be Ye Not Unequally Yoked “What about Black on Black Crime?” A Way Forward 1. Know Where You stand and what you want 2. Be open to possibilities 3. Learn what healthy dialogue looks like 4. Be able to separate people from their positions Conclusion Note Chapter Eight Good White Friends Whiteness White Identity Development Racial Justice Alliances Critical Race Theory The Study Activators, Awakening, and Awareness Alliances Advocacy Space for White Identity Formation Cycle of Critical Consciousness Notes Chapter Nine Conclusion: A Way Forward Notes Definitions Index