Quote:
Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall
I think different parts are more important to different people. But now that I see what you're actually saying, it makes perfect sense to me. I support this message.
TM
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Here's what I think
WF does most effectively. Prior to reading it, I was sympathetic, from experience in criminal justice system and work on project development in that area, to the general argument that black people are treated as second class citizens and preyed upon in many regards in many of our systems.
But I'd not considered the more subtle ways in which racism cancers our society. I'd not considered all of the overlooked transactions and interactions in which race has an impact.
And I'd certainly not considered the argument about white narcissism in the white women's tears chapter.
It's not a book about a monolithic thing. It demonstrates that racism winds its way into our lives in endless little ways. This is important because it undoes the broad defenses of white people ("we're post-racial," etc.). That informs a lot of my annoyance with people who make blunt arguments about the subject. It's not math. You can't argue, "X years have passed since Jim Crow, so racism is over." Nor can you argue, "Race is everywhere, so all things said about a certain group are necessarily racist." They might not be. You have to assess things granularly, as does Diangelo.
The complexity of this enormously complex issue has to be admitted to tackle it. Getting into an "is too" vs. "is not" argument about it impedes understanding. What people ought to be talking about when they talk about racism is the myriad little ways it impacts victims of it every day.
I can say this with great confidence: Most white people have no clue about the white narcissism discussed in that book. Not even close to a clue. It's completely normal for them to discuss race without even thinking maybe they should include a black voice in the conversation. I don't know why it hasn't been written recently, but a very short book, or even just an article, from a black person starting with, "Here's a week in my life. I'm going to just go through the week and sketch out the instances in which racism has impacted me. Let's start with 'Chapter 1: Monday'" would be hugely eye opening. Diangelo comes close to that, but can't really get there because she's writing from second hand perspective and basing a lot of her points on group discussions.
