What people are saying about
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE WHITE IN AMERICA?
"These deeply honest personal stories examine the effect and affect of being whitewhich for so many years has meant ignorance or denial of how racism benefits and forges our own Caucasian identity. Reading this important collection, I am reminded of how processing whiteness is a journeyalthough we may all be at different points of discourse, it is still critical to enter the conversation. May this book get people talking."
Jodi Picoult, New York Times bestselling author of LEAVING TIME and SMALL GREAT THINGS
"The conversations about race in the U.S. have been unnecessarily one-sided and unfairly the burden of people of color. Without the white perspective, indeed white engagement, the struggle for change or even dialogue becomes even more challenging. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE WHITE IN AMERICA? offers a long-overdue response that aims to complete the politicized discourse with this varied collection of exploratory essays that moves beyond expressions of guilt and admissions of privilege. The tones range from moving to provocative, from emotional to intellectual, but their common mission is to break away from apathetic silence and to help examine one the most charged issues affecting this country today. This is a timely and vital anthology."
Rigoberto Gonzlez, writer, book critic, award-winning poet and the author of OUR LADY OF THE CROSSWORD and MARIPOSA U
"WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE WHITE IN AMERICA? captures the expression of a wide spectrum of voices and locations along the path toward greater white awareness and racial justice. The collection speaks to the varied tapestry of white experience and the ties of deep structural privilege. It promises to move each reader further down the path."
Jacqueline Battalora, professor of sociology and criminal justice and author of BIRTH OF A WHITE NATION
"WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE WHITE IN AMERICA? is a must read by all. This collection of personal narratives provides varied perspectives about being white, white privilege and other counter points that need to be said and read. We tend to see and hear only one side of the discussion about white folks, now it's their turn to make their voices heard. After reading these personal narratives, I believe this book is on track to become a best seller, but more importantly, it will generate discussions and a much needed dialogue about race, and a catalyst for positive change in this country. This may be hopeful thinking, but hope is always a good thing."
Andrew P. Jackson (Sekou Molefi Baako) Activist Librarian and Adjunct Lecturer
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2LEAF PRESS
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Intercultural Alliance of Artists &
Scholars, Inc. (IAAS),
a NY-based nonprofit 501(c)(3)
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multicultural literature and literacy.
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WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE WHITE IN AMERICA? BREAKING THE WHITE CODE OF SILENCE, A COLLECTION OF PERSONAL NARRATIVES, Copyright 2016 2Leaf Press, edited by Gabrielle David and Sean Frederick Forbes. All rights reserved under international and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of this author's rights is appreciated. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted or stored in or introduced in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of both the copyright owner and 2LEAF PRESS, an imprint of the Intercultural Alliance of Artists & Scholars, Inc. (IAAS), the publisher of this book, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2015913482
Print Edition, ISBN-13: 978-1-940939-48-3
ePub Edition, 978-1-940939-49-0
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Published in the United States of America
First Edition | First Printing
Table of Contents
DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to all of those who fight for social justice, civil rights and humanity, and who dare to engage in honest conversations.
And to James Baldwin, who envisioned it.
It bears terrifying witness to what happened to everyone who got here, and paid the price of the ticket. The price was to become "white." No one was white before he/she came to America. It took generations and a vast amount of coercion, before this became a white country.
James Baldwin, "On Being White and Other Lies," Essence Magazine, April 1984
I know that people can be better than they are. We are capable of bearing a great burden, once we discover that the burden is reality and arrive where reality is.
James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time
PREFACE
The Making of "What Does it Mean to be White in America?"
W HAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE WHITE IN AMERICA? was a moment of creative insight due to the escalating racial tensions we've experienced lately that has collided with the constant stream of ideas that flow in one's unconscious mind. It's not really so much an original concept, but it's a question that's been around for hundreds of years waiting to be asked and answered honestly. In fact, until recently, it was a question primarily addressed by race scholars and anti-racist activists until Barack Obama became president, and then the term "post-racial" came along and changed everything.
As it turns out, post-racial America was nothing more than a myth. Such wishful thinking led to a denial of what race relations in America has been all along, it has not gone away, but merely "festered like a sore." When people say racism has gotten worse during the Obama presidency (alluding that somehow it is the president's fault), what's not readily admitted is that a whole lot of people were incensed when an African American man became president of a white majority led country. No surprise, really. It simply proves that our racial biases are not only deeply ingrained into our nation's history, but also into the fabric of ourselves.
"I think about being black every single day, prepared to defend myself from some form of microaggression. If a day goes by when I don't think about being black (which by the way is exhausting in itself) and just think of myself as a human being, there will always be that one person who will kill my glee and go out of their way to remind me that I am just that. Black. African American. Minority. Different. Ethnic. Or something less than that. And because I 'speak well' or appear 'informed or educated' I am suspect, because I don't fit into that person's idea of how a person with dark skin should be. When this happens, after I kick myself for letting my guard down, I have to decide whether to defend myself, or pretend it doesn't bother me and move on."
