Research Guides: Antiracism: Saints Allies presentation

Saints Allies presentation on whiteness

Before the Saints Allies presentation on whiteness, please take a few minutes to do the following quick reflection activity and watch the videos on whiteness.

Read the following statements and see if you agree with them them:

I can easily find products that will work for my skin and hair without having to go to a special aisle or section of a store.
I can decide whether to spend free time with people who don't look like me.
I can assume my name won't be a problem when applying for a job or a loan.
I can reasonably expect the "person in charge" to look like me and understand a concern or complaint I want to express.
I can express frustration or annoyance and expect that it won't be discounted because of my race or ethnicity.
I can engage with issues of race on my own time because I choose to, not because I have to.

These questions engage situations that White persons almost never have to think about. If you do not have to think about these concerns in your every-day life, how do you think it would affect you to have to worry about such things? If you do have to think these kinds of concerns, what would your life be like if you didn't have to work about these? (Yes, some of these are restatements of Peggy McIntosh's questions in "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.")

The questions above and most conversations about race in America focus on the individual, on a person's experience, actions, attitudes, language, etc. While this is an important aspect of the problem, focusing on this level helps hide the larger social/cultural concerns of ideology that shapes collective action and ensures that racism persists and plays out in so many social contexts. The basis for this, in the Euroamerican world is whiteness.

This first video offers a working definition of whiteness:

This second video offers characteristics of whiteness and a sense of its historical development:

This third video offers a way of visualizing systemic whiteness:

The following files will be used in the presentation:

Treaty of Medicine Creek summary
This is a very short reading to be discussed during the presentation.
Whiteness presentation slides

Whiteness multimedia Resources

Below are selected resources to learn more about whiteness and how to start counteracting it.

Selected TED talks

The Lie that Invented Racism
A TED talk from John Biewwn, a journalist and documentary filmmaker, about how the concept of race developed (18 min)
How we can start to heal the pain of racial division
A TED talk by Ruby Sales, a Civil Rights activist, reflecting on lessons she has learned on her long journey (20 min)
What it takes to be racially literate
A TED talk from Priya Vulchi and Winona Guo, two 2017 high school graduates, who both traveled the country to learn about America's lack of racial literacy (12 min)
The difference between being "not racist" and antiracist
An TED interview with Ibram X. Kendi, a noted historian, on the difference between being "not racist" and antiracist (51 min)

Selected videos from Academic Video Online (Alexander Street Press)

Available only to current Saint Martin's University students, staff, and faculty.

Tim Wise on White Privilege: Racism, White Denial & the Costs of Inequality
A lecture by Tim Wise on the construction of whiteness and how it harms both people of color and White persons, though in different and unequal ways (1 hr 19 min)
What Does It Mean to Be White? The Invisible Whiteness of Being
A lecture from Derald Wing Sue, a highly regarded race scholar, on how whiteness is invisible to many White persons (52 min)
White Racial Identity Formation
This is a lecture from Derald Wing Sue, a highly regarded race scholar, on how white identity develops, on how it is socially constructed (52 min)

Selected antiracism podcasts

Seeing White
An excellent 14-part podcast on whiteness from Scene on Radio.
Code Switch
An excellent podcast on race from NPR
1619 podcast
A podcast from The New York Times on Black American history
Native Opinion
A podcast on Native American issues by Michael Kicking Bear (Mashantucket Pequot) and David Grey Owl (Echota Cherokee)

Whiteness and higher education

One of the most powerful mechanisms of white superiority in our world is education. Some would say it is the most powerful mechanism. Education reproduces the relationships of power that whiteness relies on with succeeding generations. Though the presentation did not touch on this specifically, as we become aware of the habitus of whiteness, a crucial work is to challenge its reproduction. Below are selected resources to help us understand how whiteness and higher education intersect.

Whiteness in Higher Education: The Invisible Missing Link in Diversity and Racial Analyses
A 2017 ASHE Higher Education report on how diversity and equity efforts often ignore whiteness to their own undoing.
Working through Whiteness: White, Male College Students Challenging Racism
An article about efforts with White male students at the University of Arizona to interrogate their whiteness and become active antiracists.
Together and Alone? The Challenge of Talking about Racism on Campus
An article from Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum (author of Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?) on overcoming barriers to talking about race on campus.

Stories of struggles

One of the biggest struggles White persons have is understanding the experiences of non-White persons. Below are several links to readings on the experiences of students and faculty/staff of color at predominantly white institutions.

Common Experiences of Students of Color at Predominantly White Universities
A page from Ball State University's counseling center that calls attention to how students of color struggle in predominantly white institutions.
Surviving Whiteness and White People: The Coping Strategies of Black, Entry-Level Student Affairs Professionals
A study of three Black, entry-level student affairs workers and how they cope with the costs associated with their positions.
Indigenous Perspectives on Native Student Challenges in Higher Education
A post on the unique struggles of Indigenous students studying at predominantly White institutions.