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Bezig met laden... Backlash: What Happens When We Talk Honestly about Racism in Americadoor George Yancy
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When George Yancy penned a New York Times op-ed entitled "Dear White America" asking white Americans to confront the ways that they benefit from racism, he knew his article would be controversial. But he was unprepared for the flood of vitriol in response. The resulting blowback played out in the national media, with critics attacking Yancy in every form possible--including death threats--and supporters rallying to his side. Despite the rhetoric of a "post-race" America, Yancy quickly discovered that racism is still alive, crude, and vicious in its expression. In Backlash, Yancy expands upon the original article and chronicles the ensuing controversy as he seeks to understand what it was about the op-ed that created so much rage among so many white readers. He challenges white Americans to rise above the vitriol and to develop a new empathy for the African American experience. Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
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Google Books — Bezig met laden... GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)305.800973Social sciences Social Sciences; Sociology and anthropology Groups of people Ethnic and national groups ; racism, multiculturalism General Biography And History North America United StatesLC-classificatieWaarderingGemiddelde:
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Yancy’s argument is that America is innately racist by its institutions. So even if you’ve married interracially, have children of a different race, and never uttered the n-word, you are still a racist if you are white. “Loving a few Black people is not proof you have confronted your own racism,” he says. You still enjoy white privilege and don’t have to be on the defensive every day. Yancy says “We (Blacks) have been forced to lay claim to our humanity … ad nauseam.” He repeats and pounds this message continuously. It gets old.
Where Backlash really falls down is in its terribly shallow scope. For someone who (frequently) touts his PhD, Yancy’s world is remarkably tiny. His navel-gazing never reaches beyond American borders. As I’m certain he knows, the USA is not the problem. Man is the problem. All over the world, majorities oppress minorities. Race is an exclusive club whose members are easy to identify. The Malays oppress the Chinese in their midst. The Burmese abuse the Rohingya, and the Japanese are superior to everyone in the world. Possibly the most striking example was Liberia, where America shipped Black slaves 200 years ago, sending them “back to Africa” (though few had ever been there). The slaves immediately lorded it over the natives, keeping them unemployed, ignorant, out of government, unequal and subservient - in their own land.
Every society has its derogatory names for people of other nationalities, races, and religions. No one is perfectly Politically Correct. Yancy must know all this, but Backlash makes it seem this is a uniquely American disease, aimed only at American Blacks.
Backlash is Yancy taking revenge and getting the last word, nothing more. Although he repeats (too) many times that it is written with “love”, it drips with sarcasm, anger and bitterness aimed directly at whites.
For Yancy, the USA is a racist society, and therefore all whites are racists. Yancy’s bottom line is if you aren’t part of the solution (and precious few make the cut), you are the problem. End of discussion.
David Wineberg ( )