Transformation : v.13:no.3(1998:Summer)
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- Transformation : v.13:no.3(1998:Summer)
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- Transformation is published by the Women's Project. This issue discusses Race and Whiteness. The articles focus on white guilt and white privilege, and the publication includes a reading list about race and white privilege.
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- 1998
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- Transformation
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Transformation: Women's Watchcare Network Log
- Transformation: Women's Watchcare Network Log
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- Edgington, Amy
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- Women's Project
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- LGBTQ+ newsletters
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Property of the Center
■
10n
Vol. 13 Issue 3
Summer 1998
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Betty Cole - Colt
Freddie Nixon - Little Rock
Amy Edgington - Little Rock
Celia Wildroot - Hot Springs
Annette Shead - Little Rock
Carol Nokes - Little Rock
Precious Williams - Ogden
Moving Beyond White Guilt
Twoyearsagoin thesummerof 1996, wepublishedin thesepagesanarticleby Women's
Projectboardmember,Amy Edgington,entitled, "Growing Up With Racism:A
PersonalOdyssey."Throughwordof mouthpromotionbyourmembers,thatarticlehas
now beensent aroundthe country to individualsand organizationsengagedin the
struggleagainstracism.In it, Amy put outa callfor whitewomento cometogetherwith
her to readand discussbooks,videos,etc., by womenof color.In this edition,Amy
presentsideasthisworkhasbroughther.At its conclusionaretwo ofAmy's poemsand
a readinglist. Amy is a poet,an anti-racistworker,an incredibleresourcefor those
workingon lesbianbattering,a libraryassistant,an artist,a disabilityrightsactivist,
and, with the exceptionof afew years,a life-longresidentof Arkansas.
Sarah Facen - Little Rock
Sandra Mitchell - Little Rock
Tammy Roberson - Little Rock
DeeDee Green - Little Rock
INSIDE
Moving Beyond
White Guilt
-page 1
Reading List
-pageB
Whiteness: A Brief
Comment
-page9
Wishlist
-page 10
orthepastyear I've had the privilege of belonging to a group of
white women who read and discuss African American literature on
a monthly basis. I learn a lot from
the books we've read, and I also find
it valuable to meet and talk with
other white women who care about
the issue of racism. I've been reminded through our discussions of
what an enormous stumbling block
guilt can be for white people.
I have frequently avoided discussions of guilt, because of what I
see as a pervasive tendency in
America to psychologize, individualize, and depoliticize every issue.
Nevertheless, in my experience,
guilt does have political consequences. It can become a substitute
for change or an excuse not to
change; it can also be the starting
point for the acceptance of responsibility and meaningful change.
What Guilt Is
I constantly hear the idea that
guilt is a destructive emotion imposed by others in order to manipulate us. Guilt has such a bad reputation nowadays, that we can feel instantlyjustified in rejecting or avoiding anyone or anything that might
make us feel guilty, from our parents to the issue of racism. But I see
guilt as a mixture of positive elements like conscience and remorse
and negative elements like fear and
resentment.
Conscience: Often I feel guilty
because my conscience is telling me
I am in the wrong, not because someone is manipulating me. If I consistently reject my own judgement or
avoid facing it, then I will wind up
without a conscience. And no one is
easier to manipulate than a person
who has no conscience.
(continuedon page2)
BeyondWhite Guilt
Conscience should not be a
static thing. Like most people, I
began to acquire one in childhood,
when I started to take responsibility for deliberate wrong-doing.
However, if we are to become full
adults, we have to stretch and
grow morally by taking responsibility for the consequences of harm
we do unintentionally and for acts
of omission, such as failing to stop
others from doing harm and benefiting from wrongs committed
by others. Nothing challenges the
consciences of white people more
in this respect than racism.
When I unintentionally did or
said something racist, I often tried
to clear my conscience by changing the focus from what I had done
(or failed to do) to what I meant.
What I had to accept is that racism
has little to do with our individual
intentions, good or bad, our personal prejudices or lack thereof.
As long as we see racism only as
the harm done to people of color
by white people, we think we can
shrink our culpability by limiting
the damage we do as individuals.
But in fact racism privileges us so
thoroughly that most white people
need do nothing but sit back and
enjoy the many advantages of
domination. The challenge racism
poses to the consciences of white
people is to recognize the full extent of the privileges white supremacy bestows on each of us.
Remorse: Once my conscience
told me I was in the wrong, I felt
remorse for the harm I had done.
Remorse consists of grief and
shame. Grief for the other person's
pain is a good thing. It reflects my
capacity for empathy, which is the
foundation for an ethic of love.
But shame turned my attention
back on myself and my bruised
self-esteem. It undermined my
ability to empathize with the person who was truly injured. Frequently, she had to take care of
No matter how agonizing
our remorse may be, it
does not begin to compare
with the injury racism
inflicts on people of color
or to cancel out the
privileges domination
brings to white people.
me, before she could hope to
(maybe) get her own wounds
tended. My challenge was to get
my attention off myself and to
focus on the person I had hurt.
When I do that, I act against the
history and culture of Whiteness,
which always magnifies white
people's pain and puts our needs
first.
I can think of no better example
of this than the term "racial reconPage 2 • Transformation• Summer 1998
ciliation." Adopted by the white
leadership of the Christian right
wing, these words imply that
white people and people of color
have suffered equally under racism. If that were true, given the
power that white people have and
how highly our culture values
comfort and personal happiness,
we would have wiped out racism
out centuries ago. No matter how
agonizing our remorse may be, it
does not begin to compare with
the injury racism inflicts on people
of color or to cancel out the privileges domination brings to white
people.
Like most people I
learned in childhood to fear punishment for doing wrong. But far
from punishing our racism, people
of color usually don't confront us
about it. Often, it may not seem
worth the risk or effort to do so.
Nevertheless, white people have
an exaggerated fear of the anger of
people of color. I think this fear
comes partly from history: our
theft of the land we live on and our
ownership-less than 140 years
ago-of African Americans. For
generations we've been taught that
our prosperity depends on maintaining control over people of
color, that our lives and livelihoods
are in danger if a dark-skinned
person even looks daggers at us.
As if history were not enough,
modem white media forces into
every comer of our lives the message that any agitated or even dissatisfied Black person is apt to do
us bodily harm.
Fear:
BeyondWhite Guilt
I
In the days of slavery and genocide, white power decked itself in
hatred and bold assertions of superiority. Today, as Black feminist,bellhooks pointsout, themost
persuasive mask of white supremacy is fear. My fear of the
anger of dark-skinned people convinced me I was powerless. It kept
me from seeing how my actions
and inactions helped to maintain
a system of superior power that
benefitedmeimmensely. Tomove
through the layer of fear that came
with my guilt, I had to acknowledge that people of color have far
more justifiable reasons to regard
white people with terror.
I beg~ to question what I had
learned about who was most likely
to do me violence. I had to face my
fear of punishment from other
white people for breaking ranks
and opposing racism. White privilege is based on white solidarity,
maintained by a combination of
rewards for" good" (racist) behavior or silent complicity and by
threats and violence against those
who break the codes of Whiteness. Our obsessive exaggerated
fear, of Black anger in particular,
is meant to reinforce our loyalty to
Whiteness.
In childhood I
frequently experienced resentment as part of guilt. When I was
caught doing something ''bad"but
pleasurable, I was told it was
wrong because it hurt others or
because it would hurt me in the
long run. Growing up meant learning sometimes to put others' feelResenbnent:
ings ahead of my own or to forgo
current bliss for the promise of
future gain. When it comes to racism I am still learning this lesson.
White privilege is something we
enjoy. Besides the countless material advantages of Whiteness, it
gives us a sense of entitlement,
social acceptance, moral and intellectual superiority and personal
To move through the
layer of fear that came
with my guilt, I had to
acknowledge that people
of color have far more
justifiable reasons to
regard white people with
terror.
importance. It puts us, in the words
of novelist Jamaica Kincaid, ''beyond confidence and beyond
doubt."
Small wonder then that I felt
resentment when confronted by
people of color on racism. I didn't
want to give up the privilege of
pretending that as long as I never
used the word "nigger," I didn't
have any power over people of
color. I didn't want to give up the
privilege of defining what was or
Page 3 • Transformation• Summer 1998
wasn't racist. Whiteness taught me
to think of myself as an example to
the less civilized. It was a shock to
find out, after all I had invested in
a sense of superiority, thatI didn't
own the moral high ground. I had
to climb down off my high horse
and accept the word of people of
color on what racism is and what
we need to do about it. I had to
learn to doubt everything I had
been taught. I had to get off the
white expressway and take the
scenic route through other
people's realities.
I found I had swallowed the
belief that white people can't help
being racist, that we are so thoroughly conditioned we can't be
any other way. Of course I resented being told to make changes
I believed were beyond my control. I confused being white with
Whiteness. I was born white, but I
learned Whiteness. If racism were
inevitable, simply part of "human
nature," then there would be no
effort to indoctrinate white people
with racist beliefs, no pressure on
us to conform to white supremacy.
In fact, as bell hooks maintains,
white people have the ability to
reject Whiteness, by acting against
racism at every opportunity. I
have a choice: I can continue to
wear the armor of white privilege,
or I can develop true confidence,
by finding out who I would be if I
moved through the world without it.
Acceptance of
responsibility
As I leave behind the shame,
BeyondWhite Guilt
White
I come from a clah l can't love
or leave.
I wear its flag.
The color resembles panic
tinted with bloodshed.
I want to believe I'm descended
from at least one red-necked
in a clapboard
woman
house wanting columns,
who spoke out against slavery.
But I don't know her. anymore
than I know: Who rode with the KKK?
Who received as a gl ft
the slaves her father fathered?
Who betrayed the black woman
she once loved as a child?
Ask these Questions
and the defenders of white honor
turn into avenging sperm.
My guilt is individual.
What coats
"1Y·throat
like red clay dust
is collective
privilege.
Silence pledges allegiance:
sisterhood
demands proof
of the treason underneath
my skin.
© Amy Edgington
Page 4 • Transformation• Summer 1998
fear and resentment attached to
white guilt, empathy tugs more
strongly and the call of conscience
rings out more clearly than ever. I
choose disloyalty to Whiteness,
because I embrace an ethic of love
instead of the ethic of domination,
not because I think I share what
people of color have experienced
under racism, and not because of
a guilt-ridden, do-gooder, liberal
mentality. IamanenemyofWhiteness because, as a woman, as a
lesbian, as a person with disabilities, I have experienced the ethic
of domination on my own body. I
fight the dominators for the right
to live, to love myself, to openly
love those I chose, and to not pretend desires I do not feel. I believe
I will never achieve or deserve
these rights while I myself continue to practice an ethic of domination over others. Nor do I imagine that I will ever attain these
goals without people of color as
my allies.
As Americans we are trained
to regard all problems and solutions as individual in nature. But
in order to replace the ethic of
domination with an ethic of love,
we have to build broad coalitions
with a multi-issue agenda. And
each issue on that agenda will require collective effort. Noamount
ofchangeinmyindividualbehavior could remove the privileges I
have as a white-skinned person in
a racist society. Change is only
possible if I take action with others to attack and dismantle the
system of racism.
White Americans are taught to
BeyondWhite Guilt
admire individual efforts, singleminded focus and quick results.
Shame and contempt are attached
to any condition that requires us
to ask for help, such as childhood,
poverty, il~ess or disability. But
to fight racism we will have to find
allies among people of color and
other whites. We will have to help
each other struggle on several
fronts simultaneously for generations. If we regard fighting racism
asanindividualendeavor,wewill
quickly become immobilized by
guilt.
of white solidarity that racism
depends on. Racism is so huge
that all my acts seem small in comparison, but it is precisely this kind
of lifelong chipping-away that we
must commit ourselves to doing.
Listen: When a person of color
says, "That's racist," it's time to
take a deep breath, close my
mouth, sit down and listen, be-
How We Can Defuse the
Negative Aspects of Guilt
Get information: The more I
learn about racism, the less I tend
to see it as an individual moral
problem and the fewer mistakes I
make as an individual. The more I
learn about racism the less work
people of color have to do to explain to me how they experience
the world. The more I learn about
the ethic of domination the more I
• understand what I would gain by
living in a world free of supremacist blinders, capable of respecting differences, and filled with true
self-respect that does not demand
submissive gestures from anyone.
Do something: The strongest
antidote to guilt is action. The less
I do about racism, the guiltier I
feel. White supremacy is built
largely on the complicity and inaction of white people. The simplest thing, such as interrupting a
racist joke or writing a letter to the
editor about police brutality is a
significant break with the image
everything I had been
I had to learn to doubt
taught. I had to get off the
white expressway and
take the scenic route
through other people's
realities.
cause school is in session. I'm in
the first grade again and it's gonna
take a lot of study to ·move on to
the next class. I try to put my feelings on the back burner. I tell
myself that if I have hurt someone,eveninadvertently,sheneeds
to be taken care of first. I try not to
expect instant forgiveness or restoration of trust. I must follow
through on any commitment I
make to change.
I can take care of my guilt later
by breaking it down into pieces.
Page 5 •Transformation• Summer 1998
What do I feel remorse about?
What am I scared of? Why do I feel
resentment? What changes do I
need to make? What do I need to
know? Who can help me? How
can I help other white people
change?
Talk: Undoing racism cannot
be done alone. It's important for
me to find other white people who
share the same goals. We must
also seek converts, to try to turn
the souls of other white people
from the racism's cynical fear,
mean-spiritedness, narrowness
and indifference, to the kind of
love for self and others that values
diversity and feels no need to
dominate. This is how white
people can practice what Cornell
West calls the "politics of conversion."
There are clearly many white
people who are deeply committed to white supremacy; they are
unlikely to be swayed. It's important to let them know that they
face white resistance, to tell them,
in effect, "If I cannot change your
mind, I will put my body in your
path." We should measure our
commitment to fighting racism not
by how many people of color we
count as friends (or lovers), but by
how many white people we are
willing to speak to about racism.
Back to the Past
Finally, I cannot talk about
white guilt without talking about
the collective guilt our race bears
for atrocities such as slavery and
the genocide of Indian peoples.
History threatens to crash down
BeyondWhiteGuilt
on us whenever we are confronted
with our individual racist behavior in the here and now. Collective
guilt is like a herd of elephants in
the living room that white people
have been trained to ignore, and
we tend to get freaked out when
someone calls the dung to our attention.
Slavery and genocide are part
of every aspect of contemporary
white racism. All white privileges
have their roots in these historical
outrages. Americans, particularly
white Americans, are allergic to
looking at the past; we glorify the
endless frontier of the future. We
have been taught that this is a land
where people can put aside their
past and become whatever they
wish to be. 'fhis dream is only
attainable for white people, however; people of color are never
allowed to leave their ancestry
behind them.
White people often protest, in
anger or frustration, that there is
nothing we can do to change
history. But in fact, history is
collective memory; we actively
work to change history when we
ignore it or remain willfully
ignorant about it. Our first duty
to history is to know it, to look
deeply and unflinchingly at the
successive enslavements
of
Indians and Africans, at the forced
labor of the Chinese who built
our railroads, at the massacres,
imprisonment and broken treaties
Indians have suffered, at lynching
and segregation (the evil steptwins of slavery),
at the
incarceration
of Japanese
Americans and the anti-Semitic
immigration policies that helped
condemn Jews to Hitler's gas
chambers.
I am an enemy of
Whiteness because, as a
woman, as a lesbian, as a
person with disabilities, I
have experienced the
ethic of domination on
my own body.
Finding Our Heroes
and Sheroes
Did we learn their names in
school?
How many Americans know
that the hymn, "Amazing Grace,"
was written by a slave trader, describing a religious conversion that
led him to spend the rest of his life
working to abolish the slave trade
in Great Britain? It serves the interests of white supremacy for
white people to forget both our
frightful legacy of racism and those
ancestors who opposed racism.
For me, the personal stories,
fiction and poetry of those who
experienced these atrocities, or
whose ancestors did, are the most
compelling kind of history. This is
the only history not written by the
"winners," and it's very different
from what we read in school. It
has the power to open our eyes to
the concrete details of oppression
and to the interior lives of those
we were trained not to see. This
writing is full of hope and wit,
despair and courage; it colors in
the blanks in our vision of what it
means to be human.
It's not just the racist past that's
been buried. The long history of
Moving on
anti-racist work in this country
Collective guilt might seem like
has been buried as well. Some an even bigger pit to fall into than
individual guilt. But listening to
white people may know the
names, if not the lives, of some of the past is the first step in turning
the Black heroes and sheroes of collective guilt into collective acabolition, thanks to the efforts of countability. The next step is colAfrican-Americans to educate us.
lective responsibility: to look careBut the abolition of slavery, the
fully at the exactly how we experimost hopeful event in the history
ence privilege today and yet are
of social justice, was due, in part, . able for the most part to remain
to the efforts of a significant mi- blissfully unaware of it in a socinority of white men and women.
ety dominated by white people.
Page6 •Transformation• Summer 1998
Property of the Center
Beyond White Guilt
The Gang
You've seen them on the corner of Capitol and Majn,
in pi~ stripes. an blue serges j~alking
Broadway,
Watch ft:>F
the $(00 haircuts. hose ttal·an leather shoes.
telltale bulges of cell phones and beepers.
high-caliber laptops s ung at their sides.
Everyone knows which houses belong to the gang:
glass-studded concrete towers where nobody lives,
where they peddle Junk bonds and bail out S & Ls:
The neighborhood is fuHof graffiti: the s
with a double line stands for the gang's motto,
"How long canyou keep a snake behind bars?"
across themoney pits:
On Wall Street, signs P.Y:
deals go down in Ol'A..;
Wltij~ f~W
lines of coke.
In Washington, lhe gang robs groceries
from Grandma, lunch money from the kids.
They send teens in baggy pants to drive pj
Panama and Grenada. Jets low-ride
the asphalt skies of Baghdad and Mogadishu.
Assault guns Cflrijttouch fuel-air bombs,
cluster mines, uran um-Upped shells.
"(es, we have a gang problem.
yet every time s ootlng starts,
the gang blames some other color.
They mask themselves with smiles.
they speak through m ffied lies,
but we hold the gang responsible:
we know who they are.
©Amy Edgington
Page 7 •Transformation• Summer 1998
Most importantly, we can begin to tum collective guilt into
collective action, to transform or
overthrow institutions such as the
racist educational system, media,
When
a person of color
says, "That's racist," it's
time to take a deep
breath, close my mouth,
sit down and listen,
because school is in
session.
courts, prisons and police that put
the power behind white privilege.
It's hard work and it's scary, but it
feels a whole lot better than wallowing in guilt.
-Amy Edgington
1]trl%il
I ;~t3E-i,~I
Beyond White Guilt
Reading List
Race Matters-by Cornel West
(Boston: Beacon Press, 1993).
Killing Rage: Ending Racism by
bell hooks (New York: Henry Holt
and Co., 1995). .
"White Privilege: Unpacking the
Invisible Knapsack," by Peggy
McIntosh, available from her for
$6.00 by writing her at Wellesley
College Center for Research on
Women, Wellesley, MA, 02181.
An abridged version has been
published in Race: an Anthology
in the First Person, edited by Bart
Schneider (New York: Crown
Trade Paperbacks, 1997).
Lucy, by Jamaica Kincaid (New
York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux,
1990). Contains a keen-eyed
fictional observation of Whiteness, especially in the character of
Mariah.
Black on White: Black Writers on
What it Means to be White,
edited by David R. Roediger
(New York: Schoken Books, 1998).
"Disloyal to Civilization: Feminism, Racism, Gynephobia" in
On Lies, Secrets, and Silences by
Adrienne Rich (New York: W.W.
Norton, 1979).
"Identity: Skin, Blood, Heart" in
Rebellion: Essays, 1980-1991by
Minnie Bruce Pratt (New York:
Firebrand Books, 1991).
Memoir of a Race Traitor by Mab
Segrest (Cambridge: South End
Press, 1995).
Uprooting Racism: How White
People Can Work for Racial
Justice by Paul Kivel (Philadelphia: New Society Publishers,
1996).
•
This Bridge Called My Back:
Writings by Radical Women of
Color, edited by Cherie Moraga
and Gloria Anzaldua (New York:
Kitchen Table Press,1983);
Home Girls: a Black Feminist
Anthology, edited by Barbara
Smith (New York: Kitchen Table
Press, 1983).
Making Whiteness: the Culture
of Segregation in the South,
1890-1940, by Grace Elizabeth
Hale (New York: Pantheon Books,
1998).
Off White: Readings on Race,
Power and Society, (New York:
Routledge, Inc., 1997).
How the Irish Became White
by Noel Ignatiev (New York:
Routledge, Inc., 1995).
The House That Race Built:
Black Americans, U.S. Terrain,
edited by Wahneema Lubiano
(New York: Pantheon Books,
1997).
The Skull Measurer's Mistake:
and Other Portraits of Men and
Women Who Spoke Out Against
Page 8 • Transformation• Summer 1998
Racism by Sven Lindquist (New
York: New Press, 1997).
The Invention of the White Race
by Theodore W. Allen (London/
New York: Verso, 1994).
Restoring Hope: Conversations
on the Future of Black America
with Cornel West and edited by
Kelvin Shawn Sealey (Boston:
Beacon Press, 1997).
Faces at the Bottom of the Well:
the Permanence of Racism
by Derrick Bell (New York:
BasicBooks, 1992).
Everyday Acts against Racism:
Raising Children in a Multiracial
World, edited by Maureen T.
Reddy (Seattle: Seal Press, 1996).
One More River to Cross: Black
and Gay in America by Keith
Boykin (New York: Anchor
Books/Doubleday, 1996).
Women, Race and Class
by Angela Davis (New York:
Random House, 1981).
For young adults: Spreading
Poison: a Book about Racism and
Prejudice by John Langone
(Boston: Little, Brown, 1993).
Whiteness: A Brief Conunent
hen white people discuss racism, we usually
focus on people of color
and their experiences of discrimination, and we do not talk about
white people as a race and our
privilege, power and dominance.
Weneed to ask, What does it mean
to be white? What is white identity? What makes the white race
different?
We have solidarity based on
whiteness which involves nonconscious power dynamics. We
white people are taught to think
of our lives as morally neutral,
normal, average and ideal. When
we work to benefit others, this is
seen as work that will allow
"them" to be like "us." Because of
the combination of our white identity and power, we define the U.S.
as "white." Hence, to become
American is to become white. To
maintain one's culture is to be an
outsider, and oft~n, anti or not
American.
We don't like to hear the words
"white" and "identity" or "white"
and "power" used together. We
think of white identity and white
power as terms that describe the
far right-the Klan, the Christian
Identity folks, theneoNazis. However, all of us white people have
white identity and some form and
degree of white power. We fight
to keep our place in the power
system of whiteness.
Often unconsciously, we bond
around whiteness and establish
solidarity. Some examples:
Blood Sport-a book describing the Clinton/Whitewater connection in Arkansas. This book
describes the interconnection of
white men (and a few women) in
business opportunities, money
favors, legal affairs, etc. It is not
about people of color at all, yet I
believe it is one of the best books
about racism because it describes
the careful knit of the white power
structurethatistootightforpeople
of color to penetrate except for the
rare person who has adapted to
the weave.
Promise Keepers-Recently
I read an article in the New Yorker
that describes the way in which
Levi Strauss in 1990 persuaded
men to change their dress to include khaki pants. Their studies
had told them that what men
missed most in their lives was
bondingwithothermen. I thought
to myself, "Bingo! Promise Keepers. They must have done the
same study." Promise Keepers
bonds men around maleness, but
more importantly, and more
subtlely, they bond them around
whiteness. There is a citizenship
link (good fathers, good community men, good Americans) to nationalism that is about both gender and racial dominance. Their
promotion of racial reconciliation
is a call to men of color to join them
in oneness. As they said in their
Breaking Down the Walls (of denominationalism and racism) stadium event in Eugene, Oregon in
Page 9 • Transformation• Summer 1998
1976, "There is no black, yellow,
brown or red. There is only one
race under God." The oneness
they call for is the "one race" which
is white.
Hot Issues-The
right has
worked successfully to bond white
people around their fears and
identity in response to problems
related to education, crime, drugs,
poverty, immigration, etc. People
of color are scapegoated as being
the cause of the deterioration of
institutions such as schools and of
social conditions such as increased
crime and drug use. The biased
formula goes like this: white
people are creating a great stock
market and economy; people of
color are creating social problems.
We have the choice not to bond
around whiteness. A good example is "The Full Monty," a
movie about unemployed steel
workers in Sheffield, England,
who have been left without employment possibilities when the
steel mills closed. After seeing the
success of the Chippendales (male
dancers and strippers), six men
decided to try to make some
money doing the same kind of
show. The movie is the touching
and humorous story of their choosing to bond around their vulnerability rather than whiteness or
gender. We can bond together
around our common humanity in
which we all have equal need for
fair employment and education,
healthy food and housing, safety
and health-care. We can bond
together to seek equality and justice for everyone.
-Suzanne Pharr
Two timely and
informative titles by
Suzanne Pharr
IN THE TIME OF THE RIGHT:
· Reflections on Liberation
offers a thoughtful and progressive view of the politics of our time that
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This blend of personal anecdote and contemporary cutting-edge
analysis-along with a vision of a multi-issue, multi-racial movement---creates a powerful call to action for each of us. Pharr discusses
the domination politics of the Right and its agenda and strategies for
dividing communities, then offers suggestions on how we can move
ourselves and our organizations toward a more progressive and liberating focus.
This essential book provides keen analysis and tactical guidance to people concerned about the growing power of the the Right. Urvashi Vaid, author of Virtual Equality
$10.95 ISBN 0-9620222-8-4
♦
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HOMOPHOBIA:
A Weapon of Sexism
New Expanded Edition!
Recently updated with an informative afterword and annotated bibliography, this classic book is essential reading for anyone wishing a
greater understanding of how homophobia functions as a tool keeping
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Homophobia: A Weapon of Sexism is a powerful tool for both education and organizing.
$12.00 ISBN 0-9620222-8-4
Forordering
information,seeformon pageeleven.•
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10n
Vol. 13 Issue 3
Summer 1998
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Betty Cole - Colt
Freddie Nixon - Little Rock
Amy Edgington - Little Rock
Celia Wildroot - Hot Springs
Annette Shead - Little Rock
Carol Nokes - Little Rock
Precious Williams - Ogden
Moving Beyond White Guilt
Twoyearsagoin thesummerof 1996, wepublishedin thesepagesanarticleby Women's
Projectboardmember,Amy Edgington,entitled, "Growing Up With Racism:A
PersonalOdyssey."Throughwordof mouthpromotionbyourmembers,thatarticlehas
now beensent aroundthe country to individualsand organizationsengagedin the
struggleagainstracism.In it, Amy put outa callfor whitewomento cometogetherwith
her to readand discussbooks,videos,etc., by womenof color.In this edition,Amy
presentsideasthisworkhasbroughther.At its conclusionaretwo ofAmy's poemsand
a readinglist. Amy is a poet,an anti-racistworker,an incredibleresourcefor those
workingon lesbianbattering,a libraryassistant,an artist,a disabilityrightsactivist,
and, with the exceptionof afew years,a life-longresidentof Arkansas.
Sarah Facen - Little Rock
Sandra Mitchell - Little Rock
Tammy Roberson - Little Rock
DeeDee Green - Little Rock
INSIDE
Moving Beyond
White Guilt
-page 1
Reading List
-pageB
Whiteness: A Brief
Comment
-page9
Wishlist
-page 10
orthepastyear I've had the privilege of belonging to a group of
white women who read and discuss African American literature on
a monthly basis. I learn a lot from
the books we've read, and I also find
it valuable to meet and talk with
other white women who care about
the issue of racism. I've been reminded through our discussions of
what an enormous stumbling block
guilt can be for white people.
I have frequently avoided discussions of guilt, because of what I
see as a pervasive tendency in
America to psychologize, individualize, and depoliticize every issue.
Nevertheless, in my experience,
guilt does have political consequences. It can become a substitute
for change or an excuse not to
change; it can also be the starting
point for the acceptance of responsibility and meaningful change.
What Guilt Is
I constantly hear the idea that
guilt is a destructive emotion imposed by others in order to manipulate us. Guilt has such a bad reputation nowadays, that we can feel instantlyjustified in rejecting or avoiding anyone or anything that might
make us feel guilty, from our parents to the issue of racism. But I see
guilt as a mixture of positive elements like conscience and remorse
and negative elements like fear and
resentment.
Conscience: Often I feel guilty
because my conscience is telling me
I am in the wrong, not because someone is manipulating me. If I consistently reject my own judgement or
avoid facing it, then I will wind up
without a conscience. And no one is
easier to manipulate than a person
who has no conscience.
(continuedon page2)
BeyondWhite Guilt
Conscience should not be a
static thing. Like most people, I
began to acquire one in childhood,
when I started to take responsibility for deliberate wrong-doing.
However, if we are to become full
adults, we have to stretch and
grow morally by taking responsibility for the consequences of harm
we do unintentionally and for acts
of omission, such as failing to stop
others from doing harm and benefiting from wrongs committed
by others. Nothing challenges the
consciences of white people more
in this respect than racism.
When I unintentionally did or
said something racist, I often tried
to clear my conscience by changing the focus from what I had done
(or failed to do) to what I meant.
What I had to accept is that racism
has little to do with our individual
intentions, good or bad, our personal prejudices or lack thereof.
As long as we see racism only as
the harm done to people of color
by white people, we think we can
shrink our culpability by limiting
the damage we do as individuals.
But in fact racism privileges us so
thoroughly that most white people
need do nothing but sit back and
enjoy the many advantages of
domination. The challenge racism
poses to the consciences of white
people is to recognize the full extent of the privileges white supremacy bestows on each of us.
Remorse: Once my conscience
told me I was in the wrong, I felt
remorse for the harm I had done.
Remorse consists of grief and
shame. Grief for the other person's
pain is a good thing. It reflects my
capacity for empathy, which is the
foundation for an ethic of love.
But shame turned my attention
back on myself and my bruised
self-esteem. It undermined my
ability to empathize with the person who was truly injured. Frequently, she had to take care of
No matter how agonizing
our remorse may be, it
does not begin to compare
with the injury racism
inflicts on people of color
or to cancel out the
privileges domination
brings to white people.
me, before she could hope to
(maybe) get her own wounds
tended. My challenge was to get
my attention off myself and to
focus on the person I had hurt.
When I do that, I act against the
history and culture of Whiteness,
which always magnifies white
people's pain and puts our needs
first.
I can think of no better example
of this than the term "racial reconPage 2 • Transformation• Summer 1998
ciliation." Adopted by the white
leadership of the Christian right
wing, these words imply that
white people and people of color
have suffered equally under racism. If that were true, given the
power that white people have and
how highly our culture values
comfort and personal happiness,
we would have wiped out racism
out centuries ago. No matter how
agonizing our remorse may be, it
does not begin to compare with
the injury racism inflicts on people
of color or to cancel out the privileges domination brings to white
people.
Like most people I
learned in childhood to fear punishment for doing wrong. But far
from punishing our racism, people
of color usually don't confront us
about it. Often, it may not seem
worth the risk or effort to do so.
Nevertheless, white people have
an exaggerated fear of the anger of
people of color. I think this fear
comes partly from history: our
theft of the land we live on and our
ownership-less than 140 years
ago-of African Americans. For
generations we've been taught that
our prosperity depends on maintaining control over people of
color, that our lives and livelihoods
are in danger if a dark-skinned
person even looks daggers at us.
As if history were not enough,
modem white media forces into
every comer of our lives the message that any agitated or even dissatisfied Black person is apt to do
us bodily harm.
Fear:
BeyondWhite Guilt
I
In the days of slavery and genocide, white power decked itself in
hatred and bold assertions of superiority. Today, as Black feminist,bellhooks pointsout, themost
persuasive mask of white supremacy is fear. My fear of the
anger of dark-skinned people convinced me I was powerless. It kept
me from seeing how my actions
and inactions helped to maintain
a system of superior power that
benefitedmeimmensely. Tomove
through the layer of fear that came
with my guilt, I had to acknowledge that people of color have far
more justifiable reasons to regard
white people with terror.
I beg~ to question what I had
learned about who was most likely
to do me violence. I had to face my
fear of punishment from other
white people for breaking ranks
and opposing racism. White privilege is based on white solidarity,
maintained by a combination of
rewards for" good" (racist) behavior or silent complicity and by
threats and violence against those
who break the codes of Whiteness. Our obsessive exaggerated
fear, of Black anger in particular,
is meant to reinforce our loyalty to
Whiteness.
In childhood I
frequently experienced resentment as part of guilt. When I was
caught doing something ''bad"but
pleasurable, I was told it was
wrong because it hurt others or
because it would hurt me in the
long run. Growing up meant learning sometimes to put others' feelResenbnent:
ings ahead of my own or to forgo
current bliss for the promise of
future gain. When it comes to racism I am still learning this lesson.
White privilege is something we
enjoy. Besides the countless material advantages of Whiteness, it
gives us a sense of entitlement,
social acceptance, moral and intellectual superiority and personal
To move through the
layer of fear that came
with my guilt, I had to
acknowledge that people
of color have far more
justifiable reasons to
regard white people with
terror.
importance. It puts us, in the words
of novelist Jamaica Kincaid, ''beyond confidence and beyond
doubt."
Small wonder then that I felt
resentment when confronted by
people of color on racism. I didn't
want to give up the privilege of
pretending that as long as I never
used the word "nigger," I didn't
have any power over people of
color. I didn't want to give up the
privilege of defining what was or
Page 3 • Transformation• Summer 1998
wasn't racist. Whiteness taught me
to think of myself as an example to
the less civilized. It was a shock to
find out, after all I had invested in
a sense of superiority, thatI didn't
own the moral high ground. I had
to climb down off my high horse
and accept the word of people of
color on what racism is and what
we need to do about it. I had to
learn to doubt everything I had
been taught. I had to get off the
white expressway and take the
scenic route through other
people's realities.
I found I had swallowed the
belief that white people can't help
being racist, that we are so thoroughly conditioned we can't be
any other way. Of course I resented being told to make changes
I believed were beyond my control. I confused being white with
Whiteness. I was born white, but I
learned Whiteness. If racism were
inevitable, simply part of "human
nature," then there would be no
effort to indoctrinate white people
with racist beliefs, no pressure on
us to conform to white supremacy.
In fact, as bell hooks maintains,
white people have the ability to
reject Whiteness, by acting against
racism at every opportunity. I
have a choice: I can continue to
wear the armor of white privilege,
or I can develop true confidence,
by finding out who I would be if I
moved through the world without it.
Acceptance of
responsibility
As I leave behind the shame,
BeyondWhite Guilt
White
I come from a clah l can't love
or leave.
I wear its flag.
The color resembles panic
tinted with bloodshed.
I want to believe I'm descended
from at least one red-necked
in a clapboard
woman
house wanting columns,
who spoke out against slavery.
But I don't know her. anymore
than I know: Who rode with the KKK?
Who received as a gl ft
the slaves her father fathered?
Who betrayed the black woman
she once loved as a child?
Ask these Questions
and the defenders of white honor
turn into avenging sperm.
My guilt is individual.
What coats
"1Y·throat
like red clay dust
is collective
privilege.
Silence pledges allegiance:
sisterhood
demands proof
of the treason underneath
my skin.
© Amy Edgington
Page 4 • Transformation• Summer 1998
fear and resentment attached to
white guilt, empathy tugs more
strongly and the call of conscience
rings out more clearly than ever. I
choose disloyalty to Whiteness,
because I embrace an ethic of love
instead of the ethic of domination,
not because I think I share what
people of color have experienced
under racism, and not because of
a guilt-ridden, do-gooder, liberal
mentality. IamanenemyofWhiteness because, as a woman, as a
lesbian, as a person with disabilities, I have experienced the ethic
of domination on my own body. I
fight the dominators for the right
to live, to love myself, to openly
love those I chose, and to not pretend desires I do not feel. I believe
I will never achieve or deserve
these rights while I myself continue to practice an ethic of domination over others. Nor do I imagine that I will ever attain these
goals without people of color as
my allies.
As Americans we are trained
to regard all problems and solutions as individual in nature. But
in order to replace the ethic of
domination with an ethic of love,
we have to build broad coalitions
with a multi-issue agenda. And
each issue on that agenda will require collective effort. Noamount
ofchangeinmyindividualbehavior could remove the privileges I
have as a white-skinned person in
a racist society. Change is only
possible if I take action with others to attack and dismantle the
system of racism.
White Americans are taught to
BeyondWhite Guilt
admire individual efforts, singleminded focus and quick results.
Shame and contempt are attached
to any condition that requires us
to ask for help, such as childhood,
poverty, il~ess or disability. But
to fight racism we will have to find
allies among people of color and
other whites. We will have to help
each other struggle on several
fronts simultaneously for generations. If we regard fighting racism
asanindividualendeavor,wewill
quickly become immobilized by
guilt.
of white solidarity that racism
depends on. Racism is so huge
that all my acts seem small in comparison, but it is precisely this kind
of lifelong chipping-away that we
must commit ourselves to doing.
Listen: When a person of color
says, "That's racist," it's time to
take a deep breath, close my
mouth, sit down and listen, be-
How We Can Defuse the
Negative Aspects of Guilt
Get information: The more I
learn about racism, the less I tend
to see it as an individual moral
problem and the fewer mistakes I
make as an individual. The more I
learn about racism the less work
people of color have to do to explain to me how they experience
the world. The more I learn about
the ethic of domination the more I
• understand what I would gain by
living in a world free of supremacist blinders, capable of respecting differences, and filled with true
self-respect that does not demand
submissive gestures from anyone.
Do something: The strongest
antidote to guilt is action. The less
I do about racism, the guiltier I
feel. White supremacy is built
largely on the complicity and inaction of white people. The simplest thing, such as interrupting a
racist joke or writing a letter to the
editor about police brutality is a
significant break with the image
everything I had been
I had to learn to doubt
taught. I had to get off the
white expressway and
take the scenic route
through other people's
realities.
cause school is in session. I'm in
the first grade again and it's gonna
take a lot of study to ·move on to
the next class. I try to put my feelings on the back burner. I tell
myself that if I have hurt someone,eveninadvertently,sheneeds
to be taken care of first. I try not to
expect instant forgiveness or restoration of trust. I must follow
through on any commitment I
make to change.
I can take care of my guilt later
by breaking it down into pieces.
Page 5 •Transformation• Summer 1998
What do I feel remorse about?
What am I scared of? Why do I feel
resentment? What changes do I
need to make? What do I need to
know? Who can help me? How
can I help other white people
change?
Talk: Undoing racism cannot
be done alone. It's important for
me to find other white people who
share the same goals. We must
also seek converts, to try to turn
the souls of other white people
from the racism's cynical fear,
mean-spiritedness, narrowness
and indifference, to the kind of
love for self and others that values
diversity and feels no need to
dominate. This is how white
people can practice what Cornell
West calls the "politics of conversion."
There are clearly many white
people who are deeply committed to white supremacy; they are
unlikely to be swayed. It's important to let them know that they
face white resistance, to tell them,
in effect, "If I cannot change your
mind, I will put my body in your
path." We should measure our
commitment to fighting racism not
by how many people of color we
count as friends (or lovers), but by
how many white people we are
willing to speak to about racism.
Back to the Past
Finally, I cannot talk about
white guilt without talking about
the collective guilt our race bears
for atrocities such as slavery and
the genocide of Indian peoples.
History threatens to crash down
BeyondWhiteGuilt
on us whenever we are confronted
with our individual racist behavior in the here and now. Collective
guilt is like a herd of elephants in
the living room that white people
have been trained to ignore, and
we tend to get freaked out when
someone calls the dung to our attention.
Slavery and genocide are part
of every aspect of contemporary
white racism. All white privileges
have their roots in these historical
outrages. Americans, particularly
white Americans, are allergic to
looking at the past; we glorify the
endless frontier of the future. We
have been taught that this is a land
where people can put aside their
past and become whatever they
wish to be. 'fhis dream is only
attainable for white people, however; people of color are never
allowed to leave their ancestry
behind them.
White people often protest, in
anger or frustration, that there is
nothing we can do to change
history. But in fact, history is
collective memory; we actively
work to change history when we
ignore it or remain willfully
ignorant about it. Our first duty
to history is to know it, to look
deeply and unflinchingly at the
successive enslavements
of
Indians and Africans, at the forced
labor of the Chinese who built
our railroads, at the massacres,
imprisonment and broken treaties
Indians have suffered, at lynching
and segregation (the evil steptwins of slavery),
at the
incarceration
of Japanese
Americans and the anti-Semitic
immigration policies that helped
condemn Jews to Hitler's gas
chambers.
I am an enemy of
Whiteness because, as a
woman, as a lesbian, as a
person with disabilities, I
have experienced the
ethic of domination on
my own body.
Finding Our Heroes
and Sheroes
Did we learn their names in
school?
How many Americans know
that the hymn, "Amazing Grace,"
was written by a slave trader, describing a religious conversion that
led him to spend the rest of his life
working to abolish the slave trade
in Great Britain? It serves the interests of white supremacy for
white people to forget both our
frightful legacy of racism and those
ancestors who opposed racism.
For me, the personal stories,
fiction and poetry of those who
experienced these atrocities, or
whose ancestors did, are the most
compelling kind of history. This is
the only history not written by the
"winners," and it's very different
from what we read in school. It
has the power to open our eyes to
the concrete details of oppression
and to the interior lives of those
we were trained not to see. This
writing is full of hope and wit,
despair and courage; it colors in
the blanks in our vision of what it
means to be human.
It's not just the racist past that's
been buried. The long history of
Moving on
anti-racist work in this country
Collective guilt might seem like
has been buried as well. Some an even bigger pit to fall into than
individual guilt. But listening to
white people may know the
names, if not the lives, of some of the past is the first step in turning
the Black heroes and sheroes of collective guilt into collective acabolition, thanks to the efforts of countability. The next step is colAfrican-Americans to educate us.
lective responsibility: to look careBut the abolition of slavery, the
fully at the exactly how we experimost hopeful event in the history
ence privilege today and yet are
of social justice, was due, in part, . able for the most part to remain
to the efforts of a significant mi- blissfully unaware of it in a socinority of white men and women.
ety dominated by white people.
Page6 •Transformation• Summer 1998
Property of the Center
Beyond White Guilt
The Gang
You've seen them on the corner of Capitol and Majn,
in pi~ stripes. an blue serges j~alking
Broadway,
Watch ft:>F
the $(00 haircuts. hose ttal·an leather shoes.
telltale bulges of cell phones and beepers.
high-caliber laptops s ung at their sides.
Everyone knows which houses belong to the gang:
glass-studded concrete towers where nobody lives,
where they peddle Junk bonds and bail out S & Ls:
The neighborhood is fuHof graffiti: the s
with a double line stands for the gang's motto,
"How long canyou keep a snake behind bars?"
across themoney pits:
On Wall Street, signs P.Y:
deals go down in Ol'A..;
Wltij~ f~W
lines of coke.
In Washington, lhe gang robs groceries
from Grandma, lunch money from the kids.
They send teens in baggy pants to drive pj
Panama and Grenada. Jets low-ride
the asphalt skies of Baghdad and Mogadishu.
Assault guns Cflrijttouch fuel-air bombs,
cluster mines, uran um-Upped shells.
"(es, we have a gang problem.
yet every time s ootlng starts,
the gang blames some other color.
They mask themselves with smiles.
they speak through m ffied lies,
but we hold the gang responsible:
we know who they are.
©Amy Edgington
Page 7 •Transformation• Summer 1998
Most importantly, we can begin to tum collective guilt into
collective action, to transform or
overthrow institutions such as the
racist educational system, media,
When
a person of color
says, "That's racist," it's
time to take a deep
breath, close my mouth,
sit down and listen,
because school is in
session.
courts, prisons and police that put
the power behind white privilege.
It's hard work and it's scary, but it
feels a whole lot better than wallowing in guilt.
-Amy Edgington
1]trl%il
I ;~t3E-i,~I
Beyond White Guilt
Reading List
Race Matters-by Cornel West
(Boston: Beacon Press, 1993).
Killing Rage: Ending Racism by
bell hooks (New York: Henry Holt
and Co., 1995). .
"White Privilege: Unpacking the
Invisible Knapsack," by Peggy
McIntosh, available from her for
$6.00 by writing her at Wellesley
College Center for Research on
Women, Wellesley, MA, 02181.
An abridged version has been
published in Race: an Anthology
in the First Person, edited by Bart
Schneider (New York: Crown
Trade Paperbacks, 1997).
Lucy, by Jamaica Kincaid (New
York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux,
1990). Contains a keen-eyed
fictional observation of Whiteness, especially in the character of
Mariah.
Black on White: Black Writers on
What it Means to be White,
edited by David R. Roediger
(New York: Schoken Books, 1998).
"Disloyal to Civilization: Feminism, Racism, Gynephobia" in
On Lies, Secrets, and Silences by
Adrienne Rich (New York: W.W.
Norton, 1979).
"Identity: Skin, Blood, Heart" in
Rebellion: Essays, 1980-1991by
Minnie Bruce Pratt (New York:
Firebrand Books, 1991).
Memoir of a Race Traitor by Mab
Segrest (Cambridge: South End
Press, 1995).
Uprooting Racism: How White
People Can Work for Racial
Justice by Paul Kivel (Philadelphia: New Society Publishers,
1996).
•
This Bridge Called My Back:
Writings by Radical Women of
Color, edited by Cherie Moraga
and Gloria Anzaldua (New York:
Kitchen Table Press,1983);
Home Girls: a Black Feminist
Anthology, edited by Barbara
Smith (New York: Kitchen Table
Press, 1983).
Making Whiteness: the Culture
of Segregation in the South,
1890-1940, by Grace Elizabeth
Hale (New York: Pantheon Books,
1998).
Off White: Readings on Race,
Power and Society, (New York:
Routledge, Inc., 1997).
How the Irish Became White
by Noel Ignatiev (New York:
Routledge, Inc., 1995).
The House That Race Built:
Black Americans, U.S. Terrain,
edited by Wahneema Lubiano
(New York: Pantheon Books,
1997).
The Skull Measurer's Mistake:
and Other Portraits of Men and
Women Who Spoke Out Against
Page 8 • Transformation• Summer 1998
Racism by Sven Lindquist (New
York: New Press, 1997).
The Invention of the White Race
by Theodore W. Allen (London/
New York: Verso, 1994).
Restoring Hope: Conversations
on the Future of Black America
with Cornel West and edited by
Kelvin Shawn Sealey (Boston:
Beacon Press, 1997).
Faces at the Bottom of the Well:
the Permanence of Racism
by Derrick Bell (New York:
BasicBooks, 1992).
Everyday Acts against Racism:
Raising Children in a Multiracial
World, edited by Maureen T.
Reddy (Seattle: Seal Press, 1996).
One More River to Cross: Black
and Gay in America by Keith
Boykin (New York: Anchor
Books/Doubleday, 1996).
Women, Race and Class
by Angela Davis (New York:
Random House, 1981).
For young adults: Spreading
Poison: a Book about Racism and
Prejudice by John Langone
(Boston: Little, Brown, 1993).
Whiteness: A Brief Conunent
hen white people discuss racism, we usually
focus on people of color
and their experiences of discrimination, and we do not talk about
white people as a race and our
privilege, power and dominance.
Weneed to ask, What does it mean
to be white? What is white identity? What makes the white race
different?
We have solidarity based on
whiteness which involves nonconscious power dynamics. We
white people are taught to think
of our lives as morally neutral,
normal, average and ideal. When
we work to benefit others, this is
seen as work that will allow
"them" to be like "us." Because of
the combination of our white identity and power, we define the U.S.
as "white." Hence, to become
American is to become white. To
maintain one's culture is to be an
outsider, and oft~n, anti or not
American.
We don't like to hear the words
"white" and "identity" or "white"
and "power" used together. We
think of white identity and white
power as terms that describe the
far right-the Klan, the Christian
Identity folks, theneoNazis. However, all of us white people have
white identity and some form and
degree of white power. We fight
to keep our place in the power
system of whiteness.
Often unconsciously, we bond
around whiteness and establish
solidarity. Some examples:
Blood Sport-a book describing the Clinton/Whitewater connection in Arkansas. This book
describes the interconnection of
white men (and a few women) in
business opportunities, money
favors, legal affairs, etc. It is not
about people of color at all, yet I
believe it is one of the best books
about racism because it describes
the careful knit of the white power
structurethatistootightforpeople
of color to penetrate except for the
rare person who has adapted to
the weave.
Promise Keepers-Recently
I read an article in the New Yorker
that describes the way in which
Levi Strauss in 1990 persuaded
men to change their dress to include khaki pants. Their studies
had told them that what men
missed most in their lives was
bondingwithothermen. I thought
to myself, "Bingo! Promise Keepers. They must have done the
same study." Promise Keepers
bonds men around maleness, but
more importantly, and more
subtlely, they bond them around
whiteness. There is a citizenship
link (good fathers, good community men, good Americans) to nationalism that is about both gender and racial dominance. Their
promotion of racial reconciliation
is a call to men of color to join them
in oneness. As they said in their
Breaking Down the Walls (of denominationalism and racism) stadium event in Eugene, Oregon in
Page 9 • Transformation• Summer 1998
1976, "There is no black, yellow,
brown or red. There is only one
race under God." The oneness
they call for is the "one race" which
is white.
Hot Issues-The
right has
worked successfully to bond white
people around their fears and
identity in response to problems
related to education, crime, drugs,
poverty, immigration, etc. People
of color are scapegoated as being
the cause of the deterioration of
institutions such as schools and of
social conditions such as increased
crime and drug use. The biased
formula goes like this: white
people are creating a great stock
market and economy; people of
color are creating social problems.
We have the choice not to bond
around whiteness. A good example is "The Full Monty," a
movie about unemployed steel
workers in Sheffield, England,
who have been left without employment possibilities when the
steel mills closed. After seeing the
success of the Chippendales (male
dancers and strippers), six men
decided to try to make some
money doing the same kind of
show. The movie is the touching
and humorous story of their choosing to bond around their vulnerability rather than whiteness or
gender. We can bond together
around our common humanity in
which we all have equal need for
fair employment and education,
healthy food and housing, safety
and health-care. We can bond
together to seek equality and justice for everyone.
-Suzanne Pharr
Two timely and
informative titles by
Suzanne Pharr
IN THE TIME OF THE RIGHT:
· Reflections on Liberation
offers a thoughtful and progressive view of the politics of our time that
will make sense to students, activists and all who are trying to understand the current threat to democracy posed by the organized Right.
This blend of personal anecdote and contemporary cutting-edge
analysis-along with a vision of a multi-issue, multi-racial movement---creates a powerful call to action for each of us. Pharr discusses
the domination politics of the Right and its agenda and strategies for
dividing communities, then offers suggestions on how we can move
ourselves and our organizations toward a more progressive and liberating focus.
This essential book provides keen analysis and tactical guidance to people concerned about the growing power of the the Right. Urvashi Vaid, author of Virtual Equality
$10.95 ISBN 0-9620222-8-4
♦
♦
♦
HOMOPHOBIA:
A Weapon of Sexism
New Expanded Edition!
Recently updated with an informative afterword and annotated bibliography, this classic book is essential reading for anyone wishing a
greater understanding of how homophobia functions as a tool keeping
all people-not just lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender-from
realizing their full potential. Used by countless individuals and organizations and taught in colleges and universities across the country,
Homophobia: A Weapon of Sexism is a powerful tool for both education and organizing.
$12.00 ISBN 0-9620222-8-4
Forordering
information,seeformon pageeleven.•
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believe this world can be changed to become a place
of peace and justice for all women.
We take risks in our work; we take unpopular
stands. We work for all women and against all forms
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we cannot work for all women and against sexism
unless we also work against racism, classism, ageism,
anti-Semitism, ableism, heterosexism and homophobia. We see the connection among these
opressions as the context for violence against women
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We are concerned in particular abut issues of
importance to traditionally underrepresented
women: poor women, aged women, women of
color, teenage mothers, lesbians, women in prisons, etc. All are women who experience discrimination and violence against their lives.
We are committed to working multi-culturally, multi-racially, and to making our work and
cultural events accessible to low income women.
We believe that women will not know equality
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We believe that a few committed women working coalition and in consensus with other women
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