Silent Racism: How Well-meaning White People Perpetuate the Racial Divide

by Barbara Trepagnier

Vivid and engaging, Silent Racism persuasively demonstrates that silent racism - racism by people who classify themselves as "not racist" - is instrumental in the production of institutional racism. Trepagnier argues that heightened race awareness is more important in changing racial inequality than judging whether individuals are racist. The collective voices and confessions of "non-racist" white women heard in this book help reveal that all individuals harbor some racist thoughts and feelings. Trepagnier uses vivid focus group interviews to argue that the oppositional categories of racist/not racist are outdated. The oppositional categories should be replaced in contemporary thought with a continuum model that more accurately portrays today's racial reality in the United States. A shift to a continuum model can raise the race awareness of well-meaning white people and improve race relations. Offering a fresh approach, Silent Racism is an essential resource for teaching and thinking about racism in the twenty-first century.

Genres: Nonfiction, Race, Social Justice, Politics, Sociology

181 pages, Paperback

First published April 28, 2006

Reviews

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trepagnier's book is a pretty easy, quick read. She writes with clarity and, while somewhat repetitive, progresses carefully and directly from one linked subject to the next. (She addresses racism, silent racism, white passivity, institutional racism, race awareness, and anti-racist practice.)

It's a worthy read, but having read much of her foundational theoretical texts, I didn't walk away with a ton of new insights. The benefit of her work is that she theorizes some of the ideas that other theorists take for granted -- directly naming shifts in thinking that those already thinking about these issues read and go, "Oh, yeah. Totally true" (for example, the discussion of shifting cultural understandings of racism from a binary of 'racist'/'not racist' to a continuum between 'more racist' and 'less racist').

Trepagnier's website (www.silentracism.com) offers a fairly tidy summary of highlights from the book:
* Race awareness in well-meaning white people—including racial progressives—is both sorely lacking and a crucial piece of the racism puzzle.
* Well-meaning white people who are passive around others’ racism encourage it, whether or not they intend to.
* Slavery and segregation have been transformed into a less obvious structure: institutional racism.
* Race awareness entails understanding three facets of racism: the history of racism in the U.S., how institutional racism operates, and insight into one’s own silent racism and passivity.
* Both silent racism and passivity in well-meaning white people are instrumental in producing institutional racism.
* Throughout U.S. history a small group of white Americans has stood against the racist institutions of their day.

[Drick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the most important books I have read recently on white racism and the dynamics of that racism in the daily lives of White people. Based on a qualitative study of white women, all of whom considered themselves progressive and feminist, Barbara Trepagnier unlocks the various ways that racism impacts the lives of white people. She charts her subjects' responses on a spectrum from more to less racist, which I found wanting but the basic thesis is solid. - that all whites are racist and need to develop a growing awareness of that racism in order to change. One thing I would have liked to have seen is the intersection of her work on racism and the developmental theories of Helms and Hardiman. Nonetheless, there is much to commend this book. While at times it is a bit technical and formal as she explains her methodology (after all it is a research-based book), but overall worth exploring and pondering. This book should be added to growing list of books attempting to speak to the White expereince of racism in a way that is enlightening and potentially empowering

[Michael Brennan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The tone sometimes feels like people can’t win even if they try. The author keeps referring to “well-meaning white people,” but she’s referring to the problem of silence, and trying to encourage people to become more active even if it means sometimes messing up.

[Aliza · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short, repetitious read. Illuminating how she zeros in on the reasons why whites and blacks look at racism differently and how that effects everything from friendships to institutional racism.