Waking Up White

Waking Up White

Adult nonfiction
"For years I struggled silently to understand race and racism.
I had no way to make sense of debates in the media about whether the
white guy was 'being a racist' or the black guy was 'playing the race
card.' I wanted close friends of color, but kept ending up with white
people as my closest friends...Most confusing were unwanted racist
thoughts that made me feel like a jerk. I felt too embarassed to
admit any of this, which prevented me from going in search of answers."
Fortunately Debby Irving's paralysis wasn't permanent. She's
done a lot of research and reflection on the topics of racism and
white privilege. And she's candidly served all her findings up in her
memoir: Waking Up White.
Irving was born toward the end of the baby boom, the last of
five children. She was raised in a wealthy suburb from which her
investment lawyer father commuted to Boston. Her schools were
excellent. Popular television shows featured families like hers.
There was access to a country club and a ski club. Extended family
and family friends made up a network of connections capable of paving
her way to a privileged adult life.
Irving was not aware of the advantages she was surrounded with
or the disadvantages they required others to suffer. She was taught
as a child growing up in New England that ability and hard work were
the prerequisites for a guarantee of success. Therefore, people who
were not doing so well had to be deficient in one or the other or both.
A movie shown in a graduate class really opened Irving's eyes.
Her father had had law school paid for and a home subsidized by the GI
Bill which had given returning white WWII veterans a real boost in
life. It didn't, however, do the same for the black veterans who had
also risked life and limb. Due to black student quotas, few
qualifying veterans of color accessed free education. Federal Housing
Authority policies made the promised home ownership an impossible
dream for most of the black veterans.
Once Irving's eyes were opened there was no going back. This
epiphany led her into a laborious peeling away of the tangled layers
of racism in everyday life and the ways they perpetuate privilege for
whites and danger and destitution for blacks. Waking Up White is an
in depth description and analysis of the problem. Her narrative is
delivered in a highly intimate and readable format: her life story.
If you believe that the liberty and justice for all alluded to
in the Pledge of Allegiance should be more than empty words, you'll
want to read the book.
On a personal note, I can't say enough times how important it is for
those of us who are white to be aware of how we unfairly benefit from
skin color and work toward dismantling the system that privileges us.
It's a huge task, but achievable.
A great big shout out goes out to all who acknowledge and educate
others about this societal evil.
jules hathaway


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