Help Me, I’m Perfect: Responding to
Defensiveness from
White Participants in a Class Designed to
Eradicate White Racism
Theodoric Manley,Jr. Ph.D.
Frank Holiwski M.A.
Jason Washburn,Ph.D.
Presented at Winter Roundtable on Strategies
for Building Cultural Competence in Psychology
and Education, Teachers College Columbia
University February 20-21, 2004
Symposium Introduction
This symposium is designed to enable us to share lessons
we have learned from teaching (alternatively) “White
Studies and Eradication White Racism” or “White Racism.”
It is expected that the students who enroll in the course are
receptive to learning about White racism and engaging in
dialogue in a personal and meaningful way in order to
begin the process of purging the racist messages they
have internalized. Sadly, the actions of many White
students in the class have been to celebrate their own
“non-racist” identities, question the experiences of people
of color and, ironically, defend Whiteness. It is our hope
that in sharing our experience, we can provide strategies
and concrete examples of effective techniques for teaching
White racism and dealing with the resistance Whites have
to addressing the topic.
White Studies and Eradicating White
Racism and/or White Racism Course
The courses have been offered since the Summer of 1998.
There are three classroom formats:
 Summer Intensive one-week course (30 contact hours)—
meets six hours per day for five days—includes
undergraduate and graduate students and community
people.
 December Quarter three-week course (30 contact hours)—
meets for three weeks, three times a week; three hours per
session—includes only undergraduate students
(Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors).
 Spring Quarter ten-week course (30 contact hours)—meets
for ten weeks, two days a week for one and a half hour per
session—Includes only undergraduate students (Sophomore,
juniors and seniors).
Classroom Curriculum--Lectures
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Whiteness as a social construction—Dyer (Embodiment of
Whiteness), Roediger (Wages of Whiteness), Stefancic and
Delgado (Critical White Studies), Lopez (White By Law),
Feagin (White Racism), etc.
Whiteness—the role of history, society, culture, media,
literature, law etc.
White privilege (Peggy McIntosh), white benefits, cost of
white racism (Paul Kivel)
Case studies—historical and contemporary
What to do?—Social action and change
Curriculum—Films and Documentary
Videos
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“White Identity: Theory and Practice”—Rita Hartiman and
William Cross
“The Story we Tell”
“Who’s the Savage?”—Native American
“Ethnic Notions”—African Americans
“Death Runs Riot”—White Liberalism
“The House we Live In”—White by law
“Days of Waiting”—Japanese Internment Camps
“The Chicano Movement”—Quest for a Homeland
“Do the Right Thing”—short clip of conflict over pictures
on the wall.
Curriculum—Music/Songs
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“Across the Lines”—Tracy Chapman
“Love me I’m a Liberal”—Phil Ochs
“Living for the City”—Stevie Wonder
“Changes”—2Pac
“New Beginning”—Tracy Chapman
“Remember the Tin Man”—Tracy Chapman
Rape of the World—Tracy Chapman
Curriculum: Pre-and Post-Test
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Received University Institutional Review Board Approval
Summer,1999 (retroactive)
Consent form and demographic information sheet
White Racial Identity Attitude Inventory (Helms & Carter
1990)
White Racial Attitudes Scale (Galloway, Gutkin, Saunders,
Gonzalez, Yetter, and Sobansky 1999)
Black Racial Identity Attitude Inventory (Helms ad Carter,
1990) Long and short forms
People of Color Racial Identity Attitude Inventory (Helms,
1996)
Social Desirability Scale (Washburn and Manley, 1999).
Curriculum: Checklist and exercise
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White benefits checklist (Kivel, 1996)
Cost of Racism for White People Checklist (Kivel, 1996)
Social background exercise—taking one-step back and
one-step forward (World of Difference Teacher Training
Manual, 1995)
White privilege—individual and small group exercise
(Manley, 2000)
Eliminating the cost of white racism exercise—individual
and small group exercise (Manley 2000)
Personal inventory exercise—case vignettes (Manley and
Washburn 2000)
Curriculum: Student Requirements
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Journaling—from once a day to every week.
Essay/narrative on Whiteness and family
background
Social action paper on eliminating white
racism
Literature review of whiteness, white racism,
and white studies.
White Students Defensive Mechanisms
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Denial and selective attention (Utsey and Gernat, 2002): are
seen as the most pervasive defenses used by Whites to
avoid dissonance and discomfort associated with race
related anxiety. They define denial as “attempts to
suppress from one’s consciousness the painful realities of
racism”
Rationalization or transference of blame (Utsey and Gernat,
2002, Thompson and Neville, 1999): In each of these
Whites develop a justification or legitimating rationale for
racial inequalities that exits in society. Instead of viewing
White racism as a problem for Whites the rationalizing
White will justify racist actions by looking for why the
mistreated groups deserved to be treated unequally.
White Students Defense Mechanisms
Cont’d.
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Intellectualization (Utsey and Garnat, 2002): Here White
students acknowledge the existence of White racism at an
intellectual or ideological level but are not willing to have
an affective and behavioral connection to the deleterious
effects of white racism on people of color lives.
Identification or introjection. Both are usually realized
when White students have a feeling of otherness and
attempt to latch onto people of color attitudes, beliefs,
values, behaviors and practices. In some instances they
latch onto gay and lesbian groups to neutralize racism
against people of color.
Projection where White students try to show how people of
color have “undesirable” and “despised” self-aspects
similar to White people.
Qualitative Results Journal: Denial and Self
Attention
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Summer 2000—White male student “There are times I
resent having a guilt trip laid on me because I am white. I’m
white – so what? It isn’t like I asked for it or have a secret
conspiracy going on in my basement. I have always tried to
treat others the way I wish to be treated. I take a stand even
when it is difficult or uncomfortable. I do what is right – my
conscience does not let me do otherwise.”
Qualitative Results Journals: Denial and Selective
Attention Defense Mechanisms
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Summer 2003—White female student “There were two topics
spoken about today that pissed me off. The first is the issues of
white leading to UNEARNED entitlement. Who didn't earn what
they have. I may be white, but my family and I have earned what
we have. My grandparents and great grandparents came to this
country after the abolition of slavery, as penniless non-English
speakers who didn't have a pot to piss in. They worked hard, very
hard, to death in some cases, to put food on the table, put clothes
on their children's back, give them a nice place to live, and a
good education……. Frank basically called white people racists,
how dare he use such an offensive and insulting term to define
white people. Wasn't he stereotyping and generalizing the very
thing that white people get accused of doing to minorities? There
is no way in hell that Frank, or anyone else, can tell me that I am
responsible for what my ancestors did. It is not my fault that my
ancestors behaved as they did, nor is it any other white persons'
fault that their ancestors may have owned slaves. I am NOT
responsible for their actions.”
Qualitative Results Journals: Rationalization and
Transference of Blame Defense Mechanisms
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Spring 2000 White male “As in the Rodney King trial I think
many aspects were blown out of proportion. Maybe the
officers used excessive force, maybe they didn't. Forget
that King was high as a kite driving almost 110 mph and
then attacks the cops. Why is it that the officers had to go
up on a stand & defend the[m]selves for doing what they
had to do to keep everything under control? Then the
blacks went & rioted in THEIR OWN TOWN. That shows
what kind of sense of community they have. They stole
from their own kind & blame it on whites. WHOSE THE
REAL SAVAGE NOW?!?”
Qualitative Results: Rationalization and
Transference of Blame Defense Mechanisms
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Summer 2003 White Female “Even if once developed White
neighborhoods became Black neighborhoods, White flight
occurred as well as White capital, why did the new Black
inhabitants of the area let the area become run down? Why
didn’t they build their own institutions, like banks and
schools, to keep the neighborhood afloat? If Blacks say
that loosing White capital is the reason their community
failed to thrive, than they do in fact need the help of White
people and their capital to redevelop now. How can they
say that it crumbled because Whites left, but we don’t need
the Whites to come and save us? If you’re unable to save
and sustain yourself than you either accept help or die
out.”
Qualitative Results of Journals: Intellectualization
Defense Mechanism
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December 2003 White male “At the same time I do not think
someone is racist for making a joke about a race that is not
their own. I am sick and tired of the people that call
everyone else racist for making the smallest comment or
joke about a race that is not their own. Just because they
hear one comment does not make the person racist…..I
admit, I notice when someone is of another race than me. I
do not dwell on it, frankly, I do not care what race they are,
and it is just another identifiable characteristic like the
color of their hair. Race is not an issue to me and it should
not be an issue for anyone. One last thing, I am tired of
people dwelling in the past like the blacks nowadays still
blaming the whites for slavery and wanting restitution for
what our ancestors did to the blacks. I have one thing to
say, it is in the past, move on and enjoy the present.”
Qualitative Results of Journals: Identification and
Introjection Defense Mechanisms
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Summer 2001 Gay White male “There was so much
preaching to the white man by the end of the day. I was
pissed off. I don’t want to hear anybody’s struggle being
dismissed period. Don’t you fucking tell me that a Jewish
person’s experience is easier, that a black man’s or a gay
man’s struggle isn’t as important as a black man’s,
because when you start saying they don’t understand
struggle or being dismissed or discriminated against
you’re saying that my experience as ------------------------- is
also not as difficult or valid as a black man’s. That is
unacceptable.”
Qualitative Results Journals: Projection Defense
Mechanism
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Spring 2000 White female "While reading ‘A Tale of Two
Restaurants’ many thoughts came to my mind. The first
one I came across had to do with Raymond Danner, cofounder of Shoney's. It says that he didn't want to hire
Blacks at his restaurant, well so what. How can you sue a
man for that? I highly doubt I would get hired at Harold's
Fried Chicken in Hyde Park or Josies Chicken and Waffles
on 95th and King Drive [these are all Black restaurants, of
which, one is located in an integrated community of
Chicago]. But I wouldn't go and sue them about the whole
ordeal. If that store is his livelihood and his source of
income then he should be able to run it whatever way is
best for him."
Challenging, Confronting, and Interrupting Defense
Mechanisms: Teaching Strategies and Techniques
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Stress inoculation
Overwhelming Evidence
Personalized Evidence
Inverted Question
Comparing Ideology to Action
Bring Unconscious to the Conscious
Normalizing
Encouraging discomfort
Model One.—White Student Defense Mechanisms
and White Racism
White Students
White Racism
Course
Challenge,
Confront, and
interrupt defense
mechanisms
Feelings of Guilt, Shame,
Embarrassment,
Preservation of
Whiteness
Defense
Mechanisms
Denial of White
racism
White Racism and Eliminating the cost of White
Racism small group exercises—Coping with the
burden of Discomfort
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Students are asked to reflect on whether they view this
course as a way to feel comfortable about race and why?
A discussion on the discomfort of race is created to assist
White students in understanding that when people of color
decided to mobilize to change injustice in the United
States, during the civil rights movement, they were afraid,
uncomfortable, and fearful of their life but they envisioned
a better world as the result of their actions even though
they were aware that they may not live to see it.
Many students see the goal of these two exercises but are
unwilling to discuss why they typically want to create the
need to feel comfortable in race anxiety situations.
Invert Questions from white Students
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We attempt to invert questions from White students in the
class room context.
For example, Why haven’t Blacks assimilated and reached
achievement levels like whites?
Inverted question: How did you assimilate and achieve?
What do you think White people should/can do?
Personal Inventory Six case Vignette Exercise
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Deals with situations where racial stereotyping is used.
Students are asked to consider the following:
Should they confront the person? (i.e., father, mother,
friend, roommate, stranger, brother) (response categories
are yes or no) and;
What is the probability that they would confront the person
(the response categories are—definitely, probably, don’t
know, probably not, and I would need to think about it).
Personal Inventory: Father case Vignette
Case Vignette #1 The Father: One day at the dinner table
your father began to discuss why the war against Iraq was
necessary. He described his support for the war by stating,
in a very angry tone that “Saddam Hussein and all the
scarf wearing sheiks in the Middle East need to be shown
what liberty and justice is all about!” He went on to state,
in a very angry tone, “what we did to the Japs in Japan we
are going to do to these camel jockeys!” How would you,
personally, respond and act in this situation?
Personal Inventory: Stranger case vignette
Case Vignette #5 The Stranger: While walking home from
the store you hear a Black man on the corner talking loud
about white men. He makes the comment “boy, white boys
show nuff’ can’t jump or dance AND to top it all off they
have a small penis” How would you, personally, respond
and act in this situation?
Results: Personal Inventory and Cost of Racism for
White people Checklist
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“I have been in situations where I heard derogatory jokes
and remarks about people of color and did nothing.”
Over the four year period since we developed the personal
inventory most White students responded to every item in
the affirmative except the “stranger” case vignette. Why?
Stated “they felt uncomfortable, unsafe, and feared what
would happen to them in that situation.”
We told the students that we expected the greatest
discomfort, fear, and concern about safety to arise in those
situations when they were with people they know,
especially “dominating” family figures like a father, mother,
or brother.
Implicit Attitude Test
Another strategy involves the use of the implicit attitude
test (IAT) for students to measure and get immediate
results on their unconscious racist feelings and attitudes.
White student results have mostly shown a strong or
moderate preference for Whites on the IAT. Discussions on
the results have helped White students recognize that
being socialized in a racialized society influences their
thinking and attitudes towards groups of color even
though they are not consciously trying to be prejudice or
racist in race anxiety situations.
Conclusion
By getting students to recognize what they are feeling in
race anxiety situations we are uncovering for them their
implicit, unconscious, and conscious attitudes and
behavior to hide their racist tendencies. We argue that
efforts to repress racial biases, through the use of defense
mechanisms in race anxiety situations, can make White
students stupider.