Original Article: http://dartreview.com/archives/2001/02/12/because_youre_a_racist.php
Monday, February 12, 2001
I'm sure that many of us have pondered the question at some point in our lives, most likely in high school but even here at Dartmouth College. You'll walk into the cafeteria, and notice that it's divided into sections. Black students at one group of tables, white students at another. Why do we self-segregate in such a fashion?
Dr. Beverly Tatum aims to discover the reason for this occurrence in her book, fittingly titled Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? I started reading the book with the hope I would find an earnest answer. Coming from a fairly diverse high school that was split about 50/40/10 between whites, blacks, and others, I had noticed this trend throughout my studies there. Although it had never really bothered me that it happened, it did seem like an odd phenomenon.
But Tatum's book focuses more on race as a whole and only uses the cafeteria question to open the door to all of society's ills regarding racism. Certainly the sheer amount of anecdotes and personal stories she has culled from her classes show that racism still exists in America, but it is hard to fully accept everything said in the book because of all the new politically correct terminology. Tatum tries hard not to offend anyone who's not white, and spends several chapters going over the proper meanings of all ethnic labels from Hispanic to African-American to several she appeared to be making up on the fly.
Still, in the end, the book comes down to black against white, in which whites are the cause of all hardships for everyone else, but especially blacks, due to racism. In fact, according to her definition of racism, all whites are racist whether they are truly bigots or ardent Jesse Jackson supporters like Bill and Hillary.
Tatum begins by claiming that the current dictionary definition of racism is inaccurate because a white person defined it. Rather than being 'A belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities' or 'racial prejudice or discrimination' as Webster's Dictionary would have it, Tatum suggests that racism is a 'system of advantage based on race.' Thus, all whites that use the system, even involuntarily, are racist.
As proof, she cites a study conducted by a Mount Holyoke graduate student that involved interviewing women who had a working class background and were the first in their families to attend college. All of them had made it to college due to some type of good luck story. It turns out that all of the women interviewed were white—proving, in Tatum's eyes, that whites enjoy a systematic advantage. She does not even consider whether the study was flawed for having been unrepresentative.
As another consequence of her new definition of racism, not only are all whites racist, but they are also the only racists in the country. Because people of color 'do not systematically benefit from racism,' they cannot be racist under her definition.
After spending a dozen or so pages explaining this new racism to make sure we're all on the same page, Tatum proceeds to follow up with 200 pages of politically correct psychobabble and racial rhetoric, spending only a chapter actually answering the book's titular question.
As with most current racial commentary, white police officers come under fire in the book, albeit subtlety. Tatum does not devote anything more than passing comments to this particular issue, but it's enough to get her point across. In one case she writes, 'Nonetheless, when I...read about a black man's unlucky encounter with a white police officer's deadly force, I am reminded that racism by itself can kill.'
Later comes the next racial trap, that the arts stereotypically portray all non-white races and minorities in movies, books, television, and other works of art. Though Tatum makes her point, it's not without forcing the reader to come to the conclusion that Hollywood can't win either way. One of her examples is Disney's 'The Lion King,' which she says portrays non-whites negatively by having Whoopi Goldberg and Cheech Marin do the voices of the evil hyenas.
Tatum's own sons counter her argument with the fact that James Earl Jones, with perhaps Hollywood's most famous voice, provided the voice of Simba's father. Yet Tatum discounts her sons' argument and Jones' role because his voice wouldn't be recognizably black to the young children that were the target audience. She claims Goldberg and Marin are too ethnic, and Jones isn't ethnic enough.
Throughout the book Tatum claims that whites can have no idea of what people of other races experience—let alone be able to understand and help. Yet she believes she knows enough about Caucasians to help them understand their 'whiteness' and help change the system that fosters racism.
Tatum sees the major problem with whites: they don't consciously define themselves as being members of a particular race. In many of her racial awareness classes, she'll start off by asking people to describe themselves. Invariably, she says, people of color mention their race among the first things they say about themselves while white people generally do not mention it at all. Tatum argues they are harming society by not fully developing their understanding of whiteness in America.
As you might expect, a book of this nature cannot reach the end without tackling affirmative action. Tatum defends racial preferences as ensuring a diversified workplace and preventing the racist majority from maintaining a status quo system. She also favors, not surprisingly, goal-oriented affirmative action rather than a process-oriented program. In a process-oriented program, everyone is given the same application and interview and the best candidate is chosen on a race-blind basis. In a goal-based situation, diversity in the workplace becomes the search committee's objective, and so the more 'diverse' applicant stands a better chance of being hired.
As far as the central question of the book, black students sit together in the cafeteria because they need the social support of others to help fully develop their racial identity. Tatum says that white people cannot help blacks deal with the social bigotry or discover their black heritage as effectively as other blacks can.
I'm willing to accept that. As Tatum is so fond of telling me, I cannot presume to know what it's like to be black. Likewise, I don't understand how Tatum can presume to understand white people's experience so thoroughly, especially when she attributes such bizarre behavior to them. I know very few whites who wallow in shame at having been born white, though Tatum claims that's the norm.
Maybe it's because her experiences come from her 'racial awareness classes' at colleges and she therefore sees only a certain sort of person—PC, guilt-ridden, walking clichés.