Overcoming our racism: The journey to liberation

Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, Jan 2005 by Cummins, Emery J

Sue, D. (2003). Overcoming our racism: The journey to liberation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 297 pp., $22.95.

This is a self-help book designed for highly motivated White individuals who are open to transcending their entrenched racist inclinations by acknowledging their personal and collective guilt and engaging in a series of structured exercises in self reflection.

Overcoming Our Racism is predicated on five assumptions. First, we must accept the proposition that "only whites can be racists" (p. 30); second, we (Whites) must admit to being racial and cultural oppressors (p. 61); third, "Racism in the United States must be viewed as a White problem because it is White Euro-Americans who are primarily responsible for the oppression of people of color, and consequently they are responsible for making changes" (p. 101); fourth, "If you profit from White privilege, whether knowingly or unknowingly, then you serve an oppressor role" (p. 141); and fifth, "people of color" collectively comprise a subset of the oppressed while White Americans are always and inevitably the oppressors.

Unfortunately, by failing to address the dynamic and fluid nature of power relations, the author necessarily ignores other promising avenues for change. Rather than regarding power as a relational phenomenon, Dr. Sue conceives power as a property that inheres within specific groups of people, suggesting a deterministic and essentialist dimension that is likely to evoke feelings of helplessness and inhibit creative responses.

However, despite these arguable and reductionist generalizations the book includes useful and informative material on the undeniable realities of racism in America. The chapter on White privilege is a deft and illuminating description of the advantages that accrue to persons simply because they are White. Regrettably, the author uses this information to create a sense of guilt among readers whose only crime is being White. I say regrettably because Dr. Sue turns an otherwise compelling discussion on White privilege into an accusatory screed inviting predictable reactions of either guilt or shame, neither of which are effective stimuli for change. In contrast, Jeff Hitchcock's (2002) thoughtful and penetrating analysis of White privilege engages readers as equal partners in the quest toward racial justice. But for me, Dr. Sue, by casting himself as among the liberated elite, evokes a chimera of him standing at the pulpit in a sociological tent revival meeting exhorting White sinners, "Follow me and I'll lead you to liberation from your White sins!"

It is the metaphor of liberation that rankles me most in this moralistic tome. By identifying himself as one of the enlightened ones he is inevitably condescending to those daring to disagree. I would have been less put off had he used a different metaphor, such as healing or wholeness or even recovery, none of which ascribes the same tone of moral superiority to the author as does liberation.

Finally, I worry that by defining American racism solely as a White problem, Dr. Sue inadvertently contributes to the cult of victimization that paralyzes many Americans of color. I believe the dimensions of racism are not merely black and white (no pun intended): they are infinitely complex and interwoven into a tapestry of attitudes, beliefs and practices extending to all sides of racial, ethnic, and cultural divides. And while he saw fit to cite comedian and social critic Dick Gregory, who addresses racism solely in unilateral terms, he chose to ignore another Black comedian and social critic, Bill Cosby, who describes racism as multilateral and does not hesitate to suggest ways in which it might be mitigated by trend setters in Black culture. This in no way excuses those exercising White privilege to promote their own agendas, but it does acknowledge that problems-and potential solutions-exist on both sides of the divide.

Dr. Sue's intention to help White individuals rid themselves of their racism is laudable. I worry, however, that the tone of this book will keep people, except those who embrace his problematic assumptions, from engaging in the exercises and consciousness-raising activities the author recommends. Because of this, I fear, many will lose out on the potential benefits Dr. Sue intended this book to offer. I believe that overcoming racism demands a less patronizing, more complex, fully inclusive and systemic approach.

REFERENCE

Hitchcock, J. (2002). Lifting the White veil: An exploration of White American culture in a multiracial context. Roselle, NJ: Crandall, Dostie & Douglass Books.

Emery J. Cummins, PhD

San Diego State University