1. Never Woke Enough: Talking to White People about White Supremacy
Netroots Nation, 2017
Dr. Karen Gaffney (Raritan Valley Community College, NJ)
Blog (with resources and this Powerpoint): dividednolonger.com
Forthcoming: Dismantling the Racism Machine: A Manual and Toolbox (Routledge)

2. White supremacy persists because for centuries, white people have been manipulated to believe false racial ideologies.
Today, we hear:
“The only racism today is against white people.”
“Racism is a thing of the past.”
“I’m colorblind.”
“I can’t be racist. I marched with…”
“Black Lives Matter activists are too extreme.”
“Focus on economic justice, and that will address racial justice.”
“I’m already woke.”

3. Never Woke Enough
White supremacy is in the air we breathe, and denying our complicity only strengthens it.
False racial ideologies are so embedded in our culture that white people (including progressives) are never finished learning about and confronting white supremacy.

4. What can we do?
Examine how white people have been manipulated to believe false racial ideologies through divide and conquer strategies.
Recognize how ample scholarship and evidence debunk these ideologies, but that work is not reaching the general white public effectively, which includes both well-intentioned white people and those less well-intentioned.
Understand the reality of the Racism Machine often obscured behind these false ideologies.
Recognize that people of color cannot have burden of teaching white people about racism. White people need to take responsibility for talking to other white people.
Resist being divided and conquered by becoming undivided and unconquered.

5. “The civil rights movement ended racism.”
False racial ideologies taught to white people
The reality of the Racism Machine behind these false racial ideologies
1) Racism occurred in the past, but that problem has been resolved.
1) Racism is a serious problem in the US today.
Mass incarceration, police violence, pollution, inadequate school resources, poverty, over-surveillance, under-representation, etc. disproportionately impact people of color today.
“Slavery is over.”
“The civil rights movement ended racism.”

6. “The KKK are the real racists.”
False racial ideologies taught to white people
The reality of the Racism Machine behind these false racial ideologies
2) Any lingering racism today is the fault of a few racist individuals. Reverse racism and political correctness are bigger problems today.
2) Racism today continues to be perpetuated by systems against people of color, not white people.
Individual prejudice is not the same as systemic oppression
Analyze power dynamic
“The KKK are the real racists.”
“White Lives Matter”

7. False racial ideologies taught to white people
The reality of the Racism Machine behind these false racial ideologies
3) Races are inherently (even biologically) different.
3) There are no inherent or biological differences between groups we call races because race is a social construct (a human invention).
Human DNA is 99.5% – 99.9% identical; tiny difference does not correlate with race
Light skin color is very recent adaptation
No scientific way to separate humans by “race”
Josiah Nott, Types of Mankind, 1854

8. Let’s pause for a check in…

9. False racial ideologies taught to white people
The reality of the Racism Machine behind these false racial ideologies
4) Race was invented to protect the elite, divide and conquer the masses, and steal indigenous land. A racial hierarchy was invented that positions whites as superior and blacks as inferior, with indigenous peoples, Asian Americans, and Latinx people occupying various intermediary positions.
Bacon’s Rebellion
White supremacy was normalized through systems
4) White people are the norm, and anyone else is other, exotic, ethnic, and/or inferior.
Images that appear at the top of the
Google Image search for “man” and “woman”

10. Unequal Opportunity Race video by the African American Policy Forum
False racial ideologies taught to white people
The reality of the Racism Machine behind these false racial ideologies
5) Capitalist systems provide easier access to opportunities for white people (especially middle/upper class, cisgendered, straight men) while simultaneously blocking access for people of color.
5) The US is a meritocracy where anyone who works hard can achieve the American Dream.
Unequal Opportunity Race video by the African American Policy Forum

11. Today’s divide and conquer strategies reinforce 5 false racial ideologies
“good minority” vs. “bad minority”
white fear of becoming the minority

12. Asian Americans as the “Model minority”
1966
False ideology says:
Work hard and you’ll be successful
Racism is thing of the past
If they can do it so can you
No need for additional civil rights legislation, programs
Reality:
Damaging stereotype
Scholars have debunked this stereotype for decades
1987

13. If there’s a “good minority,” there must be a “bad minority”
1965
War on Drugs
CRIMINAL
False ideology says:
Black, Latinx, and indigenous people and Muslims are criminals/terrorists to be feared
Reality:
These negative stereotypes are based on damaging false ideologies that criminalize people of color and support racism

14. Fueling white fear

15. What next?
Recognize how white people have been manipulated to believe the false racial ideologies that obscure the reality of the Racism Machine
Confront the reality of the Racism Machine, how race was invented to divide and conquer, how our nation and institutions developed around that fundamental racial ideology
Resist divide and conquer by becoming undivided and unconquered
Dismantle the Racism Machine

16. What can you do? Individual level Silence is complicity
Speak up when you hear white people support false racial ideologies
“I’m concerned about what you just said.”
“What makes you say that”?
“I recently learned that…”
Systemic level
How are your decisions at work, in the community, and at home supporting these false racial ideologies?
How are the decisions of your organization supporting these false racial ideologies?
What different choices can be made?

17. Your turn: small group discussion
Think about one example of a false racial ideology taught to white people that you encounter either in your personal life, your community, or at work. Summarize it for your group.
After everyone shares, pick one example to start with and discuss specific strategies for intervention in order to a) reveal the falseness of this racial ideology, b) confront the systemic racism behind it, and c) create change.
Groups report back to the room
Q&A and further discussion

18. Thank you
My blog dividednolonger.com has this Powerpoint and many resources
Check out my forthcoming book from Routledge: Dismantling the Racism Machine: A Manual and Toolbox
Feel free to me with feedback:
Facebook: Divided No Longer