The U.S. is a white supremacist society that, despite small victories against overt forms of racism, continues to privilege whites over blacks. Everyone is implicated. Robert Jensen, in his 98-page polemic, advances these and other arguments on white privilege with remarkable honesty and convincing examples.
The field of critical whiteness began developing 20 years ago and this work is perhaps a fair barometer of the direction in which the discipline should be headed. Jensen fully implicates himself in his arguments, and pulls no punches when doing so.
The Heart of Whiteness is aimed at white people. It is meant to interrogate and dislodge the privilege assigned to dominant bodies. This is not unique, but where Jensen surpasses other academics and activists is in the degree to which he implicates himself in the process and exercise of whiteness. He addresses the emotional toll-the anger, guilt and fear-of whiteness, while holding himself and other whites accountable.
Jensen also references black intellectuals like James Baldwin and W.E.B. Du Bois, who’ve provided the foundations for anti-racism and critical whiteness studies, but whose work too rarely finds its way into white academia.
Through numerous current examples and a concise yet stirring historical survey of America’s “three racist holocausts” (the genocide of Indigenous peoples, the slave trade and the post WWII attack on the third world), Jensen provides a solid backdrop against which to understand the myriad ways racial inequality is structured in the U.S. This is an important read, particularly for whites looking to challenge their racial privilege. (Arlo Kempf)
by Robert Jensen, US$12.95, 98 pgs, City Lights Publishers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, CA, 94133, U.S.A., citylights.com