Personally Speaking talk to address ‘Good White People’
UNC Charlotte philosopher Shannon Sullivan posits that well-meaning white liberals are more concerned with establishing anti-racist credentials than with confronting systematic racism and privilege in her work “Good White People: The Problem with Middle-Class White Anti-Racism.”
A professor of philosophy and health psychology, Sullivan will discuss the award-winning book and why she decided to write it at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 10, at UNC Charlotte Center City as part of the 2015-16 Personally Speaking series.
Sullivan identifies “white middle-class goodness” as attitudes common among well-meaning white liberals, each serving to establish a lack of racism:
- denigration of lower class “white trash” as responsible for ongoing white racism
- demonization of antebellum slaveholders
- emphasis on colorblindness, especially in the context of white childrearing
- cultivation of attitudes of white guilt, shame and betrayal
The professor advises white liberals to acknowledge and accept their whiteness in the pursuit of racial justice rather than disown it or pretend it doesn’t exist.
This free, public event is the second of four conversations with author/researchers in the 2015-16 Personally Speaking series sponsored by UNC Charlotte’s College of Liberal Arts & Sciences and J. Murrey Atkins Library. RSVPs are requested.
“Good White People” was named a Ms. Magazine “Must-Read Book of 2014.” It also won an award for Outstanding Academic Titles reviewed during the previous calendar year from CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries.
Following Sullivan’s talk, there will be a light reception and book signing.