Dear White America

by Tim Wise

  42 Loveless and Tin, 2006: 45–46, Table A-8, p. 25.

  43 Shelley Irving, “TANF Participation and Employment in SIPP, 2004–2007,” for presentation at the 2010 Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association, August 14, 2010.

  44 Joshua Holland, “8 Unemployed for Every Job Opening: What are They Supposed to Do Once Their Benefits Run Out?” Alternet.org (March 23, 2011), www.alternet.org/economy/150358/8_unemployed_for_every_job_opening%3A_what_are_they_supposed_to_do_once_their_benefits_run_out/

  45 Scott Paul, “Shocker: Only 6 Out of 100 Applicants Can Get a Job at McDonalds It’s Time for Politicians to Stop Ignoring Our Jobs Crisis,” Alternet.org (May 4, 2011), www.alternet.org/story/150839/shocker%3A_only_6_out_of_100_applicants_can_get_a_job_at_mcdonald%27s_--_it%27s_time_for_politicians_to_stop_ignoring_our_jobs_crisis/

  46 Loveless and Tin, 2006: 45–46), Table A-7

  47 Sarah Carr, “Coalition Says Study Rebuts Education Myths: Responses Demonstrate Commitment of Minority Students, Educators Say,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Online (November 19, 2002), www.jsonline.com/news/metro/nov02/97244; Catherine Gewertz, “No Racial Gap Seen in Students’ School Outlook,” Education Week (November 20, 2002).

  48 Judith Blau, Race in the Schools: Perpetuating White Dominance? (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2003): pp. 57–59, 84–85, 92–93.

  49 Charles P. Henry, Long Overdue: The Politics of Racial Reparation (New York University Press, 2007), 171.

  50 DeNavas-Walt, Proctor and Smith, 2010: 44, Table 4.

  51 Adam Serwer, “The De-Facto Segregation of Health Care,” American Prospect (August 21, 2009), http://prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_defacto_segregation_of_health_care; Ryan Blitstein, “Racism’s Hidden Toll,” Miller-McCune (June 2009), http://miller-mccune.com/health/racisms-hidden-toll-1268?article_page=1

  52 Denavas-Walt, Proctor and Smith, 2010: 44, Table A-1; www.census.gov/prod/2010pubs/p60-238.pdf

  53 Rebecca Perron, African American Experiences in the Economy: Recession Effects More Strongly Felt (American Association for Retired Persons, February 2010); and William Julius Wilson, More Than Just Race: Being Black and Poor in the Inner City (NY: W. W. Norton and Company, 2010).

  54 Nasrin Dalirizar, Reasons People do not Work: 2004. P70-111 (United States Bureau of the Census, Washington, DC, 2007).

  55 Matthew Frye Jacobsen, Whiteness of a Different Color: European Immigrants and the Alchemy of Race (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1999); Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White (NY: Routledge, 2008).

  56 Massey and Denton, 1993: 31.

  57 Stephen Steinberg, The Ethnic Myth (Boston: Beacon Press, 1989); Fox Butterfield, “Why Asians Are Going to the Head of the Class,” New York Times (education supplement), August 3, 1986; Gary Mar, “Are Asians Model Minorities?” (2001), http://academic.udayton.edu/race/01race/model01.htm; U.S. Federal Glass Ceiling Commission, Good for Business: Making Full Use of the Nation’s Human Capital (Washington, DC: Bureau of National Affairs, March 1995), p. 107; Vijay Prashad, The Karma of Brown Folk (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2000), p. 75.

  58 Asian poverty data and comparisons with white poverty rates are from the Census Bureau, and can be found at: www.asian-nation.org/demographics.shtml

  59 www.asian-nation.org/population.shtml; and Terrance Reeves and Claudette Bennett, “The Asian and pacific Islander Population in the United States: March 2002,” Current Population Reports, pp. 20–540 (Washington, DC: U.S. Bureau of the Census, May 2003).

  60 Nancy Rivera Brooks, “Study Attacks Belief in Asian American Affluence, Privilege,” San Jose Mercury News (May 19, 1994), 1A; Rosalind S. Chou and Joe R. Feagin, The Myth of the Model Minority: Asian Americans Facing Racism (Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers, 2008), p. 12.

  61 A Snapshot of ‘A Portrait of Chinese Americans,’ Key Findings (Washington, DC, and College Park, MD.: Organization of Chinese Americans and the Asian American Studies Program, University of Maryland, November 2008), p. 5.

  62 “Major Study of Asian Americans Debunks ‘Model Minority’ Myth,” Science Daily (November 12, 2008), www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081112101339.htm

  63 Reeves and Bennett, 2003: 3.

  64 DeNavas-Walt, Proctor and Smith, 2010, Table 1, p. 6.

  65 Clark McKown and Michael Strambler, “Developmental Antecedents and Social and Academic Consequences of Stereotype-Consciousness in Middle Childhood,” Child Development 80(6) (November 2009), pp. 1643–1659.

  66 That most whites, even in many blue states, voted against Barack Obama in 2008 is from exit poll data compiled by CNN at www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/polls/#USP00p1

  67 Mike Davis, “Obama at Manassas,” New Left Review (March-April 2009), p. 24.

  68 For evidence of racist signage brought to anti-Obama rallies from 2008-2010, or racist e-mails sent by conservative activists, see http://images.huffingtonpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/1398/slide_1398_20072_large.jpg; http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/POLITICS/09/17/obama.witchdoctor.teaparty/art.obama.protest.sign.cnn.jpg; http://firedoglake.com/2010/03/07/doesnt-it-seem-like-every-week-some-republican-asshole-gets-caught-sending-a-racist-email/; www.fitsnews.com/2009/06/12/scgop-activist-posts-remark-disparaging-first-lady/; www.nashvillescene.com/pitw/archives/2009/06/15/republican-staffer-e-mails-obama-spook-photo; http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/conservative_activist_forwards_racist_pic_showing.php; www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/25/white-house-watermelon-em_n_169933.html; www.flickr.com/photos/jr1882/3792322329/; http://twitpic.com/hhlk6; www.examiner.com/liberal-in-anchorage/video-9-12-teabaggers-flaunt-racism-ignorance; http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/dr-david-mckalip-mr-tea-party-forwards; www.oliverwillis.com/2009/08/04/racism-on-display-in-anti-health-care-rallies/; http://colorlines.com/archives/2011/04/gop_member_sends_email_depicting_obama_family_as_apes.html

  69 Zachary Roth, “Tea Party New York Gov’s Candidate’s E-Mails Exposed: Racism, Porn, Bestiality,” Talking Points Memo.com (April 12, 2010), http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/04/tea_party_gov_candidates_racist_sexually_graphic_e.php

  70 “Glenn Beck: Obama agenda driven by ‘reparations’ and desire to ‘settle old racial scores,’” Media Matters.org (July 23, 2009), http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200907230040

  71 Laura Bassett, “Rush Limbaugh: Obama Created Recession as ‘Payback’ for Racism,” Huffington Post.com (July 7, 2010), www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/07/rush-limbaugh-obama-creat_n_637716.html

  72 “Fox’s Eric Bolling: Obama is Hosting ‘Hoodlums’ in ‘The Hizzouse,’” Media Matters.org (June 11, 2011), http://mediamatters.org/blog/201106110002

  73 “Fox’s Bolling: ‘Obama is Chugging 40s in Ireland,’” Media Matters.org (May 23, 2011), http://mediamatters.org/blog/201105230043

  74 Maggie Haberman, “Donald Trump: ‘How did Barack Obama Get into Ivies?’” Politico.com (April 25, 2011), www.politico.com/news/stories/0411/53694.html

  75 “Trump Endorses McCain,” CNN Politics, September 18, 2008, http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/09/18/trump-endorses-mccain/

  76 “John McCain’s GPA and College Records,” EDU In Review (October, 2008), www.eduinreview.com/blog/2008/10/john-mccains-gpa-and-college-records/; and Peter Robison, “Palin, ‘Average’ Student at 5 Schools, Prayed, Planned for TV,” Bloomberg.com (September 7, 2008), www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aYY9hiQdr5E4&refer=home

  77 Ron Fournier and Trevor Thompson, “Poll: Racial Views Steer Some White Dems Away from Obama,” (September 20, 2008), www.perla.org/blog/previouspostings/RacePoll.htm

  78 Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman, “See Baby Discriminate,” Newsweek/The Daily Beast (September 4, 2009), www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2009/09/04/see-baby-discriminate.html; “Test That Found Widespread Unconscious Bias Validated,” Science Daily.com (June 18, 2009), www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090617142120.htm; Justin Levinson, “Forgotten Racial Equality: Implicit Bias, Decision-Making and Misremembering,” Duke Law Journal 57 (November 2007), htt
p://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=975793; Eben Harrell, “Study: Racial Attitudes are Still Ingrained,” Time.com (January 8, 2009), www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1870408,00.html; Shankar Vedantam, “How the Unconscious Mind Can Act Out Our Prejudices,” Alternet.org (February 18, 2010), www.alternet.org/books/145699/how_the_unconscious_mind_can_act_out_our_prejudices_

  79 Lori Dorfman and Vincent Schiraldi, Off Balance: Youth, Race and Crime in the News (Building Blocks for Youth, April 2001), www.cclp.org/documents/BBY/offbalance.pdf

  80 “Negative Perception of Blacks Rises With More News Watching, Studies Say,” Science Daily.com (July 17, 2008), www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080717134527.htm

  81 Joe Feagin, Systemic Racism (NY: Routledge, 2006), p. 26.

  82 That whites are four to five times more likely to be criminally victimized by another white person than by a black person is evident from data in Michael R. Rand and Jayne E. Robinson, Criminal Victimization in the United States, 2008 Statistical Tables. (United States Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, May 12, 2011), Tables 42, 48. http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/cvus0802.pdf.

  83 Birt L. Duncan, “Differential Social Perception and Attributes of Intergroup Violence: Testing the Lower Limits of Stereotyping of Blacks,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (1976).

  84 “Study: White and black children biased toward lighter skin,” CNN.com (May 14, 2010), www.cnn.com/2010/US/05/13/doll.study/index.html

  85 http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/06/stick-a-pin-in-it.html; and

  http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/right-america-feeling-wronged/

  86 Ronald Brownstein, “The White Working Class: The Most Pessimistic Group in America,” The Atlantic.com (May 27, 2011), www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/05/the-white-working-class-the-most-pessimistic-group-in-america/239584/; Jon Cohen and Dan Balz, “Poll: Whites without college degrees especially pessimistic about the economy,” Washington Post.com (February 22, 2011), www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/22/AR2011022200005.html; Jim Tankersley, Ron Fournier and Nancy Cook, “Why Whites are More Pessimistic About Their Future Than Minorities,” The Atlantic.com (October 7, 2011), www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/10/why-whites-are-more-pessimistic-about-their-future-than-minorities/246366/

  87 Tony Dokupil, “Dead Suit Walking,” Newsweek/The Daily Beast.com (April 17, 2011), www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/04/17/dead-suit-walking.html

  88 “Regarding Racism: Whites Think They are the New Blacks,” Gothamist.com (May 25, 2011), http://gothamist.com/2011/05/25/racism_is_white_the_new_black.php; Gregory Rodriguez, “The Unhappy White Majority,” Charlotte Observer.com (from the Los Angeles Times) (June 4, 2011), www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/06/04/2348917/the-unhappy-white-majority.html; Joan Walsh, “When Whites Say ‘What About Me?’” Salon.com (May 26, 2011), www.salon.com/2011/05/26/are_whites_facing_more_racism/

  89 U.S. General Accounting Office, “Information on Minority Targeted Scholarships,” B251634. (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, January 1994); see also Mark Katrnowitz, The Distribution of Grants and Scholarships by Race (September 2, 2011), www.finaid.org/scholarships/20110902racescholarships.pdf

  90 Stephen L. Carter, “Color-Blind and Color-Active,” The Recorder, January 3, 1992.

  91 “Beck: Obama has ‘exposed himself as a guy’ with a ‘deep-seated hatred for white people,’” Media Matters.org (July 28, 2009), http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200907280008

  92 “Limbaugh Says Obama’s Economic ‘Role Model’ Is Robert Mugabe, Who ‘Took the White People’s Farms,’” Media Matters.org (August 4, 2011), http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201108040018

  93 “Limbaugh responds to Price: says all Dems ‘had to do was nominate an African-American and [they’ve]

  got Colin Powell,’” Media Matters.org (May 18, 2009), http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200905180025

  94 “Dick Morris baselessly accused ACORN of ‘committing voter fraud,’” Media Matters.org http://mediamatters.org/research/200810150013; Brad Friedman, “So Where’s the ACORN Voter Fraud?” The Brad Blog (October 14, 2008), www.bradblog.com/?p=6512

  95 Information on the attempts by the right to blame the Community Reinvestment Act for the housing and financial crisis (and the ridiculous nature of those charges) is from Rick Perlstein, “Mythbusting the Right’s Subprime Excuses,” (Campaign for America’s Future, April 11, 2008), www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/mythbusting-rights-subprime-excuses; Andy Birkey, “Bachmann: Blaming minority lending for economic crisis ‘does not mean I’m a racist,’” Minnesota Independent (September 29, 2008), http://minnesotaindependent.com/10758/bachmann-blaming-minority-lending-for-economic-crisis-does-not-mean-im-a-racist; “Don’t Blame CRA (The Sequel),” Wall Street Journal (December 4, 2008), http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2008/12/04/dont-blame-cra-the-sequel/; David Abromowitz, “Defending the CRA” (Center for American Progress, November 20, 2008), www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/11/defending_cra.html; Sara Robinson, “11 Racist Lies Conservatives Tell to Avoid Blaming Wall Street for the Financial Crisis,” Alternet.org (October 2, 2008), www.alternet.org/story/101127/11_racist_lies_conservatives_tell_to_avoid_blaming_wall_street_for_the_financial_crisis/

  96 Ibid.

  97 David Goldstein and Kevin Hall, “Private sector loans, not Fannie or Freddie, triggered crisis,” McClatchydc.com (October 12, 2008), www.mcclatchydc.com/2008/10/12/53802/private-sector-loans-not-fannie.html#ixzz12xTyWY91A

  98 “CRA Myth vs. Fact,” www.expandcra.com/about-cra/cra-myth-vs.-fact/

  99 “The WSJ News Pages Weigh In: Don’t Blame the CRA” (December 30, 2008), http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2008/12/the-wsj-news-pages-weigh-in-dont-blame-cra-the-sequel.html

  100 John I. Gilderbloom, “Speculators, Not CRA, Behind Foreclosures in Black Neighborhoods,” American Banker.com (September 7, 2011), http://www.americanbanker.com/bankthink/CRA--white-investors-flippers-forceclosure-black-neighborhoods-louisville-1041971-1.html

  101 Paul Krugman, “The Gramm Connection” (March 29, 2008), http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/29/the-gramm-connection/; Marcus Baram, “Who’s Whining Now? Gramm Slammed by Economists,” ABC News.com (September 19, 2008), http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=5835269

  102 Amiyatosh Purnanandam, “Originate-to- Distribute Model and the Subprime Mortgage Crisis,” April 15, 2009, http://webuser.bus.umich.edu/amiyatos/subprime_march09.pdf; “Study: Originate-to-Distribute Model to Blame for Mortgage Crisis,” www.thetruthaboutmortgage.com/study-originate-to-distribute-model-to-blame-for-mortgage-crisis/

  103 Victoria Jackson, “The 3 Scariest Things About Obama,” WorldNetDaily (July 15, 2011), www.wnd.com/?pageId=322057; “Nazi Like Concentration Camps in America” (February 3, 2009), http://freedomarizona.wordpress.com/2009/02/03/nazi-like-concentration-camps-in-america/; Sher Zieve, “Obama continues mad dash towards enslaving American people,” RenewAmerica.com (November 13, 2009), www.renewamerica.com/columns/zieve/091113; Rush Limbaugh, “Obama to Enslave U.S. Military to Protect Abortion Funding,” FreeRepublic.com (April 8, 2011), www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2701949/posts; and, www.zazzle.com/obama_enslaving_america_tshirt-235575065379338404; and, “Obamacon’s Enslave

  America,” Campaign for Liberty (December 22, 2009) www.campaignforliberty.com/blog.php?view=30671; “Hannity Guest Compares Obama Administration’s Policies to Nazism,” Huffington Post.com (August 24, 2009), www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/24/hannity-guest-compares-ob_n_267804.html

  104 “Rush Limbaugh’s Obsession With Nazi Comparisons,” Media Matters.org (August 7, 2009), http://mediamatters.org/blog/200908070035; “Limbaugh: “Adolph Hitler, like Obama, also ruled by dictate,” Media Matters.org (August 6, 2009), http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200908060021

  105 “Beck claims Obama’s ‘civilian national security force’ is ‘what Hitler did with the SS,’ ‘what Saddam Hussein’ did,” Media Matters.org (August 27, 2009), http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200908270036

>   106 Jason Linkins, “Bill O’Reilly: ‘The Left Sees White Men as the Problem’” (VIDEO), Huffington Post.com (May 29, 2009), www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/29/bill-oreilly-the-left-see_n_209054.html

  107 “Buchanan declares Sotomayor an ‘affirmative action pick,’” Media Matters.org (May 26, 2009), Jason Linkins, “Bill O’Reilly: ‘The Left Sees White Men as the Problem’” (VIDEO), Huffington Post.com (May 29, 2009), www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/29/bill-oreilly-the-left-see_n_209054.html

  108 “Limbaugh: Nominating Sotomayor Like Nominating David Duke,” Huffington Post.com (May 29, 2009), www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/29/limbaugh-nominating-sotom_n_209151.html

  109 “Rush Limbaugh: President Obama Hates White People,” DailyKosTV (May 29, 2009), www.dailykostv.com/w/001800/

  110 “Beck sub Thompson: Tanning tax makes health bill ‘racist’ because ‘dark-skinned people’ don’t use tanning salons,” Media Matters.org (March 30, 2010), http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201003300011; “Quinn: Tanning tax is a ‘race-based tax’ from ‘the most racist administration . . . since Woodrow Wilson,’” Media Matters.org (July 6, 2010), http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201007060006