Teaching About Systemic White Racism

Abstract

The focus of this essay is the White Racism course which I have taught at the University of Connecticut since the mid-1990s. The course, which is one of the most honest and straightforward examinations of the topic taught anywhere, explicitly rejects what I argue is the failed Race and Ethnic Relations paradigm that still dominates American sociology for a racism studies approach which examines racism directly and explicitly. With its dual focus on whiteness and racism the course is located at the intellectually rich nexus of whiteness studies and racism studies. The intense opposition the course received when it was first proposed is examined to detail its content, organization, and basic assumptions and to introduce its systemic racism approach. This is done in class lectures that stress the fact that “race” is not only a myth but the key ideology holding systems of “race”-based oppression together. Other lectures build on this idea and break through the intense denial that white racism is a serious problem by making clear the difference between racial bigotry and the much larger social problem of systemic white racism which benefits “white” people at the expense of members of racially oppressed groups. The essay concludes with the six major lessons about white racism I would like my students to take away from the course.