To too many people, the only manifestation of racism they recognize is in its antiquated, truly blatant, KKK-civil-rights-movement-era form, and because this degree of racism has for the most part been extinguished, they believe racism virtually doesn’t exist. In a rudimentary sense it would seem that erasing racism would be a progressive move, but the consequence of such a skewed perspective is that it becomes increasingly difficult for mainstream society to imagine the real-life experiences of minorities and yet more prone to misidentifying latent racism. Beatty successfully points out how this misconception has impaired the public education system; Gunnar’s classmates and teachers ignorantly perpetuate these minor offenses, giving him seemingly harmless labels like the “cool funny black guy”, and while he good-naturedly plays along, he is subject to many instances of stereotyping.
If this novel had a central protest, I think it would be against the contradictory nature that is so ubiquitous in the context of our multicultural environment. In Gunnar’s own words: “My early education consisted of two types of multiculturalism: classroom multiculturalism, which reduced race, sexual orientation, and gender to inconsequence, and schoolyard multiculturalism, where the kids who knew the most Polack, queer, and farmer's daughter jokes ruled.” However well-intentioned, classroom multiculturalism is exceedingly inconsistent: on the one hand, Gunnar’s instructors naively embrace eracism, on the other, they try to show how forward-thinking are by acknowledging and attempting to address what they believe are his racial obstructions. These inconsistencies contribute to his general state of confusion upon moving to Hillside, in the sense that he is unsure what image to adopt in order to be accepted now that he is no longer the “cool funny black guy”. Though Gunnar is eventually able to overcome these impasses, I think Beatty makes a profound point by pointing out a seemingly not so profound transgression, one that is muted and much harder to detect or evaluate.
I agree that the central protest in White Boy Shuffle would probably be the contradictions in our modern concepts of racial issues. And I think Beatty is pretty much right and makes some really good points, but I'm frustrated. I feel like (especially near the end) the book is just pointing out the bad in everything. This is bad, this is contradictory, oh, you think you're virtuous and liberal? nah, we're all just bad. And I feel like, yeah, sure, I guess, but what would you have us do? (And that's what Gunnar's fans say too, which he makes clear is very bad). But seriously, it seems rather impossible for white people to do anything right. Please prove me wrong (and I haven't read the last chapter yet so I can't speak for the entire book).
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DeleteResisting even subtle racist thoughts is definitely something I struggle with. Going through the blogs these past few days, I've seen a lot of posts about how to define white and black culture, how not to define white and black culture, all with some degree of powerlessness in the writing voices. I think it will take a few generations for us to see someone like Gunnar as the "funny cool guy" instead of the "funny cool black guy". But look around: we use Aunt Jemima's syrup and our children call peach crayons "skin colored". Certainly, I do not advocate eracism; the entire topic of this discussion is to be able to appreciate ethnic experiences rather than dismiss them and also to understand the history of racism without, for example, allowing ourselves to associate negative connotations with black people.
DeleteI think this subtle racism isn't something that can be solved systemically. It's something that (hopefully) individuals will learn as they mature and interact with many different people. I think our society has done a solid job of creating an environment where this is possible. In my opinion, this step towards making these subtle racist thoughts condemned by the mainstream while not going too far or being too paranoid would be the longest step in racism in America. However I think that the internet will accelerate this process greatly. After this step is completed I think the development of racism in America will stagnate for a long time. Racism will likely always exist because of the existence of race, and the ability for people to make incorrect generalizations. Most racist were raised as racists, but not all were.
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