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Tim Wise

Tim Wise Biography

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“...After all, acknowledging unfairness then calls decent people forth to correct those injustices. And since most persons are at their core, decent folks, the need to ignore evidence of injustice is powerful: To do otherwise would force whites to either push for change (which they would perceive as against their interests) or live consciously as hypocrites who speak of freedom and opportunity but perpetuate a system of inequality. The irony of American history is the tendency of good white Americanas to presume racial innocence. Ignorance of how we are shaped racially is the first sign of privilege. In other words. It is a privilege to ignore the consequences of race in America.”

RacismPrivilegeBlack And WhiteBlack HistoryAmerican CultureRace RelationsWhite PrivilegeWillful IgnoranceTrayvon MartinHypocricyGeorge Zimmerman
Author:Tim Wise
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“If you know the history of the whole concept of whiteness if you know the history of the whole concept of the white race, where it came from and for what reason you know that it was a trick, and it's worked brilliantly. You see, prior to the mid to late 1600s, in the colonies of what would become the United States, there was no such thing as the white race. Those of us of European descent did not refer to ourselves by that term really ever before then.”

IfsKnowsStatesReasonWholeTermWhiteUnitedRaceUnited StatesLateConceptsTricksColonyDescentWhitenessWhite Race
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“What whites have rarely had to think about—because being the dominant group, we are so used to having our will done, with a little effort at least—is that maybe the point is not victory, however much we all wish to see justice attained and injustice routed. Maybe our redemption comes from the struggle itself. Maybe it is in the effort, the striving for equality and freedom that we become human.”

ThinkingHumansLittlesDoneUsedWishJusticeEffortStruggleGroupsVictoryStriveInjusticeRedemptionDominant
Book:White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son
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“After all, acknowledging unfairness then calls decent people forth to correct those injustices. And since most persons are at their core, decent folks, the need to ignore evidence of injustice is powerful: To do otherwise would force whites to either push for change (which they would perceive as against their interests) or live consciously as hypocrites who speak of freedom and opportunity but perpetuate a system of inequality.”

PeopleNeedsPersonsOpportunitySpeakForceInterestPowerfulEvidenceInjusticeFolksCoreInequalityPerceiveDecentHypocriteUnfairness
Book:Speaking Treason Fluently: Anti-Racist Reflections From an Angry White Male
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“And in "Elbow Room" the cast sings the glories of westward expansion in the United States, which involved the murder of native peoples and the violent conquest of half of Mexico. Among the lines in the song is one that intones, "There were plenty of fights / To win land right / But the West was meant to be / It was our Manifest Destiny?" Let it suffice to say that happily belting out a tune in which one merrily praises genocide is always easier for those whose ancestors weren't on the receiving end of the deal.”

EndsStatesSongFightingWinningLinesUnitedRoomsDealsHalfDestinyUnited StatesLandInvolvedEasierGloryMurderPraiseWestCastsViolentPlentyNativeTunesMeant To BeManifestGenocideAncestorMexicoReceivingExpansionConquestElbowsWere Meant To BeManifest DestinyWestward Expansion
Author:Tim Wise
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“Stuff Happens.’ That’s the G-rated version. That’s a bumper sticker that only a straight white upper middle class male could have made. Because anyone who isn’t straight, anyone who isn’t male, anyone who isn’t white, anyone who isn’t upper middle class knows that stuff doesn’t just happen. Stuff gets done by people to people. Nothing is a coincidence. Nothing is random. This isn’t osmosis. And so we act as if it’s this passive thing, but yet that’s not the case.”

PeopleIfsKnowsMadeDoneHappensStuffWhiteClassCasesMiddleMalesVersionsMiddle ClassPassiveCoincidenceBumperStickerBumper StickerStuff HappensUpper Middle ClassOsmosis
Author:Tim Wise
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“When I got to college, the fake ID thing wasn't that important, since pretty much everyone could get away with drinking in New Orleans. But the drugs, well, that was a different story altogether, because drugs are every bit as illegal in New Orleans as anywhere else--at least, if you're black and poor, and have the misfortune of doing your drugs somewhere other than the dorms at Tulane University. But if you are lucky enough to be living at Tulane, which is a pretty white place, especially contrasted with the city where it's located, which is 65 percent black, then you are absolutely set.”

IfsWellsImportantDifferentEnoughStoriesBitsBlackWhitePoorCitiesCollegeDrugLuckyPercentDrinkingUniversityFakeGet AwayIllegalMisfortunesNew OrleansDorms
Author:Tim Wise
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“And let's just be honest, there is no such place called 'justice,' if by that we envision a finish line, or a point at which the battle is won and the need to continue the struggle over with. After all, even when you succeed in obtaining a measure of justice, you're always forced to mobilize to defend that which you've won. There is no looming vacation. But there is redemption in struggle.”

IfsNeedsLinesJusticeStruggleHonestBattleSucceedRedemptionBeing HonestVacationObtainingFinish LineLooming
Book:White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son
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“Hardly any aspect of my life, from where I had lived to my education to my employment history to my friendships, had been free from the taint of racial inequity, from racism, from whiteness. My racial identity had shaped me from the womb forward. I had not been in control of my own narrative. It wasn’t just race that was a social construct. So was I.”

SocialMy OwnRaceIdentityRacismAspectEmploymentNarrativeConstructsWombMy FriendshipWhitenessRacial Identity
Book:White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son
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“People never hurt others in moments of personal strength and bravery, when they are feeling good about themselves, when they are strong and confident. If we spent all of our waking moments in that place, then fighting for social justice would be redundant; we would simply have social justice and be done with it, and we could all go swimming, or fishing, or bowling, or dancing, or whatever people do. But it is because we spend so much of our time in that other place, that place of diminished capacity, of flagging energy, or wavering and somewhat flaccid commitment, that we have to be careful.”

PeopleIfsDoneMomentsFeelingsWould BeFightingEnergyStrongSocialHurtJusticeCommitmentCapacityBraverySocial JusticeDancingCarefulFeel GoodOur TimeFishingSwimmingWakingBe CarefulBowlingRedundantWaveringPersonal Strength
Author:Tim Wise
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