White innocence is where white people see themselves as being innocent of the crimes of their forefathers, rightly or wrongly.
It is what lies behind statements like these by white Americans:
- My family never owned any slaves.
- It is too late to give back the land to the Indians.
- My family was not in the South during all those lynchings.
- The Arabs took part in the slave trade too.
- Blacks owned slaves too.
- Most societies throughout history have had slaves.
And so on.
For white Americans this sort of talk comes up in relation to blacks, Native Americans and sometimes even American foreign policy. It has become a part of colour-blind racism and the blinder sorts of white patriotism. For the British this sort of talk comes up with the British Empire. I imagine white South Africans do something like it too.
These statements may be true so far as they go. They make sense too: you cannot blame someone for the sins of his father - or even for the sins of others of his race.
And yet something is not quite right. Even white people sense it. Why else bring up the Arabs or slave-owning blacks? Why make the defence just in terms of one’s own family and not white people or America in general? And why does the subject come up at all?
A sense of guilt is at play. White guilt.
But if one’s family never owned slaves then why feel guilty? Or even if they did own slaves it was long ago, so again, why the guilt? What is going on?
It is like this: if your father robbed banks before you were born, it would be unfair to put you in prison for it. You had nothing to do with it.
But what if you knew that your family’s fortune, your wealth, came from the banks he robbed? You would feel guilty. And you would be right to feel that way: by knowingly benefiting from the crime you have become party to it.
The easy thing to do is the keep the money and push the sense of guilt to the back of your mind, trying to soften it or cover it over with statements like, “I had nothing to do with it”, “That was a long time ago” or “Back then even the police chief and the mayor were on the take.”
The hard thing to do would be the right thing to do, the only way to get rid of the sense of guilt in an honest way: to somehow make it right with the banks he robbed.
Edward Ball, whose family did own slaves, something he wrote about in his book “Slaves in the Family”, said it best:
To live with the advantages of white skin in America is to benefit from the old slave system.
Many whites know that in general they are better off than blacks and deep down they know why.
See also:
Oh I hate those excuses. Just because blacks, arabs and others owned slaves, it does not make it ok that white people in America owned slaves. I don’t understand, just because pedophilia might be a bit more socially acceptable in other countries, doesn’t mean that you can ship those children over to America and do it here.
And if your family didn’t own slaves or weren’t involved in lynchings, can you at least acknowledge that for years there was a legal and systematic process in place to ensure that as a white person, you had more privilege than a black person, and that privilege still exists today?
Tim Wise is a great commentator on such topics; http://youtube.com/watch?v=_UJlNRODZHA
Well, my family came to America with 25 dollars in their pockets after being driven out of Germany by the Nazis. I have no sense of guilt. I work hard everyday and am making a difference.
In this country, unlike most places in the world, you can do that, regardless of your race.
I’m being funny, but is there such a thing as Black Guilt? What would it entail?
My favorite pet peeves are:
“I’m not racist.”
“I don’t owe Blacks anything.”
“Only rednecks are bigoted.”
La Reyna
I’m not sure where I heard this from but I think Chris Rock once said, “a white homeless man would not switch places with me and I’m rich”. That’s sucks.
Ohmigosh, that reminds me of a post I am thinking of writing: Is it better to be black or disabled?
Black guilt: that is hard to imagine.
La Reyna: we do not live in the same part of the country, yet it is amazing how alike white people are! I have heard all those things too.
Yeah, a lot of whites (and even some non-whites) seem to think that racism is mostly a Southern pheononmeon.
Black guilt may be guilt felt by black(or partially black) people ‘denying their blackness’…?
Self perpetuating the stereotype going on around here. Just saying..
Stalherz, William Blake wrote “innocence is ignorance”. But, as anyone charged with an offence can tell you, ignorance is no defense.
You write, “Well, my family came to America with 25 dollars in their pockets after being driven out of Germany by the Nazis. I have no sense of guilt. I work hard everyday and am making a difference.” But one individual’s, one family’s, or one group’s pain and suffering while seeking to gain acceptance in the United States does not contradict the power or race privilege. Every immigrant or child of an immigrant who gained a job or a contract on the basis, “At least they’re white” (and yes, I have heard people say that), has been given something of material value on the basis of race priilege.
On the basis of what you wrote I will presume, for the momment, that you are Jewish. Still, especially after World War II, American Jews were fully incorporated into the United States as “white” people. If you think your family had it hard, well, they probably did. But imagine how if would feel to go through all the same efforts, only to see yourself, or your family, repeatedly passed over for no just reason. For a long time this was the experience of many “black” Americans, and that is the difference between your experience and a common form of the “black” experience.
My belief is that you do not have to feel guity as long as you acknowledge what has been given to you and your family on the basis of white privilege, and conduct your affairs with others in full light of that knowledge. Conversely, the more you try to deny the facts, the more gulity you make yourself to be.
At least, IMHO.
Excellent reply to that sort of thinking. Thanks.
“My belief is that you do not have to feel guity as long as you acknowledge what has been given to you and your family on the basis of white privilege, and conduct your affairs with others in full light of that knowledge. Conversely, the more you try to deny the facts, the more gulity you make yourself to be.”
I agree with this as well. The only difference is again I believe that the racism is a symptom of a much larger problem (evil and sin). I agree – I have no idea what its like to drive while black etc…i look out of the world from my eyes. I would never deny the problems stated above…that would be like wearing blinders. I just feel like as long as we concentrate on the symptom and not the cause nothing will ever change. Pointing out the the leak in the ceiling, does not patch the roof. Even putting a bucket under it does not patch the hole. He have to deal with the root of the problem which is much much bigger than blacks and whites…bigger than america.
All i can do – in my relm of influence…is treat everyone with love and respect…treat them how i would want to be treated. and teach my children to do the same.