Silent Racism

In This Section: Highlights | Reactions In Academia | Reader Reactions

Highlights From The Book

• Race awareness in well-meaning white people—including racial progressives—is both sorely lacking and a crucial piece of the racism puzzle.

• Well-meaning white people who are passive around others’ racism encourage it, whether or not they intend to.

• Slavery and segregation have been transformed into a less obvious structure: institutional racism.

• Race awareness entails understanding three facets of racism: the history of racism in the U.S., how institutional racism operates, and insight into one’s own silent racism and passivity.

• Both silent racism and passivity in well-meaning white people are instrumental in producing institutional racism.

• Throughout U.S. history a small group of white Americans has stood against the racist institutions of their day.

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Reactions In Academia

“Important [because] it addresses white folks who see themselves as ‘not racist.’ This is a group that has been sorely understudied…. Highly significant.”

-- Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, Duke University

"I believe [Trepagnier’s] insight that the categorical nature of the term racism is a barrier to exploring the topic of race is one of the single most important insights I have read in the literature on race."

-- Russell Skiba, Indiana University

“This is an amazing book. Anyone concerned about race and racism should read it!”

-- Patti Giuffre, Texas State University

“Trepagnier has brought an important concern to the forefront and addressed it head on.”

-- Kathleen Fite, Texas State University

“Silent Racism opens up [a] public dialogue [about racism]…by providing an approachable book that can influence not only the academic community but…also a larger public.”

-- Chad L. Smith, Texas State University

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Reader Reviews

Surprising and insightful

It's disconcerting to realize that sometimes my best efforts at NOT being racist have been just that. This book helped me realize the necessity of self-examination to expose those ways in which I'm participating in the racial divide, not by obvious acts of prejudice but by leaving my assumptions unchallenged. This is a very important book.

- Agnes

Excellent book about race!

This is an amazing book. Anyone concerned about race and racism should read it! Trepagnier's interviews with white women who are "well meaning" and concerned with racism are enlightening. For example, some of the women discussed (oftentimes, somewhat unconsciously) stereotypes that they have about African Americans. The author challenges readers to stop thinking of ourselves and other people as being in the categories of "racist" or "not racist." Doing so discourages us from becoming what Trepagnier refers to as more "racially aware." I encourage people to read the book, buy it for others, and TALK about the issues it raises. It's one of the ways to increase racial awareness. Given many recent events reported in the media, it's clear that racial awareness is a worthwhile and important goal.

- P. Giuffre

A Compelling And Modern Perspective On Racism

As a graduate student in the field of sociology, I find the ideas presented in this book to be fascinating and presented well. Trepagnier reviews existing theories insightfully and then presents a fresh perspective on a much-discussed topic. In doing so, she offers both compelling evidence for her theories and solutions to the problems she presents. She addresses racism in its most modern form - the hidden, mostly unintentional racism that is within us all and embedded in the very structure of our culture. She does so in a clear, artful manner and without the tedium sometimes associated with books written by academics. I highly recommend this work for students and teachers.

As a well-intentioned white woman myself, the book is revelatory. Many whites, myself included, were taught that racism is bad but did not receive a clear definition. The author shows how our blind stumbling about the topic of racism actually contributes to the problem, even if our avoidance is well-intentioned. Trepagnier dissects modern white people's perspective on race at the day-to-day level and eradicates any confusion about what racism is. If you want to be part of the solution to racism, read this book.

- Kristina Barnett

Cutting-Edge Race Theory

Silent Racism is an excellent book for the educated public as well as for specialists in the field of race theory. Breaking from much of the past literature in race theory, Silent Racism uncovers an all too often ignored fact in contemporary American life- racism, despite the visible gains made over the last several decades has not gone away. In a sense, racism may have become more problematic as it has largely retreated from the public and visible spaces and found refuge in the hidden and unconscious practices of everyday life. This book powerfully and convincingly demonstrates racism's continuing existence in the most unlikely places. Forcing the reader into a reflexive endeavor, Silent Racism forces even the most well-intentioned citizen to delve into their own actions and language to explore the pervasiveness of a racism that the book argues circulates within us all.

- Keith

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