Posted by Sam Richards
This question is getting at the issue of white guilt. If past history of discussing this issue offers any clues about how people will respond, most white people will say that they don’t feel guilty, that it’s silly to feel guilty. And I respond to that by saying that most of these white people are missing the point of white guilt, that a deeply rooted shame for past history exists in most white people. Remember the example of walking through a Native American reservation…and not take this example and walk through other communities with a full understanding of their history. What I’ve experienced is that white people have an inner sense that things went really wrong in the past, and that there are lingering affects of those wrongs still with us today–although they cannot readily articulate what those are. Anyway, this is an interesting questions about how we might move beyond white guilt if we just talking about things more openly…
I completely understand and empathize with the notion of white guilt. I, a young white girl, frequently find myself uncomfortable in race relations conversations especially when I am the minority. I fear saying the wrong thing, or offending others even if I feel my beliefs are not racist. This fear is an attachment to my white guilt, my knowing that in the past many of the wrongdoings upon other peoples have been done so by the white population. Although, I do not agree with this feeling that goes on within me, I did not harm any peoples of color, nor did my family. I am a first generation white American, my family comes from Scandinavia. So, this statement may not be entirely true, but at least in the Americas my family has never been a part of or witness to racism.
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In response to the young woman’s on the flip camera I must first acknowledge what a great question she had. Many of the history books, if not all of them, I was exposed to were of white history. We learned about slavery but never necessarily reflected on it. I grew up in a predominantly white community so as a child I never really questioned these teachings. I ask this question to those who grew up in predominantly black communities, did you learn only about white history as well? And if so, what were your reactions to those teachings at the time? I feel that if I were black and exposed to history which left me absent and unrecognized, I would say something, or at least make it known that this type of history was one sided.
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The entire notion of white guilt is very complex, too complex for me to tackle in my lifetime. It is a feeling which I live with and I am sure many white Americans live. I feel that white guilt still has a place in society today due to the extreme difference in quality of life between the United States and other world nations. The developing world suffers terrible hardships in terms of living conditions as well as individual rights; many of these rights have been suffocated due to the actions of the United States and more specifically, white people. Many third world nations are in the palm of the mostly white corporate, global market which runs of capital. This is why so many nations are forced into unhealthy labor practices
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I sometimes feel hopeless when dealing with these thorny issues, but I realize that apathy is a terrible conclusion to come to. Although I am one individual, collectively many of us are able to come together to better the world in the future. My white guilt is not something which consumes me but something I must take acknowledge
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I think this is definitely an interesting point but I do not agree that history books are only based off of a white perspective. I think there has to be a number of researchers to fully write the history book and not all of them come from the exact same background. I do agree that it is an interesting perspective and I would like to know if this would change anything on how white people feel about guilt. I also think people experiences more so than what they are told is what helps shape their feelings and who they are though. So even if we tell young students they, will it really change their guilt or will they still interpret the history how they want depending on their teacher?
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I have never looked at things in this point of view that was talked about in this video. It was interested to hear this girl’s suggestion and I wonder if it would change anything, such as white guilt. I think if we did change our history books that it would still take decades for things to be noticeably different. Literature is not the only reason for our beliefs and feelings but also word of mouth is responsible. It may take quite a while for people to forget the past history between whites and blacks. I feel that if our textbooks were changed today those who experience white guilt would not stop feeling it but maybe their children would not ever have reason to begin to feel it. In regards to white guilt I can’t say I have strong feelings about it. I do not feel extremely guilty because I myself have not inflicted pain on the black race but I have uneasy feelings about them being discriminated against and I also feel nervous about ever offending someone of a different race because everyone prefers to be called something different. I feel that most of the time not everyone is not completely open in discussions about race because they are afraid that they’re language might be offensive to someone else or they might use terms that are not politically correct. Many may think that white people who are not open in race discussions are being so quiet because of white guilt but I think it is because they fear that they do not know how to speak in the correct and appropriate terms.
When Sam says, “And I respond to that by saying that most of these white people are missing the point of white guilt, that a deeply rooted shame for past history exists in most white people.” I cannot relate to this line because I do not feel that I hurt anyone or ruined anyone’s lives. I do not know who my ancestors were and if they were slave owners or if they were poor slaves themselves. If I found out that my ancestors were terrible people who enslaved many innocent black people then yes, I would feel extremely awful and disgusted with my family. In the terms of the Native Americans, I do feel bad about their land being stolen and blood being shed but I cannot go as far as saying I feel very guilty about it because I did not make any decisions that influenced a Native Americans life negatively just as I have not made any decisions that hurt an African American. I think true guilt comes from an interaction that you are completely involved in when your words, decisions, or actions have hurt another person and hindered their chances at success in this world. Feeling sympathetic or bad about what has happened in the past is not what I would describe as guilt.
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This student brings up a very interesting point. I do not think that the history books are written from a “white perspective”. I think that the books are just telling it how it is. The books are a record of history. However, I feel that history books do contribute to the white guilt that is felt by so many people today because they are reminders of what did happen. Although I know that I am not a part of the horrible events that are written in history books, I acknowledge that it was the white people—people of my own race—that were.
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I hate how everything is always directed towards white people and the white race being such horrible people. Although it may be true for some of the people in the white community, it is also true for the black and brown teams as well. When Sam discussed the concept of white guilt, it brought up some interesting concepts for me. Even though I myself am white, I do not necessarily feel guilty for what has happened. As someone stated in class, what people did hundreds of years ago was not caused by our actions today so when do we stop placing the blame on ourselves when we have no control over the past. If I were to go to an Indian reservation and see how poorly this culture was living, of course I would feel bad. But I would not feel that my actions were the cause of their mishap. I do however feel very fortunate for my well-being. Sam always discusses that where we are is caused by the actions of our ancestors and that because I am white, my family and I have it much easier. But my parents came from nothing and worked to get to the positions they are at today. My grand-parents did not go to college and my parents had to work hard and pay their way through college to get where they are today. They were not handed a diploma for being white, they had to work for it as we are all working for our college educations today. Although I am very lucky to have the opportunities I have, I also work hard so I can achieve an education and a better life after graduation. I do not feel guilty that I am here rather than someone else, moreover I feel blessed to be here.
However it is interesting how she brings up the history we are taught in school. This greatly affects how we see the world because we are grown up learning certain facts and certain events which manipulates our viewpoints. I believe that this causes our national ignorance and the fact that people do not realize what happened in our past. This may be the start of the white guilt. Where people feel guilty because they learned what happened during the civil war era or to the Native Americans. But if people do not know about the basis and underlying actions during these times, they may not feel any reconciliation at all. I feel the best way to resolve this guilt is to become knowledgeable about these topics and find out the real history and make decisions for ourselves rather than base it off of our history textbooks. If people do not take the time to learn about our nation’s past, then we will continue to see the ignorance of peoples.
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In response to the posed question I do think that there needs to a change in the way that history is portrayed in this country. We are supposed to be a melting pot of races and nationalities but we only teach predominantly teach white history in school. I am not sure at what age it would be appropriate to incorporate some of the horrors that this country has performed. Middle school I think would be the best age group, just because they are still young enough that they are not yet stuck in their ways. However, they are also mature enough to understand the wrong doings that our nation has done to some of its people. Our discussion group already brought up this idea when we were talking about American Indians. Most of us really did not know much about the true history of these people because in schools we only briefly learned about them. Since we did not know much about them we had a difficulty time coming up with ideas to get their voices and history hears. In addition, we were taught in elementary school and no other time during school. I did not know until this class that the genocide that this country did to them was the most extensive in history.
To this day the schools teach about Christopher Columbus discovering America as a vast untouched land. They still talk about the “First Thanksgiving” and do not mention the terrible genocide going on. I think if we were taught about races more at a younger age then the race relations in this country would be better. By changing the history books that is a huge step in the right direction. It is going to take a couple of generations for the country to start seeing a change.
A large obstacle that this could face is that different regions will react differently. By living in the North there is going to be less resistance to the change versus the Deep South. Since education is also run and determined by the States it would be very hard to have the entire nation change the way that they teach history. For example, I would imagine that in the South they are not going to want to spend an extensive amount of time on slavery and the Civil War. There are people in the South that I think are still fighting the war as confederate civilians.
I never noticed how jaded the history that we were taught in elementary and middle school. Granted I am white and went to schools that were not ethnically diverse, so there was no reason for a young child to notice that we were just learning about white history. Now that I am in college I am finally be introduced to the hard and real events that have shaped that nation that we all live in today. Looking back on it, it must have been so difficult for the students of color to have to sit there and listen to this history where they were below the white people. Or that their genocide be written off and not taught accurately, so the white man could pretend the event never happened. It is only fair to all of the inhabitants of this country that history is taught correctly and with the respect that people deserve. To be the melting pot of nations that we like to think we are then this is a necessary step to create a better country for the future generations.
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As a white female, before having taken Soc 119, I never had much of a sense of "white guilt". This may have been because I was ignorant too much of the true history in America. All I had ever been taught up until taking Soc 119 was what was written in American history books. Today even with the knowledge that the largest genocide in the world occurred right where I am sitting to the Indians, my life is not dictated by "white guilt". As Dr. Richards has said in class there is a deep-rooted shame for what has happened. If I were too walk through a Native American reservation and see how poor the conditions of living are for people who truly had rights to this land, I would feel horrible. However, this white guilt is not something I think about often because I am not exposed to the remnants of the actions my ancestors took on a daily basis. Nor have I ever been taught them in a negative light in history class. Admittedly, I feel bad that such a catastrophic thing happened on the land I inhabit- but when do white people get to stop feeling the guilt? How many generations get to pass before such guilt was to be lifted. Sure it is in the back of my mind, but I can't change history or what ancestors from my race did. I can't change the genocide or the slavery that happened so many years ago, any more than a person from black decent or a person of Native American decent could change the history of their families who may have committed crimes or stolen.
I believe the girl who posed the question on the flip cam has an interesting point and it is possible that many history books used in classrooms are written about much white history in the United States. Although slavery is admitted too, the stories of triumph over slavery are glorified and highlighted in the texts- not how horrid the white race treated blacks. I had not learned until I was 20 years old that the largest genocide in the history of the world occurred on American soil. If history books quit glorifying the creation of the United States and told the true story of what happened- white people might be able to get past the white guilt lingering today. If the true story was written about what happened to Native Americans or slaves on the land we inhabit today, some of the deep-rooted guilt may be lifted because in a sense it would be the white race admitting and realizing their wrongs. Although, I agree that changing the history books used in American classrooms would help lift white guilt, I do not see it happening. If the textbooks were changed to document the truth, America could not represent the values it stands for today of developing a barren land and rising to the top through hard work.
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First let me start off by saying that I agree with Sam's comment about white guilt and how white people often don't admit to feeling the white guilt but the same does exist for the most part. I am basing my agreement with the comment on talks that I have had with other friends and family as well as my own personal opinion. I honestly believe that although it sucks that so many white people feel this way I think that a lot of white people do feel at least some shame inside for past history and as a result we just take the blame and decide not to speak up about racial issues a lot of the time because of this. I will even admit that I have truly felt some of this white guilt and feel some shame inside because of everything that I've learned about past history of African Americans. I will also admit that the white guilt has directly affected why many times I sit at the "race table" and don't say much at all and simply listen to the African Americans and others who remind me of the shame that I feel inside. Now to relate this to the question in the blog, I believe that it really would make a difference concerning white guilt if the history books were changed. Let's be honest here, a majority of what we were taught through grade school, middle school, and maybe even high school was about African American slavery and how the white people controlled them and kept them from having equal rights that the whites had. When we learn this stuff through grade school obviously we are very young and our minds aren't fully developed so we may not understand the severity of the issue at that time but what we do know is that we were being taught it for a reason because it was very wrong. Eventually over time through school when we continue to hear the same things from our history books it can become instilled in our minds that we, as white people, did something extremely wrong and thus has created the problems today with so many racial issues. When this becomes instilled in our brains so much over time eventually some people, although maybe not everyone, is going to feel a sense of white guilt inside that makes them feel as if it was their fault what happened in the past. Since we have been learning the information about how much we wronged the African Americans over such a long period of time I think it's understandable why many white people choose to stay quiet when they are asked about racial issues. If the history books were different then this white guilt really wouldn't exist or at least not to the degree that it does now. What really bothers me is how naive people are and don't want to admit that they feel even the littlest shame inside for past history of African Americans. Just to clarify though I'm not saying that the history books should be changed but I do think that if they were things would be a lot different and white guilt wouldn't exist so much.
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I think that the problem isn't actually with having white history in text books all the time. If anything, I think that that is exactly why people are able to continue to be in denial about the history of race relations in America for so long— we focus on one, dominant race's history rather than everyone's collective history. I think that changing the history books to reflect all sides of history may actually temporarily increase White Guilt because a large group of people will suddenly realize that everything that they have is actually because of years and years of oppressing other race groups.
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She brings up an interesting idea about changing the history books. But how would we change them while maintaining historical accuracy? We all know that history is written by the victors; therefore we are taught about slavery and civil rights and race issues from the perspective of the union and civil rights activists. They won the war. They dictate the lenses that the future generations see historical events. You would not teach your children or your grandchildren to reject your views- tell them to hate minorities while dedicating your life to combat such bigotry. My current understanding of white guilt makes me think that it is the current race relations and political correctness that is the major factors perpetuating white guilt.
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I believe that 'white guilt' would be around regardless if we were taught the what happened in the past differently. Most likely the textbooks that our society uses are already written by somebody who is white, meaning that we could be less inclined to feel for those of color, however people still take responsibility for the past. For example, say somebody of color wrote the textbook about the slave trade, how could that eliminate white guilt. Clearly that person would put more of their feelings into the text book and aim towards having more white guilt in the world. Even if they were completely bias it would still come of the page differently. Secondly, white guilt wouldn't just go away. For example, if we were to change the textbooks to try to eliminate white guilt, whose job is it to say what would make individual person feel a certain way. Also, due to the fact that were are a society that does have 'white guilt' those feelings aren't just going to dissaper when we tach a younger generation with a new approach. Each high school/school district, etc has the ability to choose whichever textbook they like, thus making what the teach completely different from something somebody else teaches. For example, a text book that is used in the North is going to tell the story of the civil war differently then a textbook that is used in the south. I had the chance once to talk to a very southern person, who was convinced that the North didn't win and that the South just generously gave up and decided to be the bigger person. It's about what you're taught and say the school alters a little, there parents were taught to have a 'white guilt' and some of it is bound to rub off on their children, so in my eyes that feeling will never go away.
For me, I don't think I have 'white guilt' just because I don't think about it. I don't see a Native American, or a black person and think, oh I'm better then you because of what my ancestors did, so I'm going to alter who I am to acomidate your needs. I see someone and I may think I should smile at them because if I make eye contact, I smile, but I don't think about race that often. When I'm in Sam's class and when i'm in section, clearly the topic is on my mind, but it doesn't run my life. When I hang out with my friends, as bad as this, we talk and think about things that directly pertain to us. I don't feel that most people sit around thinking, my ancestors did this, how can I personally make up for it. Maybe I experience a little bit of 'white guilt,' but i feel that so does each white person.
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Hi Abril, I have e-mailed you three times now about my grades and have not gotten a response. I did not receive credit for my posts on 2/15, but I did to them and you can see them when you click on my screen name, igg5003. Also, I did not receive credit for registering for intense debate probably because I did a section switch from section 014 to section 033, so I should have received credit in section 014 for signing up for intense debate. Thank you. I am not really sure where I stand with this question. Yes, I do believe that history books could be changed in some ways to provide a true realization of what really happened. For example, the real history that Native Americans were overthrown from their land instead of the story that Christopher Columbus “sailed the ocean blue” and discovered America. However, pertaining to slavery, the history books do tell the true story. I think the only way we could change the history books regarding to slavery is making the text more emotional and telling several stories from the side of the slaves.
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I think that this is a very interesting approach to eliminating "white guilt". In the majority of American school districts, we do not hear the "truth" to most historical events until high school. For example, in elementary school we celebrated Christopher Columbus and how great he was. "In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue." In reality, he destroyed a society in a similar way that Europeans stole land from Native Americans. I know that I have learned a lot in various upper level history courses about the oppression of Native Americans and African Americans, but it is hard to empathize with them. In an ideal world, the curriculum could somehow include a section on race relations where the "white team" would be oppressed for a day to see how it is. However, that would probably cause a lot of debate and most teachers don't have that kind of leverage, especially in public schools. It is true though that all textbooks are written from a white perspective. Learning about history from this angle for our entire lives makes it very difficult to see things in another light. That doesn't necessarily make someone unintelligent; this is how they were always taught. It is also interesting to remember what Sam said in class yesterday about how history is also written from a male's perspective. If we heard all minorities points of views on history, I think everyone would be much more open minded and accepting of what is different or unique. This is something that would need to be done from a young age. Most assemblies/speakers brought in to schools during Black History Month or some other time of the year do not happen until students are at least in middle school. The history books for elementary school students are very sheltered and provide them with a lot of false information. They glorify events that have truly destroyed others, and are mainly from the perspective of the white male. It is very difficult to make changes in a society that has these stereotypes, differences, and diversity embedded into our culture. Yet, it is our job to educate the future generations, and I believe that this is where we can make a difference.
Like many others have commented, I personally don't feel a true "white guilt". Its frustrating sitting in class and having people point fingers. My family has not been in America for more than the early 20th century, and just because I am white doesn't mean I destroyed an entire society. I guess you can also turn this around and say, "Just because I am Black/Native American doesn't mean I am angry and trying to put a blame on you." Either way, it is a huge catch 22, and I am not sure how it will ever be resolved.
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I thought that the proposition of changing the history books was very interesting. I am an elementary education major and have had a particular interest in children’s literature. This question made me think of all of the classic fairytales or children’s stories that ultimate teach some life lesson. The common morals of the stories being, “don’t judge a book by its cover,” “don’t trust strangers,” “true beauty lies within” there are many more. Children are easily influenced by what surrounds them and we’ve talked about how you’re raised playing a large part in how you perceive the world and the people around you, especially in terms of race relations. When it comes to rewriting the history books, I do not think that would ever fly in the school systems, because it is just too far out of the already established comfort zone. I prefer the older grades, but I have had experience in younger classroom and worked with teachers who teach the primary grades. They are big on the happy, comforting classroom atmosphere and can get very thrown off when having to deal with an issue that may be controversial. I think a lot of this comes from viewing the youth as innocent and people are afraid that if we start teaching the negative parts of history in a true, real way, that we will somehow ruin that innocence, make them grow up too fast, or start to think to negatively. And for many educators, they are protective of their children. So instead of depicting what truly happened between the Native Americans and the Europeans, or the whites of the north and the blacks of the south, we put a child proof seal on the story. Make sure that it is “G” rated and assume that they can learn the real facts later, because “they are too young now.” But in my opinion there will always be an excuse. It’s obvious that having serious conversations with children requires different standards than having similar conversations with adults, but I think that there were some drastic measures taken to remove the real truth from the history books, in order to not make white people look as bad. Teachers need to be willing to taking that risk and figure out a way to present the facts in a way that is appropriate for their students. I mentioned children’s books earlier because I think that they could be a great teaching tactic. I am sure that many books have attempted to do this, but none that can really stick out in my mind, and ones that have limited use in the classroom. Maybe I haven’t been in the classroom enough, or maybe I would see more materials if I were to be out of this county, but I from classes and discussions, many more people would rather focus on the good than the bad, especially when it comes to dealing with children, so we don’t talk about those controversial race issues, and that is exactly why there is a class like Soc 119, because obviously those children grow up and now have questions, because when they were younger they didn’t get the full story.
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I know a lot of history that is written by white people portrays the actions of white people negatively. However there are parts that are left out. For example the “scramble for Africa”. Where European settlers divided up Africa into different colonies and economically exploited them. They taxed the Africans forcing them to produce goods like cotton and coco that had no use for them and only benefited the Europeans. Doing this to the Africans deeply inhibited their progress to produce domestic goods and the effects of this are still seen today. I would argue a lot of Africa’s problems today were caused by European settlers coming in and totally exploiting them and putting them on the low end of a global economy they wanted no part of. The sad part is all through high school I never learned this in one of my history classes it was not until my sophomore in college I learned about this horrible tragedy.
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Personally i don't think the books ever taught me about white guilt-if anything changing the books would teach me about it. Maybe if we learned it from a younger age we would be better adapt to cope with the guilt? understand it? I think white guilt doesnt come until you identify with the fact that you are white, there is such a thing of race in the world, and that you have an advantage. that is when it becomes hard. When I lived in africa for 6 months, there was not just white guilt, there was American guilt. Sometimes it was almost too much to cope with and made me just simply cry. If you want to understand white guilt, for me-its kind of like going into the townships in Africa and seeing the starving sick chidren, and then realizing that maybe you don't have it do bad…. maybe things aren't as bad as they COULD be.
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This video post brings up a really good point. I do believe that one of the reasons why some Caucasians do not completely understand why colored people think that Caucasians should should feel guilty about the pasts is because they do not understand the full story. This whole race issues and the events that have happened in the past are a huge part of our United States history. Therefore it should be stressed and explained a little bit more especially in text books. This year, being in this Sociology class and participating in the race relations project I learned a lot more about these race issues than I have ever learned in my past twelve years of schooling, and that is including two years of a United States history course. When I took part in the race relations project I really learned a lot from a fellow student because it was true stories that he was telling that were passed down from his father, grandfather, and uncles. It really opened my eyes and for the first time I genuinely began feeling the "white guilt". Up until then of course I felt bad and thought that it was not fair that colored people used to have to go to separate schools, use separate bathroom and water fountains, and sit in the back of bus, but I guess it never truly hit home until this semester. I think that if history classes were more open about these issues and told the whole story then students would really begin to understand. In my school, it was at least sixty five percent colored people, therefore if our history classes were more open about the topic, I am sure all of my peers and I could have learned a lot from the other colored students because they are full of true stories, and that is better than learning from an old boring text book. However, in stead all of my teachers seemed to just brush over the topic and never went into full detail. I think these are important details that all students should know, and if did then maybe they would begin to really understand why colored people think that white people should feel the "white guilt". I understand why some of these topics are a little brushed over or sugar coated in elementary school and maybe even middle school but high schoolers especially in Advanced placement courses are able to handle it and really understand if they are taught it.
I think that if the text books explained the blunt truth then it would be easier for teachers to be open about it and discuss it freely in their classrooms. Also I think if teachers used real life stories from guest speakers or other students then they would be able to get students to really understand.
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The whole concept of White guilt intrigues me. As an Asian-American, I never knew that White people could feel so guilty towards certain racial groups and ethnicities. When Sam brought up the racial identity stages for White people, especially Revisioning and Reversal, I was completely taken aback by how White people could feel such a way. Sam explained the manifestations of “White Guilt” entail a feeling of burden of responsibility for the “suffering” of other groups, as well as a feeling of shame for aspects of one’s own life. When I look back at history books, I do agree that some things went wrong towards minority groups. However, I would never expect to hear an admission or confession from a White person about this type of guilt. When Sam played the role of the average White Joe, it was intriguing to see how White people will originally put up a façade and have their chin up with the denial of such a feeling of remorse or regret. But when the conversation penetrates into their minds and hearts, they’ll let down their guards and admit this guilt.
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I was never really into history but I do remember that the textbooks that we read and what we were taught were all about white people. I do think that the textbooks that we are given in grade school really change a lot of things about what and how we learn. I remember learning about slavery when I was younger but I feel like they did not make a big deal about it but I really have no idea why because I have recently read about female slaves and slavery is not a joke but I feel like from what I used to learn about it, it just did not seam like a huge deal. Everyone knows that slavery was serious and not a thing to mess around with but from what I used to learn about you never actually knew the true struggles that the slaves went through. I understand that since the textbooks are for a younger age group that you cannot share the things that were truly horrible for these slaves to go through but they took it way to lightly when the subject was very serious.
I feel that most kids when they are younger do not always experience different racial groups and interacting so what they learn about in history is what they know and if they are not learning about this to the highest extent they will not know why some black people feel the way the do to white people because they were not taught everything they should have been taught. I also think the authors need to read over their textbooks before they are going to publish them because just because they are white and feel like it may be directed towards mainly white people does not mean that we do not need to know both sides of the story, if anything you need to hear the opposite of what kids are being taught today so they know what people feel like everyone is still not treated equal in today’s society.
Teacher’s should see this throughout their textbooks that their students are not getting the full story of what really happened and should assign books for the students to read about what actually happened and get them to know true life experiences about what their ancestors used to do and it not be candy coated, like the textbooks. Once a student would real one of these books the white guilt would begin because they really never knew how bad their ancestors treated the other race and they would feel guilty for happened. The younger you start teaching the kids about what really happened the better because then we would start understanding the inequality in the world and not be shunned from reality for so long.
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ven though it is the year 2010 and there are no official slaves (that are spoken about) in the United States, the problem of racial segregation is not over, as we all know. I know that when me and my white friends are in soc 119 lecture and the conversation shifts to white against black we feel uncomfortable. We are know dealing with the remains of slavery and the social problems even though we had no influence in slavery whatsoever. I feel as we grow up we never talk about who was right or wrong in the situation because clearly the white race was wrong and the black race just had no choice in the situation. We are taught to believe that we are white for a reason and we are perfect and how everybody should want to be so how is it that we would make such a giant mistake as slavery and that it could be out fault? Maybe it is time we, the “white team” start taking the blame.
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I personally feel that they concept of white guilt is changing. I think that it is obvious from class that most of the white people there do not feel guilty. It should not be about carrying around guilt with you and individuals of other races should not be making white people feel that guilt because of what their ancestors did generations ago. I think that it should be more about recognition and understand of the past as opposed to trying to make up for it now. I did not physically or emotionally harm anyone, so there is no reason for me to carry around guilt.
As far as the textbook comment goes, I agree that history books in this country are manipulated to portray a strong country that it is always in the right and makes the right decisions; however, I learned about slavery at a very young age and knew what had happened. I didn’t feel guilty again because I did not do anything myself. I remember feeling bad that that took place in history, but no more than I feel bad that people are made slaves all over the world today (which is not always by white people).
As I said, I did learn about slavery and the terrible torture that went on; however, I do not remember learning about how the Native Americans suffered and still do today. If there is a group to feel guilty about it is most certainly the Native Americans. Our textbooks tell us when we’re little kids that the Europeans and Native Americans got along well. I seem to remember quite a bit of reinforcement on the fact that diseases like small pox are what killed most of them. I was definitely unaware of the fact that they were tortured by the European settlers.
I think that textbooks actually do eliminate the guilt because they avoid it. They don’t tell you exactly what happened because most white people try not to think about it anyway. I don’t think that you can teach little kids that their ancestors tortured other humans. I would assume that would be something emotionally and psychologically draining. It is okay to talk about it at an older age. I specifically remember doing a project in seventh grade called the Columbus Trial. We researched what had happened when Columbus came to America and put on a mock trial to decide whether or not he was innocent or did in fact torture the Native Americans. The thing about that project that I thought was appropriate was that our teachers let us do the research and let us come to the conclusions on our own about what happened. It eliminated a lot of the ignorance and showed us that we needed to do our research and decide what we thought about our history books.
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I find it interesting that most white people claim that they do not feel the “white guilt.” Although some may in fact be
complete sociopaths, I do feel that most white people feel some sort of guilt. I can relate the "white guilt" to many things from Native American genocides and American slavery… However, I feel a good example of classic white guilt can be seen from the aftermath of the Holocaust. Although the Holocaust, among many of these incidents was one of the most horrific events in human history, it is impossible to say that Germans do not feel some sort of guilt about it. I read a book about the Holocaust called "Those Who Save Us," and it reminds me of the issue of white guilt because it involved a series of interviews of German women who were alive and living in Germany during the Holocaust. Many of them refused to even talk about the topic. It is well known that this is the case in real life as well. The book discusses the fact that many people who may or may not have even been involved with the murders of Jews, they refuse to talk about it because of the shame they endure. Although they never admit their guilt, it is clearly evident that they are ashamed of the actions of their people by their inability or refusal to talk about it. This is a universally applicable concept and can be seen in issues of American "white guilt" as well. Many people do not want to feel responsible and do not want to feel guilty and so they either justify the actions of their ancestors or create other psychological defense mechanisms (ie: denial) in order to ease their own cognitive dissonance. This may explain why many white people say that they do not feel guilty but then continue to deny, justify, externalize or project their feelings onto others.
Additionally, in a race relations discussion group that I had last semester, one girl (who was white) would bring up her family and her parents on every issue as if they were perfectly innocent. When we were talking about black people and the Ku Klux Klan she told a story about her grandparents who were approached by the KKK and were so adamantly against them. She then also said that she had relatives from Germany who she "knew for a fact" had absolutely no relations or involvements with the holocaust. While this may be true, I have to think that a part of the reason why she was so incessant on her family being completely antiracist was in part because she felt some sort of this classic "white guilt,” and felt the need to ease her own guilt.
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I dont know how much changing the history books would help shift white guilt but i do believe that openly discussing this issue and pointing out key factors could help the issue. When we address the issue of racial discrimination head on we tackle the debate to the core and make more progress than just overlooking the guilt of white people and just assuming its all in the past.. This class has helped me address the problems with discussion of race in society and taught me to express my opinion. It has also helped me to never leave anything unquestioned.
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This is a very interesting discussion topic. I am curious to see how people respond to the issue of white guilt. I’ll say that as a white male, I do not at all feel guilty for what the generations of white people have done before me. I can’t take responsibility for the actions of people who lived before me. However, I do feel some guilt for my own actions dealing with race relations. I am not at all a racist, I can promise you that. I have had my moments where I am bias towards people of another race though. For that, I take responsibility. I am also guilty of not spreading my concern towards race issues. I could definitely become more active with those types of issues.
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From an early age, I believe that people are improperly educated on race issues. The books that children read in elementary and middle school don’t really get into the issues of race relations. All they talk about is slavery. That white people brought black people from Africa to the United States to work on plantations. They explain that it is wrong. Unfortunately, these books are only scratching the surface of racial problems. These books don’t talk about much dealing with Native Americans. They seem to forget to mention that it was the largest extent of genocide ever.
I think that it is hard to blame white people for being naïve towards race relation issues. It’s not something that people just choose to have an opinion on. The opinion comes from the way people were raised. Parents, the school system and friends are what shape peoples thoughts towards racial issues. There are definitely people out there that are so racist that it doesn’t have to do with how they were raised but how immature they are being more open minded.
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I believe that a lot needs to be done in order to improve racial issues around the world. For starters, the text books for young children need to be changed. The government needs to take responsibility for that. They need to generate new books for children that discuss race. These books should be a requirement for schools all across the nation. I think that once people get into high school, there should be race relations classes, just like this one. This class has been great for me, and I’m sure many people would say the same. It really allows people to get insight on what’s really going on out there. Writing the blogs is awesome. It allows me to collect my thoughts and write them down in a semi-organized format. Many issues discussed in this class have sparked my interest and lead me to discussing them with my roommates. So this class is not only affecting the students in the class, but many more. I also think that race relation classes should be used more often in the business world. Companies should require their employees to attend a few every year. There is a lot that can be done to improve our society as a whole on the issues of race.
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This is an interesting question and topic. I really do believe that deep down most white people, the ones who have any kind of soul, feel some sort of guilt about what has happened in the past. Similarly, even people today may feel some kind of guilt about certain issues, for example, the hiring process. Guilt may not be the right word, I see it more as feeling bad about the situations at hand, but because we personally did not contribute to the past, we do not necessarily feel "guilty" about the situation. What happened in the past with slavery, Jim Crowe laws, lynching, etc. was definitely wrong, there is no arguing that, and yes as a white person, I do feel awful about everything that happened, I'm just not sure I can classify my "feeling bad" as guilt. I have never personally done anything intentionally to hurt a person of another color, race, or ethnicity, but I do think it was wrong that those situations ever took place in the 1920s-60s. Some of the videos we watched in class really disturbed me. The video of the little black children picking the white doll as the good doll. I had no words to explain how I felt about that. That was really disturbing, and it breaks my heart that little children do not see their own race as "good" or attractive. The video of the man doing the different accents was equally as disturbing. Just because the woman on the other end of the phone thought that the man was black, latino, chines, or indian she would not even give him the time of day. Then when the man spoke in a White American accent, she was fully willing to work with him. That is so unfair, and it hurts my feelings that there are so many people sharing my race treat different races poorly.
Wouldn't it be pretty difficult to write a "White History Book" without including people of color anywhere? I believe Reconstruction and the Civil Rights Movement is also a part of White History. After all, the white people were the ones discriminating and treating other races poorly. However, I think if the text books were changed to only teach about "white history", leaving out people of color completely, that yes maybe the white guilt would disappear. At that point I believe that white people's eyes would not even be open to the racial issues in past or present society. It would take a class like Soc119 where racial issues are "brought to the table" to open people's eyes. So maybe we could say the "white guilt" and feelings of shame would begin to occur later in life. Completely getting rid of "white guilt"/feelings a sorrow/feeling bad is nearly impossible.
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I completely agree. I mean as a white person I sort of feel guilt to some extent, but not really because I had no control over what happened. Having said that, I think that changing the history books is a great idea. I mean we learn about like the bare minimum about black history and I think its important for everyone to learn about black history as well as white. I mean I think that there is so much left out of history books including the truth about like Columbus and other historical figures.
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Anyway, I think that there needs to be more focus on other historical black figures and I think will definitely help to educate kids earlier about the rich history there and maybe help to alleviate some of the guilt the white people feel for what happened in the past. Education is definitely the key to defeating the guilt. The more you understand, and know, the better I think we’ll feel.
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I honestly have very little white guilt as it is often referred to and its because I didn’t grow up in that era and I don’t feel like I owe you anything. If that pisses you off im sorry but I didn’t live back then so why should I be punished because the way of others, and what happened back then. Do you as African Americans feel as if I owe you something? I literally mean this generation because yea your ancestors defiantly disserve restitution for what they were put through. It wasn’t right and it shouldn’t have happened. Our generation on the other hand has evolved to the point where we now have a black president. We have opened up and are a completely different nation than we were hundreds of years ago. Now everyone walks the streets equal and yea there are still some people who will make comments that are unwarranted but that doesn’t mean every white person should feel guilty for the actions of others because honestly I don’t.
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I believe that "white guilt" is just another way for some people to make it easier to forgive for the past. After all the history stories and books I have read. I have read enough to argue both sides an clearly we ALL know that's African Americans can point the finger. I also believe that "we as the people" need to learn to forgive and think about those who pave the way for us. Those who tried to make a better world and land for us.
I have learned to forgive for the past. Not because I think that history can't never be justified and I'm giving up but because I rather talk about the activist who used two entirely different methods to strive towards making the world "One". With this i mention several activist: Malcolm X and Martiin Luther King. Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. both fought for social change between the black and white society. If you’re not sure of what method to use for social change, here are two previous activists that used opposite methods to achieve their goals. They spent their lifetime pursuing the goal of equality for African Americans and destroying the social barriers between them.
Though the two activist’s fought for the same cause, they ultimately used different methods of achieving their dreams and accomplishing their missions. The forces that shaped them gave them very different views on achieving equality but the vision was the same.
Both men had inspirational voices and demanded a change. As two strong males striving for the same mission, neither of them gave up by choice. Malcolm as a child experienced racism in the North while Martin experienced racism in the South. X and King were determined to make both the South, and the North a more suitable place. During their mission to improve the rights of African Americans Malcolm X and Martin Luther King were assassinated by someone who obviously thought that their methods were inferior. Malcolm and Martin believed it was up to the African Americans to change the negative perception others placed upon them, and the harsh way others treated them due to being the “outside race”.
I guess you can figure where I stand on the "white guilt" issue. We will never see the future if we cannot get through the past.
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Personally, I feel bad about what happened to others in the past, and I would agree that there are still repercussions to what happened back then today, especially when it comes to Native Americans, but there is no reason for me to feel guilty for what happened. Those things happened way before my time, and I have nothing to do with what happened back then, so why should I feel guilty for it. We have come a long way since then, especially within the past few years. At some point, whites will be a minority group in the United States. When this happens, what will the odds be that the group or groups in the majority will feel guilty to what may happen to us?
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Recently we argued about white guilt a lot in class. And most of time I agreed with Sam. To be with more honest, as a (Asian) foreigner, I didn’t know about white guilt. Before I heard about this, I thought all white didn’t feel about what they have done in the past. Or why should they be? I knew about the beginning history of America but I didn’t know what was wrong with it. It was just an invasion as other countries did like Napoleon’s invasion all over the Europe and some Asia countries. (may be because I am ignorant in finding the meaning of history.) But then I realized that there was irony in U.S. history when Sam started to talk about how this freedom country is based on ignoring others freedom which is Native Americans’. After that lecture, I began to think that may be Americans should feel a little bit of guilt about what they did to the other races. However, as long as I have thought about this issue, I realized that I was wrong. It wasn’t about white guilt but, accepting the truth in history even it is their shame.
Most of American teenagers are not well known about these meaning of facts. Obviously they knew what had happened, not in real way. I don’t think white should feel guilt about this, but at least they should be aware about what their ancestors have done to other race. I read some earlier comments that regarded about ‘Are U.S. children ready to hear all the ugly history and the truth in the past?’ I partially agree with this point. However, I strongly recommend teaching the ‘ugly’ truth since the kids are young.
It seems like that some classmates (in this sociology class) tried to avoid or not to accept the real truth. (when we did class poll and discussion)
People tend to consider the history as just simple fact in the past, which is not right way to look at the history.
In my opinion, white shouldn’t feel guilt about the things happened in history by their ancestor. However, they must remember the happening and learned how it was unfair. Then they should remind the history and the responsibility to themselves and their children. (teach them that it is bad and was their ancestors’ fault, not theirs) Also people have to put some efforts to try not to happen again.
The children should have responsibility to their ancestors’ bad behavior as Germany still pay money to Jews who suffered from holocaust.
My final sentence is that white guilt is about the responsibility but not feeling and suffering real guilty from what their ancestors have done.
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I think the topic of white guilt is very interesting and complex and personal for each person.
I think that because white guilt begins to unveil its self in white people once they learn white history, which is what American history basically consists of. I have often noticed when I open your typical elementary to high school history text book, that only the first page vaguely mentions native Americans and there extermination and immediately moves into the discussion of colonies.
So, I’m not exactly sure how so much guilt can be summoned up when they don’t really learn of the wrongs of their ancestry among other peoples. In elementary and middle school, I recall happy teachings of Indians and pilgrims and talk of happy dinners, but later and quite late in high school you find, what Native Americans received in return was various diseases.
I think a main cause of the shame or guilt they say or don’t say they feel is from shock and realization that their ancestors weren’t just running away from mean bossy British. But they were also suppressing, murdering, and enslaving numerous races and groups of people all at once in such a short period of time is too much for some to handle and become over whelmed.
I feel that some get angered and lash out, saying “its not their fault” or “there’s nothing they can do” or “its just how it is, and it was a war and some had to lose.” And then there are those who become all self destructive, or ashamed, whining about the wrongs. These reactions are not very productive in my opinion. Those thoughts and statements don’t really do any thing but hold them back from realizing why they are being taught the history in the first place.
I think the best way to move away from white guilt to explain again that the reason why we have history books is so we can learn from our own ancestor’s mistakes and other’s ancestor’s mistakes. I find it hard to believe to that all other races never did anything wrong in the past. Any one suffering from white guilt needs to understand that we are all learning about this to try and work together to undo the damage that has been done to the relationship, learn where all of animosity stems from, accept responsibility, NOT guilt, responsibility that we all, all races within America, owe each other help and support as fellow Americans.
Honestly, white guilt is an unnecessary inconvenience to the path of uniting and resolving the racism, discrimination, and prejudice that goes on between the races. It virtually cripples the white people from wanting to learn more and then either begin to think people of color are so help less and need all the sympathy of the world, which pits those who become angered by the idea of ‘guilt’ against everyone, pretty useless.
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