"White Rage" by Carol Anderson

Count me among the numerous people who are confined by the pandemic, outraged by police atrocities, and wishing we could find a constructive way to participate in the current nation-wide protests and peaceful demonstrations. Evidently many of us feel that learning more about the history of racism in our society at least means we are doing something -- the Washington Post says:

"This week, the best-selling books are mostly about race and racism." (link)

From one of the many lists of books that a well-intentioned white person should read, I chose White Rage by Carol Anderson. I thought I knew a lot about American history, but this book taught me new things in every chapter.

Anderson's prologue offers a useful explanation of the meaning of the term "white rage" --

"White rage is not about visible violence, but rather it works its way through the courts, the legislatures, and a range of government bureaucracies. It wreaks havoc subtly, almost imperceptibly. Too imperceptibly, certainly, for a nation consistently drawn to the spectacular— to what it can see. It’s not the Klan. White rage doesn’t have to wear sheets, burn crosses, or take to the streets. Working the halls of power, it can achieve its ends far more effectively, far more destructively." (p. 3). 

White Rage begins its historic exploration at the time of the Civil War -- "in 1860, 80 percent of the nation’s gross national product was tied to slavery." (p. 11). The economic value of slave labor was of course coupled to the complete lack of slaves' participation in the economic gains; the immediate aftermath of the war was that the former owners tried to re-harness the work of Black people without paying them. What is amazing is how they succeeded in making laws to uphold this goal, and how the former slaves suffered under the yoke of new oppression. I knew the outline, but the details still shocked me!

By World War I, the plight of Black people in the South was desperate. Jobs were opening in the industrial north, and the Great Migration of Blacks in search of a better life was underway. One thing that surprised me in White Rage was the account of the fanatic and abusive ways that the elected officials in the South attempted to prevent their near-slaves from leaving. (Need I mention that by this time, all officials were elected by white voters because Blacks had been deprived of the right to vote.)

Freedom of the press, at least in the North, enabled information to reach the would-be escapees. I was fascinated by the role of the newspaper the Chicago Defender in enabling the southern victims to escape:

"Central to the Great Migration, the Chicago Defender served as one of the primary conduits of information about opportunities up north. Using a far-flung distribution system of African American railroad porters, the paper extended its influence well beyond Chicago and deep into the Mississippi Delta. The Defender’s stridency, its unrelenting embrace of blackness, and its open contempt for white racist regimes turned a simple newspaper into a symbol of African American pride and defiance." (pp. 48-49). 

I learned so much about the early twentieth century! For example, I've always heard the term "race riot" -- here is a bit more from White Rage:

"Though labeled 'riots,' these outbursts were more like rampages, where whites went hunting for African Americans to pummel, burn, and torture. Killing was just an added bonus. In some instances, as in Chicago, blacks fought back. But in all instances, they were outnumbered. In Chicago alone, twenty-three African Americans were killed, and one thousand black families were left homeless. During the Red Summer of 1919 there were, in fact, seventy-eight lynchings, including a man burned at the stake in Omaha, Nebraska." (pp. 54-55).

Unfortunately, throughout the twentieth century, the established power of white people, both in the south and in the north, has continued to abuse the rights of the Black population. The book's descriptions were vivid and informative: lynchings, coordinated efforts to maintain housing segregation, lack of support for Black children's schooling (which was much worse than I knew), voter suppression, and many other forms of racial abuse have been commonplace and are still supported by American government at all levels up to and including US Presidents, the Congress, and the Supreme Court. As always in a good book the details are amazing, but I can't include them all here.

Throughout Anderson's coverage of the political events that occurred during my own lifetime, I nevertheless learned a great deal about the way that specific federal legislation, supported by court decisions, was either designed or transformed into ways to reinforce the disadvantages of Black people in our society. It's really depressing and at the same time enlightening to see the current situation in the context of all this history.

Another book on the list for current reading.
I read it when it was new --
My brief review is here:"White Fragility"

This review copyright © 2020 mae sander.