White Rage Monograpg

 Monograph Review White Rage

The issue of racism is a global vice that still impacts people directly and indirectly in recent times. It has been an ever-present issue in societal matters that it has seen many initiatives of unity and integration quashed due to glaring differences in the people involved. White Rage is a book that unmasks the vice and exposes a perspective that is often hidden, or at least attempts of such magnitudes are made (Anderson). It is the often smaller minority groups targeted by racism and is expected to deal with it independently with minimal to no complaints. The perpetrators of the vice walk away with little to no consequences due to the superiority they enjoy. This perceived superiority is drawn from the numbers and self-interests of those who propagate the vice in society.

Carol Anderson, the author of White Rage, moves the focal point from the victim to the perpetrators and defines the systemic factors that enable and fan discrimination and related vices in the United States. It has become increasingly clear that issues of racial tensions are intensified and propagated via the forms of media that people interact with. However, that is not the main issue Carol aims to achieve in the book. Instead, her goal was to ensure that all the systemic elements that facilitate or propagate the vice are extensively exposed. This reinforces the argument of Jim Morison who said "Whoever controls the media controls the mind." This statement is true in many ways because the way the issues faced by minority groups in some cases are a clear misrepresentation of the truth.

Carol is aligned with the fact that minorities are suffering in places meant to be protected by the federal government and relevant authorities. She points out that facts about the vices perpetrated toward minority groups are systemic. The book is written via inspiration from the shooting in Ferguson where an innocent and unarmed Michael Brown (Everbach, Clark, and Nisbett). Brown was shot by an officer who was not convicted of their crime. In the aftermath of the shooting, media sources focused on the demonstrations and not the actual events that resulted in the demonstrations. Instead of dealing with the standing issues, it became an issue of how demonstrators interfered with normalcy.

The perpetrators play victim when portrayed in the media, and the blame goes to those who have been victimized. Even worse is the possibility that all the issues are carefully choreographed to portray a side that shifts the focus from the main issues at hand. The media, which is meant to tell and propagate facts and the truth, often use the diversions to offset the focus from the core issue to other things that are not aligned with the message they present to media consumers/viewers. Considering how information spreads, it has become an even more concerning trend, but very little is being done to regulate the media. Instead, the system works towards eliminating freedom and propagating what is aligned with the owner's intentions.

Carol argues that whiteness and the way it is portrayed do not have any room left for a world where spaces and resources can be shared. Present-day systemic limitations established are built on the foundations of initiatives initially proposed to facilitate the integration and Reconstruction of the American people. "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.” (Anderson) Policies meant to serve the greater good were not implemented as planned. Instead, they were executed in a way that diminishes the minorities. The progressive work that has been done in the same domain does not bear fruits because the foundations contradict or obstruct progress.

Carol sees the advancement of the minorities, especially the black people in the country, as the leading cause of white rage. "It is not the mere presence of black people that is the problem; rather, it is blackness with ambition, with drive, with purpose, with aspirations, and with demands for full and equal citizenship.” (Anderson) She adds that those who propagate the vices against minorities are facilitated and protected by the very administrative structures that are meant to be impartial. If anything, using the media to divert attention from the primary issue is a tact used by proponents of white supremacy as a last resort. It is activated in the event the other imperceptible approaches have failed.

In the present, a book is not necessary to see how white rage and whiteness are used as evasive tactics to avoid dealing with reality. The book clearly illustrates how systems, policies, and planning are used to sideline the minority groups in favor of the majority. The arguments for and against the meritocracy of systemic discrimination in the US can be made. However, issues will remain if the problems and vices are not addressed appropriately and conclusively. To do this, those responsible for the actions should redesign new approaches that can redo the work of the original plan for Reconstruction. It will have to be done right this time with no deviations from the set plans for any changes to occur. The problem does not end there because wholesale changes in the American people's social structure and norms will be made. The goal of this is to prepare Whites to embrace the advancements of their fellow Americans, it may not have already happened, but it is inevitable.

Work Cited

Anderson, Carol. White rage: The unspoken truth of our racial divide. Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2016.

Everbach, Tracy, Meredith Clark, and Gwendolyn S. Nisbett. "# IfTheyGunnedMeDown: An analysis of mainstream and social media in the Ferguson, Missouri, shooting of Michael Brown." Electronic News 12.1 (2018): 23-41.