Silent Racism

The discussion in class on Monday about Barbara Trepagnier’s claims about silent racism was very interesting. It seems like a lot of us have been harboring strong feelings about the book all along, even through the first few chapters. I know that I personally can’t ignore some of the hypocrisy of Trepagnier’s presentation of her opinions. She accuses white people of generalizing and stereotyping African Americans, and in doing so she lumps all white people into the same boat: generalization.

I also noticed Dylan’s post about the possibility of anti-feminist readers’ responses, and I think that’s a great point to bring up. Trepagnier uses only women in her study, and she herself is a woman. It almost seems like she’s daring readers to discredit her work for that reason. I’m no scientist, but I know that a study of a dozen females from one particular region of the country does not produce data that can represent an entire race of people. So I’m wondering why she decided to set it up this way, because she must have a reason. Maybe she’s trying to prove a point about judgment and subconscious beliefs, since historically the women’s rights and abolitionist movements were often closely linked. Maybe she’s trying to take a stand for women’s rights, while raising awareness of silent racism at the same time. I’m sure some of these questions will be answered as we read further in the book.