White People and Black Lives Matter Ignorance, Empathy, and Justice
This book interrogates white responses to black-led movements for racial justice. It is a philosophical self-reflection on the ways in which ‘white’ reactions to Black Lives Matter stand in the way of the movement’s important work. It probes reactions whi
- PDF / 1,557,870 Bytes
- 147 Pages / 419.58 x 612.28 pts Page_size
- 55 Downloads / 217 Views
AND
BLACK LIVES MATTER IGNORANCE, EMPATHY, & JUSTICE
White People and Black Lives Matter
Johanna C. Luttrell
White People and Black Lives Matter Ignorance, Empathy, and Justice
Johanna C. Luttrell University of Houston Houston, TX, USA
ISBN 978-3-030-22488-2 ISBN 978-3-030-22489-9 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22489-9 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2019 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover illustration: roberuto / Getty Images Cover design: Tom Howey This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Preface
This book interrogates white responses to black-led movements for racial justice. Such responses are sites of clarity regarding white identity, because whiteness shows itself not only in white people’s self-regarding feelings but more so in dialogic responses to public, democratic social movements and discourse. Yet, my purpose here is not to define whiteness for its own sake but to clear the weeds of white people’s obstacles to respecting black- led social movements like Black Lives Matter (BLM). I probe reactions which often prevent white people from, according to black activists, the full range of human emotion and expression, including joy, anger, mourning, and political action. My ultimate objective is not to indicate the ways in which white people might be racist and so deserve moral condemnation. Even though a white public’s responses to black-led social movements can indeed be racist, such an approach that merely dwells upon the state of white people’s souls is unhelpful to the aims of the social movements in the first place. Instead, the aim is constructive: a philosophical self-reflection on the ways in which ‘white’ reactions to BLM s
Data Loading...
