Silent racism:
How whites perpetuate the racial status quo

June 2007—All white people perpetuate racism against black people, even well-meaning whites who most people would regard as “not racist,” says Dr. Barbara Trepagnier, Associate Professor of Sociology at Texas State.

This “silent racism”—rarely noticed by whites—is instrumental in the production of institutional racism, which continues to cause inequality between white and black Americans. Judging whether individuals are racist won’t improve racial equality, Trepagnier argues in her book Silent Racism: How Well-Meaning White People Perpetuate the Racial Divide (2006 Paradigm Publishers; now in paperback). Rather, she says institutional racism will be lessened only when whites heighten their awareness of race and begin to discuss racism with black Americans.

Today, despite the successes of the civil rights movement, blacks continue to do worse than whites on every social indicator—health, education, employment, housing, justice. Trepagnier points to “silent racism”—routine actions that often are not recognized by the actor as racist but that uphold the racial status quo—as responsible for perpetuating institutional racism. According to her study, these routine actions take a number of forms. One is stereotypical images—misinformation about blacks prevalent in our culture. For example, whites are often surprised to find that a black person has a college degree or is employed as a professional, believing instead that blacks generally are not well educated.

Dr. Barbara Trepagnier

Another form of silent racism is paternalistic assumptions—a sense of superiority found in hierarchical relationships between blacks and whites. Paternalistic assumptions, in her study, occurred in women who were from the South, and whose families had employed African Americans in their homes. Embedded in this form of silent racism is the notion that whites are responsible for blacks, who are seen as in need of protection. Karen, one of the women in the study, ordered ice cream for a black friend when they were in high school. She explained that she was trying to take care of her friend because they were in a “white” ice cream shop.

Trepagnier also found that well-meaning whites can perpetuate racism through “passivity”: the silence that occurs when one is detached from race matters and believes that racism is limited and rare. Whites are also silent on the issue of race when they are apprehensive about being perceived as racist and confused about what is racist and what isn’t. Passivity endorses and encourages the racist decisions, actions, and policies of other white people, Trepagnier said.

“A racism continuum would prompt well-meaning white people to consider their own ideas about race,” Trepagnier explained. “It would prompt us not to ask whether we are racist (we are) but what we do that might be racist. Only when we ask this question can we become aware of our own (and others’) racism and work to lessen it.”

“We [white people] can’t separate our ideas about black Americans from what we do in the world,” Trepagnier said. “Some of what we do seems so inconsequential, but it can have negative effects when it is institutionalized.”

To draw her conclusions about silent racism, Trepagnier talked to 25 white women who consider themselves progressive in terms of race politics. The women—some of whom had more heightened race awareness than others—discussed their attitudes with Trepagnier in group sessions. “I wanted to talk to people like me,” Trepagnier said. “I’d been to workshops on racism. I was actively trying to end racism, but I discovered I still have racist ideas of which I was unaware. I found that some of the women in my study were more aware of race I was.

“Whites try so hard not to be racist,” she continued. “Most of us are not blatant racists—we don’t dislike or hate people of color. On the other hand, if we try to ignore racial difference, we don’t acknowledge institutional racism and we overlook other subtle forms of racism that marginalize people of color. I concluded that rethinking racism entails changing the language we use to talk about racism.”

Trepagnier suggests abolishing the oppositional categories “racist” and “not racist” in favor of a “racism continuum” that would range from “more racist” on one end to “less racist” on the other. Such a continuum would more accurately depict racism because it encompasses blatant racism at the “more racist” end yet doesn’t obscure the everyday racism that is concealed in the old “not racist” category.

“A racism continuum would prompt well-meaning white people to consider their own ideas about race,” Trepagnier explained. “It would prompt us not to ask whether we are racist (we are) but what we do that might be racist. Only when we ask this question can we become aware of our own (and others’) racism and work to lessen it.”

High race awareness in well-meaning white people is essential to their taking an antiracist stand. Race awareness occurs in three stages, Trepagnier said. First, one needs an historical knowledge of racism in the United States. “We know that slavery ended, and we feel okay about that. But our society is silent about what came afterward—the Jim Crow Laws that were enforced between 1876 and 1965, mandating a separate but equal status for black Americans. In reality, this led to treatment and accommodations that were inferior for blacks,” Trepagnier said.

The second stage of race awareness involves an understanding of institutional racism—how the justice and educational systems, for example, treat people of color differently. In the third stage, one develops a sense that all whites are part of the problem, even those who care deeply about the issue. Another essential component of race awareness is having close relationships with blacks and other people of color in which conversations about racism occur regularly.

“How many people of color do we have close ties to? For most of us, not many,” Trepagnier said. “When we develop those friendships, we begin to understand people different from ourselves. We need to see racism through the eyes of a person we care about. We need to ask them to talk about their experiences with racism,” she said.

“We have to be courageous to ask these questions,” she continued. “I used to think it would be racist to bring up the subject of race with a person of color. Being a white woman, I still think of myself as part of the problem, but I know now that it is important to recognize the difference between races and to talk about it.”

In a final chapter, Trepagnier explores strategies for lessening institutional racism. She presents a theory of antiracist practice and the role of race awareness in the process. Participants’ views about how to lessen racism are also presented, along with suggestions for facilitating race awareness workshops.

Although Trepagnier focused her study on racism toward blacks, she said her theory of silent racism can apply to other minority groups as well. She is planning a new study, to find out whether white people’s definitions of racism change over time as a result of an intimate relationship or a close friendship with an African American.