Robert Jensen (1) (1958–)

In The Souls of Black Folks, W.E.B. DuBois wrote that the question whites wanted to ask him was: “How does it feel to be a problem?” In The Heart of Whiteness, Robert Jensen writes that it is time for white people in America to self-consciously reverse the direction of that question and to fully acknowledge that in the racial arena, they are the problem.

While some whites would like to think that we have reached “the end of racism” in the United States, and others would like to show more celebrate diversity but are oblivious to the political, economic, and social consequences of a nation—and their sense of self—founded on a system of white supremacy, Jensen proposes a different approach. He sets his sights not only on the racism that can't be hidden, but also on the liberal platitudes that sometimes conceal the depths of that racism in “polite society.”

The Heart of Whiteness offers an honest and rigorous exploration of what Jensen refers to as the depraved nature of whiteness in the United States. Mixing personal experience with data and theory, he faces down the difficult realities of -racism and white privilege. He argues that any system that denies non-whites their full humanity also keeps whites from fully accessing their own.

This book is both a cautionary tale for those who believe that they have transcended racism, and also an expression of the hope for genuine transcendence. When white people fully understand and accept the painful reality that they are indeed “the problem,” it should lead toward serious attempts to change one's own life and join with others to change society.

Robert Jensen is the author of Citizens of the Empire. He is a professor of media ethics and journalism at The University of Texas at Austin. show less

he is spot on. his analysis is just great, and he approaches it with a personal honesty that is really refreshing. and that i think probably is a good way to bring in people that might not be so on board with his arguments. this is really worth a read. there were about 2 pages where he may have crossed the line - he certainly toed it, if nothing else - of making a moral argument against casual sex, which i wish he hadn't, or at least had done differently. other than that, such an important show more read, whether or not you're already against pornography and patriarchy.

"In a society in which so many men are watching so much pornography, this is why we can't bear to see it for what it is: Pornography forces women to face up to how men see them. And pornography forces men to face up to what we have become."

"The predictable result of this state of affairs is a world in which violence, sexualized violence, sexual violence, and violence-by-sex is so common that it must be considered to be normal - that is, an expression of the sexual norms of the culture, not violations of the norms."

"We can all see how men hate women and children by a simple observation: No society would let happen what happens to women and children in this culture if at some level it did not have contempt for them. We allow women and children to be raped at a rate that can lead to no other conclusion except that we place a lesser value on their lives." show less

http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/Content?oid=oid%3A45493

My review of THE HEART OF WHITENESS (with SUNDOWN TOWNS):

Broadcasts from New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina made clear the intersection of poverty and race in the United States. The simple fact that Americans’ beliefs diverge dramatically about the likelihood that assistance would have arrived faster for white disaster survivors--17 percent of white respondents thought so, as opposed to 66 percent of show more African-American respondents, in a recent poll by the Pew Research Center--makes clear that race is still a major American divide.

Two new books, Robert Jensen’s The Heart of Whiteness: Race, Racism, and White Privilege and James W. Loewen’s Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism, ask us to look directly at the way we’ve continued to draw a color line down the middle of our communities.

The Heart of Whiteness could not be more timely. It is a primer on the subject of white privilege, a topic that tends to make whites uncomfortable. Who wants to admit that white privilege functions as an unnamed form of affirmative action, conferring huge social, economic and political advantages on those of us who happened to be born with skin the preferred color?

But Jensen addresses white privilege directly and personally; he offers up twin autobiographies. One seems straightforward enough: A Midwestern boy from a hardworking family puts himself through school and earns a successful life as an academic. But the eye-opener is Jensen's second version of his autobiography, in which the same facts of his life are related through the lens of the advantages that his white skin has provided him.

That second look is necessary for whites to recognize white privilege in action; to most of us who have it, it's invisible. While we cite the ways that racism disadvantages people of color, it's much harder to recognize the other side of the coin: the unearned advantages of white privilege, often perceived as opportunities and conveniences that are merely our due.

Jensen confronts the denial whites build up to protect themselves from the reality of white supremacy--and as uncomfortable as it is, there is no other word for a social system in which white skin provides an unearned advantage. What Jensen makes clear is that white supremacy cannot simply be relegated to racist extremists; our society promulgates racism even though we consider it offensive.

Using narrative examples and citations from research studies, he synthesizes the reality of the white world--whether we are personally racist or not, white people reap the benefits of white supremacy. That means it's up to white people to do something about it. For Jensen, race is a political issue, not a social one.

But we whites have already done quite a bit to keep African-Americans out of our privileged social enclaves. James W. Loewen examines the evolution of "sundown towns"--towns in which blacks were forbidden, either by law or by custom (backed up with violence), to live. He explains how African-Americans eventually clustered in urban settings throughout the North, Midwest and West. The phrase "sundown town" comes from the signs posted at the boundaries of some communities, urging blacks to make sure they were out of town by sundown.

Loewen's work, heavily supported by studies of census data, reveals the different ways in which white racism manifested itself in the former slave states and in the so-called free states. In Mississippi, blacks could live near whites but didn't dare rise above their assigned social position. In Illinois, as in some California towns, whites didn't care what social status African-Americans attained as long as they didn't live anywhere nearby.

Both books, though different in approach and style, make clear that there's more to white privilege than simply freedom from racial profiling. Loewen's hefty tome provides insight into the less-than-above-board racism of suburban America, while Jensen's concise and thought-provoking book offers a variety of ways for white Americans to abandon their unearned skin privilege and rejoin the rest of humanity. show less

In "All My Bones Shake," Robert Jensen chronicles his own spiritual journey. Jensen was raised Presbyterian, but rejected religion as a young adult due to its conflict with reason. However, the gravitational force of community, and numinous personal experiences led him to give church another try. He found a faith community in Austin that worked hard for social justice. He saw the power of combining resources - tangible and intangible - in addressing human suffering. He joined, but he did not show more "believe." His honesty about his lack of belief in the traditional creed led him to a threat of expulsion by the governing body of the Presbyterian church.

Jensen has hit on a unique problem that faces modern secular societies: what can replace church as a community that has the power to love and heal not only those within the congregation but those in the larger society as well?

Trying to reorient traditional churches to be secular forces for change seems unlikely to succeed. A friend of mine, an elderly German man, once had an outburst at his Unitarian church: "goddammit, we have to believe in something!" Many are struggling with these issues, and I don't yet see a solution anywhere.

Jensen makes some excellent points about many topics, especially the historical absurdity of confining "Christianity" to a limited creed. What many think of as the foundation of Christian belief was not necessarily so in the early days of the faith.

I enjoyed reading Jensen's book. It is like sitting down for a long conversation in a coffee shop with an interesting friend. Sometimes I shook my head or rolled my eyes at his idealism, which sometimes seemed loosely tethered to the reality on the ground. Yet, I love his passion, and wish him well on his journey. If you get there, Jensen, send a postcard. show less