45 pages • 1 hour read
Michael Eric DysonTears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2017A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 6-9Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 6 Summary: “Benediction”
Dyson describes various ways through which white people can “make reparation” to Black people. White people should transfer some of their resources to African Americans. Firstly, he suggests social support at a financial level. White people could create a Reparations Account for Black youth who have insufficient resources, pay higher salaries or a tax, and support Black veterans. White people should also learn about African American history and culture. He suggests books by American author James Baldwin, American novelist Toni Morrison, American author and professor Audre Lorde, American civil rights advocate Kimberlé Crenshaw, Martin Luther King Jr., and others.
It is also important that white people educate other white people about white privilege. They must participate in protests along with fellow Black citizens. Dyson notes that “white participation” is not simply support of Black people; it is their own “sense of destiny” as American citizens to repent for whiteness (205). White people must also stop viewing Black people as “other.” Making new Black friends will help white people to learn more about the Black community and its diversity. Dyson also suggests that white people visit Black people in schools, prisons, and churches. Hopefully, knowledge of the Black community will urge white people to protest racial injustice. White America’s voice can reinforce the cause of Black people and its legitimacy. Dyson also stresses the need to separate the African American experience with the experiences of Black immigrants.
Dyson hopes that with these actions, white Americans will find their way to empathy and imagine themselves in the position of Black people.
Chapter 7 Summary: “Offering Plate”
Dyson is a member of the Georgetown University faculty. He recalls the president’s formal apology, and his intention to establish an institute for the study of slavery and to erect a memorial for enslaved individuals, whose labor had helped Georgetown’s development. In the audience, several uninvited descendants of enslaved people made a statement demanding participation in the process of healing the country’s racism. Dyson stresses their demands for justice.
Chapter 8 Summary: “Prelude to Service”
Dyson notes that whiteness was central to Donald Trump’s election as president. He explains that whiteness is not only the expression of racism, but “the delusion that it can supply every need [the] country has” (220). Trump symbolizes “the fury of whiteness unleashed” (220). For Dyson, Trump’s election reflected white resentment toward Barack Obama as a Black man. Ultimately, Trump represents white supremacy and white rage, which impede the possibility of America’s healing from racism. He wishes that Americans defeat feelings of hopelessness and fight for democracy.
Chapter 9 Summary: “Closing Prayer”
In the final chapter, Dyson addresses Black people and declares: “We will not surrender” (227). He refers to the endurance of Black people throughout American history, emphasizing that faith and hope will prevail. Dyson concludes that “to understand America we must understand Blackness” as Black people are America (227).
Chapters 6-9 Analysis
Dyson advocates for affirmative action, the political practice that aims to uplift and amplify underrepresented or marginalized groups. He also describes practical steps that would strengthen white people’s allyship with the Black community, encouraging Empathy and the Hope for Social Change and Equality.
Reparations are a political gesture that would acknowledge the legacy of the slavery. To make reparations to the descendants of enslaved people is to acknowledge Black people’s sacrifices and historical oppression and to accept that America was built through their labor. Reparations can take the form of financial support to Black youth to enhance access to education. Discrimination against Black people permeates the workplace, and Dyson emphasizes the necessity of tax support. White people must adopt a policy of sharing and transmitting resources to other groups.
Dyson also advocates for “racial literacy” as the way to know Black humanity (198). White people must familiarize themselves with Black history and culture. Reading is a crucial part of this learning process. Black authors offer a profound depiction of African American life, one that is invaluable for white people. For Dyson, the diverse and complex history of the civil rights movement is also key for understanding how Black people have struggled. Dyson notes the importance of understanding intersectionality, the theoretical concept that analyzes the interconnection of race, gender, and class, and how they create combinations and layers of oppression and discrimination.
Ultimately, white people must become advocates for equality. They must confront racism within the white community and educate other white people about whiteness, racial privilege, and inequality. They must also transmit knowledge about Black history and culture. To become active allies means to participate in protests and rallies along with their Black fellow citizens. White participation shows that racism is not only a Black issue, but concerns America as a whole. Still, white Americans must not centralize themselves in the struggle or obscure the cause.
White Americans must also dismantle the sociocultural “otherness” of African Americans. By considering their own views and responses toward Black culture, they will manage to fight stereotypes. They must renew their attachment and relationships with Black people to understand the diversity of Black identity and humanity. White people must also react against injustice and “speak up” for Black citizens (207). The voices of white Americans are crucial to battle Black suffering.
White people should aim for empathy, a state of mind that would place white Americans into the reality of Black life. Dyson notes that rejecting the politics of whiteness is necessary for the achievement of empathy and equality.
Dyson praises the perseverance and survival of African Americans, emphasizing their ongoing resistance to racism. The ancestors of African Americans have nurtured Blackness, and the community survived violence and dehumanization. Black people continue their battle against whiteness and white supremacy by claiming their position at the center of the democratic process.
Whiteness is a threat to democracy and social progress. Dyson urges American citizens to fight hopelessness, emphasizing the need for empathy. African Americans remain present to affirm their American identity and their humanity. Blackness remains central in American history and directs the way to social change.
