Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America

“But such love and hope can only come about if we first confront the poisonous history that has almost unmade our nation and undone our social compact.”

Dyson argues that America’s only solution for a hopeful future is to confront its racist history. To understand the reality of American history is to understand the history of African Americans. Black history reveals America’s national myths of freedom and equality, drawing attention to the oppression and injustice toward Black people. Racism remains a force of division in American society. Equality can only be achieved by acknowledging the persistence of racism.

“You don’t get whiteness from your genes. It is a social inheritance that is passed on to you as a member of a particular group. And it’s killing us, and, quiet as it’s kept, it’s killing you too.”

The passage introduces Whiteness as a Racist Social Construct. Whiteness is a construct that serves an ideological narrative, one that attaches privilege to white people. Dyson explains that whiteness is an artifice, a fabrication that upholds white supremacy and white privilege. The ideology of whiteness is part of America’s national mythology. It has dominated the historical narrative, centralizing white Americans and excluding the histories of other racial groups. Dyson argues that white people in America must realize their socially inherited privilege and abandon their investment in whiteness.

“Whiteness forged togetherness among groups in reverse, breaking down or, at least to a degree, breaking up ethnicity, and then building up an identity that was cut off from the old tongue and connected to the new land.”

Dyson analyzes whiteness’s connection to American identity. From the country’s foundation, whiteness defined Americanness. European Americans abandoned their ethnic identities and came together as a group based on their whiteness. Other American racial groups were excluded from the idea of Americanness and have been historically considered as socially and culturally “other” within mainstream American society.

“Of course the paradox is that even though whiteness is not real it is still true. I mean true as a force to be reckoned with. It is true because it has the power to make us believe it is real and to punish those who doubt its magic.”

The passage emphasizes that despite class differences, whiteness still grants privilege to white Americans. Even though whiteness is a socially constructed fantasy, it manages to appear as normative. Thus, according to the politics of whiteness, to be white is to be racially neutral, without color, human, and ultimately American. Dyson argues for the deconstruction of whiteness.

“The only way to save our nation, and, yes, to save yourselves, is to let go of whiteness and the vision of American history it supports. I’m not asking you to let go of your humanity, but, in the best way possible, to find your way back to it.”

Deconstructing whiteness is America’s only solution to racial hatred. The ideology of whiteness upholds a version of American history that places white people in the center and excludes the history and humanity of Black people. White Americans must reject whiteness to embrace their own humanity. Dyson notes that whiteness is constructed against Blackness. He stresses that despite whiteness exclusionary racial politics, Black and white people are connected throughout the country’s history.

“But the truth is that what so often passes for American history is really a record of white priorities or conquests set down as white achievement.”

Dyson contests the objectivity of American history and identifies the centrality of whiteness within it. The historical narrative has prioritized the history of white people in America and obscured the diversity of people and cultures in American society. American history is largely defined by the “white imagination” and works to justify it. White American history obscures American reality.

“You are often stumped by feats of black competence; or you display a tolerance for blackness that slides quickly to condescension. There is resistance and rage too. There is anger at the refusal of the ‘other’ to cave in to whiteness, to see history, American history, the way you see it, anger at our refusal to curtail black agency.”

Dyson describes white grief as the fear of losing privilege and power. The presence and history of African Americans generates fear and rage among white people. White people still resist social change and equality as they remain attached to their superiority. White racial grief is a projection of white people’s troubles and grievances onto Black people. Black history challenges the centrality of whiteness, and therefore generates resistance from white American society.

“When some of you say, ‘I don’t see color,’ you are either well-intending naïfs or willful race evaders. In either case you don’t help the cause. The failure to see color only benefits white America. A world without color is a world without racial debt.”

Dyson critiques the idea of colorblindness. Colorblindness appeals to humanity, but ultimately obscures it. White people’s colorblindness is a denial of racism and undermines Black people’s lived experiences. It connects with the failure of white people to address privilege and discrimination and deepens the trauma of Black people. White people avoid taking accountability for racial violence.

“The reason ‘Black Lives Matter’ needs to be shouted is because American history ignored Black history, didn’t tell Black stories. The founding documents of American society didn’t include Black life. When Black folk say ‘Black Lives Matter,’ they are in search of simple recognition.”

The passage references the Black Lives Matter movement. Dyson describes the movement’s name as an affirmation of Black humanity. Through the Black Lives Matter movement, African Americans affirm their position in American history and express their demands for equality, challenging white supremacy. Black people seek to empower their community and fight against racial violence.

“There is no getting around blackness. In slavery, it was the intensity of our proximity—of white and black—that defined us. In that sense whiteness and blackness are an American invention. Our agency, our story, is linked to your history, your story. Black and white together. Beloved, you must give up myths about yourself, about your history.”

Dyson emphasizes that slavery is a central issue in American history and part of America’s foundation. Racism has historically divided America. Despite all attempts to erase Black history, it remains central. Dyson explains that the presence of Black people is so rooted in America that most racist social constructs are made around Black identity. His intention is to illustrate that both white and Black identities amount to one history and one reality. The racial chasm persists because of white people’s attachment to the mythology of whiteness.

“The idolatry of whiteness and the cloak of innocence that shields it can only be quenched by love, but not merely, or even primarily, a private, personal notion of love, but a public expression of love that holds us all accountable. Justice is what love sounds like when it speaks in public.”

Dyson connects justice with love. Love is key to equality. The struggle for social change demands “a public expression of love,” a collective force that seeks to dismantle injustice, to empower others and respect humanity. The fight for justice and equality is a manifestation of love.

“That’s a terrifying thought to field, a terrifying responsibility to absorb. It means accepting accountability for your unanimous, collective capacity for terror, for enjoying a way of life that comes at the direct expense of other folk who are denied the privileges you take for granted.”

White Americans feel discomfort when confronting racism. They resist social change because they fear acknowledging their own responsibility about racism. To deal with racism, white people must recognize that their racial privilege derives from the oppression and dehumanization of others. Dyson uses repetition, repeating the word “terrifying” for emphasis and rhythm.

“What I ask my white students to do, and what I ask of you, my dear friends, is to try, the best you can, to surrender your innocence, to reject the willful denial of history and to live fully in our complicated present with all of the discomfort it brings.”

Dyson notes that white people must accept and embrace their discomfort to overcome racism. White people’s resistance impedes social progress and deepens the racial conflict between white and Black people. Discomfort is the only rational sentiment when facing the deliberate erasure of Black history and humanity.

“White fragility is a will to innocence that serves to bury the violence it sits on top of.”

Dyson explains the meaning of white fragility: Any challenge to whiteness generates white people’s frustration, anger, and guilt. Such expressions of white fragility tend to erase racial violence and the long history of Black people’s oppression. Claiming ignorance about Black history is a deliberate denial of the reality of racism.

“It’s the power of life and death that gives whiteness its force, its imperative. White life is worth more than Black life. This is why the cry ‘Black Lives Matter’ angers you so greatly, why it is utterly offensive and effortlessly revolutionary. It takes aim at white innocence and insists on uncovering the lie of its neutrality, its naturalness, its normalcy, its normativity. The most radical action a white person can take is to acknowledge this denied privilege, to say, ‘Yes, you’re right. In our institutional structures, and in deep psychological structures, our underlying assumption is that our lives are worth more than yours.’”

Dyson reiterates the importance of the Black Lives Matter movement. Black Lives Matter generates controversy among white people because its affirmation of Black humanity is a radical challenge to whiteness. Racism has historically valued white lives over Black lives. The movement seeks to make the artificiality of whiteness visible and to challenge white supremacy and racial violence. Black Lives Matter empowers African Americans and affirms their humanity. White people can radically impact racial hierarchy by denying their privilege.

“Institutional racism is a system of ingrained social practices that perpetuate and preserve racial hierarchy. Institutional racism requires neither conscious effort nor individual intent. It is glimpsed in the denial of quality education to black and brown students because they live in poor neighborhoods where public schools depend on the tax base for revenue. Minority students, like the ones I teach at Georgetown, are more often beset by economic and social forces than overt efforts to deny them equal education.”

Dyson highlights the persistent issue of institutional racism. Institutional racism is not only the infliction of violence, but the specific policies and social practices that discriminate against and marginalize the Black community. Apart from police violence, institutional racism is evident in the lack of opportunities for education and employment. As a professor, Dyson is witness to the struggles of African American students. Institutional racism is hard to dismantle because power structures convey legitimacy and authority.

“The danger was always there. Even small gestures like being dismissed, or disrespected, or scorned made a Black man taste his bitter limits. Forced to be less than they were, to be less than men, to witness the white man’s silly insistence that they eat from a different lunch counter. It all might suddenly be too much to bear. A man might snap at the awareness that he couldn’t protect his family, not really, not like white men. For a Black man, the knowledge that his son and his loved ones had just been called n***** could turn, swiftly, to calamity.”

Dyson brings a gendered perspective to his analysis. Racism makes Black males feel less than men, their manhood being constantly oppressed and restrained. Whiteness is also defined by masculinity. White supremacy is expressed through the oppression of Black manhood, with violence and intimidation affirming white masculinity. The n-word primarily represents the racist stereotype of the Black male.

“You may discover after all that we, black and white, are far more alike than you suspected—or feared. Your fear that we are just alike may cause you at first to doubt, but then, defensively, to embrace the lie of black inferiority your people have practiced from the start of our experiment in democracy.”

White people’s fears reinforce the racial divide. White people view Black people as inferior, obscuring their humanity. For America to heal, the knowledge of Blackness is necessary. Dyson identities Blackness with Black humanity. White people must understand Black history and culture to recognize Black humanity. Black and white people can unite and embrace their similarities as humans to overcome racial hate.

“People usually murder where they nest. They aim their rage at easy targets.”

Criminality within the Black community is often used to justify the problems African Americans face. Dyson explains that criminality among African Americans is a result of Black neighborhoods and communities having a lack of resources, unemployment, and limited access to education. Marginalization is also a result of institutional racism and discrimination, reinforced by policies and social practices.

“What your vast incuriosity about black life keeps you from knowing, and this is heartbreaking to admit, is that we black folk often see ourselves the same way you see us.”

Dyson explains the impact of whiteness on African Americans. The internalization of white supremacy, the viewing of the Black self through a white lens, distorts Black people’s minds and generates self-hate. Self-hate is a main effect of racism, the result of internalizing racial stereotypes created by the dominant white culture. Self-hate disempowers African Americans.

“That metaphor of a few bad apples doesn’t begin to get at the root of the problem. Police violence may be more like a poisoned water stream that pollutes the entire system. To argue that only a few bad cops cause police terror is like relegating racism to a few bigots. Bigots are surely a problem, but they are sustained by systems of belief and perception, by widely held stereotypes and social practice.”

The passage explores Police Brutality as a Form of Institutional Racism. To blame police violence on a few corrupt police officers is to undermine the pervasiveness of racism. Prejudice influences individual police officers; however, they operate within a larger system of power. Police terror reflects a long history of racist power structures that target Black lives.

In the above quote, Dyson uses a simile, where something is compared to something else using “like” or “as.” In this case, he compares police brutality to “a poisoned water stream,” highlighting its systemic nature.

“Beloved, all of what I have said should lead you to empathy. It sounds simple, but its benefits are profound. Whiteness must shed its posture of competence, its will to omniscience, its belief in its goodness and purity, and then walk a mile or two in the boots of blackness.”

This passage illustrates Dyson’s advocacy for social change and reflects his exploration of Empathy and the Hope for Social Change and Equality. For Dyson, empathy is a process, one where white people must identify with the experiences of Black people. Whiteness makes white people maintain a socially hostile and defensive stance against Black people. Empathy can bridge that racial chasm, promote social progress, and ensure democracy. Through empathy, white people will increase their own demands for racial justice. Ultimately, by identifying with Black people, white people will be able to overcome racial hate and disconnect from their privilege.

“Donald Trump is not our final, or ultimate, problem. The problem is, instead, allowing hopelessness to steal our joyful triumph before we work hard enough to achieve it.”

The passage reflects on the possibilities for social change and references the election of Donald Trump. For Dyson, hopelessness is defeat. The theme of Empathy and the Hope for Social Change and Equality remains central in Dyson’s arguments, as resistance is key to racial justice. Dyson encourages protest and highlights the importance of perseverance. Donald Trump expresses a form of populism and demagoguery that only add to America’s social problems. The main problem would be accepting that society cannot change. The survival and courage of African Americans prove the possibility for equality.