Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man

Chapter 8 begins with a question about reverse racism: Can non-White people be racist against Whites? The idea that White people suffer from reverse racism is a myth. Individual Black people can be prejudiced against White people, but reverse racism on a large scale does not exist. Claims to the contrary exemplify White fragility (or White talk), a defense mechanism White people use when faced with situations that challenge their identity and power. White fragility behaviors include defensiveness, withdrawal, crying, arguing, minimizing, and ignoring.

Reverse racism cannot exist because by definition, racist oppressors wield power over those they oppress, and no group holds power over White people. Some White people call Affirmative Action reverse racism, arguing that it gives minority candidates an unfair advantage over their White peers. However, the goal of Affirmative Action is not to be unfair to White people, but rather, to redress generations of unfairness against Black people and achieve a more equitable society. Black History Month does not have a White counterpart because the accomplishments of White people are celebrated every day in the media, history books, monuments, and so forth. By contrast, the accomplishments of Black people are minimized or entirely overlooked. The slogan “All Lives Matter” is insensitive because Black lives do not endanger White lives to the degree that Whiteness endangers Black lives. The slogan, Black Lives Matter (BML), does not mean that White lives don’t matter, but that Black lives matter as well as, or as much as, White lives. Fighting racism requires White people to acknowledge their entire history (not just the positive parts), to call out White talk, to educate themselves and others about Black History Month, to address unconscious bias, and to discourage racial peers from behaving in ways that foster racism.

Chapter 9 starts by asking how to dismantle systemic racism. Acho compares voting in the 2016 presidential election in an affluent White neighborhood in Dallas, to voting in the 2018 midterms in a gentrifying, predominantly Latino part of Austin. The former took only minutes, the latter hours. Acho’s previous experience with voting in a White district did not prepare him for the voter suppression tactics he encountered in Austin. The line was so long he considered leaving until an elderly Black woman convinced him otherwise: ““You’d better stay here, son. Remember all we went through to vote”” (99).

Since Acho’s solution will be legislation-based, he first presents some historical context about what he calls “the Fix”: Lawmakers actively perpetuating systemic racism by disenfranchising voters who demand change. There is a long history of Black voter suppression in the US through poll taxes, literacy tests, constitutional quizzes, and property ownership requirements. The Electoral College system also promotes voter disenfranchisement by apportioning more representatives to the southern states than their populations warrant.

Voter suppression laws continue to disenfranchise Black people today. For example, some states have enacted voter ID laws that disproportionately impact Black people. Further, some state legislatures have decreased the number of polling stations in predominantly Black districts, changed the times or days the stations are open, and supplied faulty machines that slow voting down. The purging of voter registries has also negatively impacted Black voters, as has gerrymandering (the redrawing of voting districts to negate certain votes). Preventing convicted criminals from voting is another common tactic that disenfranchises Black people, in particular Black men, who are more likely to be convicted of crimes (as Acho discussed in Chapters 3 and 7). Dismantling systemic racism requires calling on elected officials to lobby for change, donating to organizations that fight voter suppression, and volunteering to inform people of color and the poor of their voting rights. The most effective way of bringing about change, however, is by voting.

Chapter 10 uses a question about unpaid inmate labor and its equivalence to modern-day slavery to discuss the mass incarceration of Black men.

First, Acho describes the cultish devotion people have to the University of Texas at Dallas and Texas A&M to explain the lure of gangs:

If you were driving around neighborhoods in Dallas, you might see a ton of the burnt-orange-and-white Longhorn flags in one yard, and in the yard next to it, you’d see the maroon-and-white Texas A&M flag: archrivals for life. If your parents went to the University of Texas, you’d better not even think about fixing your lips to go to Texas A&M. The schools were only an hour and a half from each other but might as well have been on opposite sides of the moon” (114).

On the surface, this anecdote is about the rivalry between two schools. Within the context of a chapter about thugs, however, it also serves as an analogy for gangs. Acho adds a third meaning when he describes his visceral reaction to hearing the Texas A&M slogan. His reaction is not rational, but rather, an inherited bias from his university days.

Acho then gives a historical perspective about the two factors that fueled the mass incarceration that started in the 1990s. The first is the myth of superpredators, criminals who harm impulsively and without motive, who lack a conscience, and for whom murder, rape, assault, drug dealing, and other crimes come naturally. The second is President Clinton’s 1994 Crime Bill, which implemented mandatory life sentences for repeat offenders, funded the hiring of new police officers, and provided nearly ten billion dollars for new prisons.

While crime in Black neighborhoods is a serious and long-standing problem, poverty is a more accurate predictor of criminality than race, and crime is far from being a uniquely Black phenomenon. Nevertheless, Black men are incarcerated at much higher rates than other groups because the criminal justice system treats them as superpredators, making assumptions based on racial stereotypes rather than treating them as individuals. Criminal justice reform is key to ending the mass incarceration of Black men. White people can contact their elected representatives to advocate for responsible justice policies, including the Second Look legislation, which proposes releasing prisoners who have served long prison terms and have aged out of the tendency to commit crimes.

Chapter 11 begins with a question about the prevalence of single-parent households in Black communities. Single parents are at higher risk of poverty, have higher dropout and teenage pregnancy rates, and are more likely to be incarcerated. The history of slavery contextualizes the phenomenon of broken Black families. The enslaved were legally barred from entering marriage contracts. They could, however, enter non-legal unions, including abroad marriages (when a man and woman had different owners). The concept of a breadwinning father did not exist because slaves labored for their owners, not for themselves. Thus, slavery made two-parent households impossible for Black people.

Since then, the broken Black family has been overrepresented in the media for generations. As a consequence, many assume this is a natural state. This message of inherent Black brokenness erodes Black self-esteem. Black people are more likely to suffer from anxiety disorders than White people. Moreover, they experience what researchers call racial battle fatigue, which includes anxiety, hypervigilance, headaches, increased heart rates, and high blood pressure. In other words, racism takes a mental toll that makes it harder to keep families together.

To help address the problem, Acho recommends educating others about the history of Black families and discussing how the media skews perspectives about Black people. He also suggests replacing the word “broken” with “broken-apart,” which would emphasize that Black families did not fracture on their own. Volunteering in underfunded schools and donating to programs that work with at-risk youths and single parents also promotes change, as does supporting films and TV shows that counter stereotypes about Black families.