Habits of Whiteness: A Pragmatist Reconstruction

10 Whiteness Reconstructed

New Habits of Whiteness We gain a more functional understanding of our problems with racism once we examine their connection to habits of whiteness. These habits remain problematic because of both their negative effects and their transparency or invisibility to white folk. A pragmatist critique of whiteness seeks a middle ground between eliminativism and essentialism; it would follow thinkers such as Outlaw and Taylor between these two poles because either these positions are out of sorts with the needs of democratic community or they try to achieve a democratic response to whiteness in a problematic manner. This chapter will use the medicines that we find in Dewey to treat the sociocultural illness diagnosed by Du Bois and contemporary race theorists. Du Bois explained why the habits of whiteness are so toxic: they encourage violence, undermine the formation and sustenance of community, put money before humanity, and leave white folk culturally undernourished and rootless. Contemporary theorists show us that racism is now less overt though no less oppressive than before. We have seen how concrete, structural changes to our economic and political systems inititen Whiteness Reconstructed Whiteness Reconstructed · 183 ated in the 1960s are now being eroded due in part to a failure to notice or address the habitual dimensions to this problem. In Dewey’s work on the relationship between concepts, habits, and social relations we find a valuable but underused tool with which to reconstruct our social relations into patterns more in line with the requirements and promise of democratic community. However, in order to fully leverage this tool we need to put into action his idea that bad habits cannot be ignored or willed away: they must be reconstructed through careful inquiry. A Deweyan approach to the problems of racism that stem from the habits of whiteness involves first understanding how these habits lead to undesirable consequences and then reconstructing these habits into new ones. As stated before, our goal here is the flourishing community of face-to-face democratic interaction of which Dewey wrote, which I think is the same ideal that Du Bois held in his hope of a global and mutually humanizing exchange of the gifts of race. An apt reconstruction of the habits of whiteness is a necessary step for achieving community because, as we’ve seen in this analysis, these habits—like habits associated with patriarchy, heterosexism, and ableism—impeded the realization of a truly pluralistic and democratic community. All people interested in the health of our democratic community, regardless of their personal identity, therefore have an interest in the successful reconstruction of these detrimental habits. In fact, the reconstruction of whiteness I think white folk should do is analogous to efforts by thinkers such as Eddie Glaude to envision a new racial and political framework for a “post-soul generation” in part by “encourage[ing] a more imaginative and intelligent politics for the twenty-first century.”1 Beforediscussingwhatthereconstructedhabitsofwhitenessmightlooklike, I will briefly recapitulate some of the virtues that I see in a pragmatist approach to theproblemsofwhiteracismthatmakesfulluseofDewey’stheoryofhabits.First, assessing whiteness as a bad habit (“bad” meaning out of sorts with our commitment to democracy and human equality) moves our discussions on race away from the defensiveness and recrimination that perennially impede our ability to reach some kind of meaningful agreement on race. It would move away from the issue of intent (such as the pointless “You’re a racist!” “No, I’m not!” back-andforth ), and toward the more productive question of “how do we, white people especially , actually treat each other, apart from our conscious beliefs about race?” This would enable us to see with Rich that white folk are both innocent and accountable : we are innocent in that very, very few white folks want or consciously perpetuate white supremacist racism per se, yet as beneficiaries of the myriad economic, political, social, and psychological privileges perpetuated by the habits of whiteness, we are accountable for whether we perpetuate, ignore, or change these habits. Such an understanding of racism as a set of habits would enable us to seehowracisminthepost–civilrightserasurvivesprimarilybynotbeingnoticed; we would see that someone might have the best intentions in the world and even 184 · reconstructing whiteness consciously reject the explicit idea of white supremacism (or for that matter, sexism , heterosexism, ageism, ableism, or environmental irresponsibility), but if the individualhasnotinquiredintohowtheirhabitsaffecttheiractualpracticesinthe world, then they might well be a vessel for age-old and withering venom. Second, it would suggest a reconstruction...