Unraveling the White Cocoon

by Jeff Hitchcock

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0787277479
• ISBN13: 9780787277475
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company
• Length: 249 Pages

Customer Reviews

This is just Step one in a Three-step Process

While Jeff Hitchcock's motives are laudable, his discourse lacks any semblance of a basis in current American social reality. Like most of the other "White Studies" literature, this piece too suffers from being too abstract and suspended in the unreality of not knowing from whence the real power of whiteness lies: It lies in the fact that all of the fruits of white supremacy have been "grandfathered-in." We cannot connect the dots from here: "good-feelings," "more racial tolerance," and better "cross-racial communications (including even marriage)" alone won't get us there. The span is too great. The very ground in which the author's well meaning feet are planted to make his grand gestures of racial magnanimity is "consolidated and consecrated white supremacist ground." Not that I have anything against grand gestures. For sure they are very much to be desired, but when they fail to chop away at the real root causes of racism, sometimes they just have the unintended consequence of making matters worse. Whites, who have had the luxury of being racially innocent, that is who have had the luxury of pretending to ignore their own profound and exquisitely sensitive "race consciousness," (or white tribalism based on a "false race consciousness,") cannot suddenly wake up; get the anti-racist religion -- as Hitchcock has done; marry a black woman and then declare that racism would be over, if only everyone would follow his example? Would that it were so. But the true evil of racism lies not just in "pretend white racial ignorance," but the fact that whites continue to "live off the illicit land," off the illicit fruits of racism, all the while pretending that the problem of race is just one of better communications, and being more tolerant towards darker skinned people; that is pretending that it is not a deep systemic psychological problem with white people themselves, but one of better communication, etc. No sir: It is not true. Awareness and changing white consciousness is just Step 1, of a three-step process. Step 2 is teaching whites how to live without all of the "grandfathered-in" and otherwise built in advantages of white privileges, perks, and prerogatives. And step 3 is dismantling and eliminating all of those accumulated advantages. Without steps 2 and 3, as well meaning as Hitchcock's motives are, his formula is just more whistling pass the racist graveyard, once again.By marrying a black woman, he has just turned himself into a black, nothing more. He has just lost his white voice. There are deeply moral and psychological issues here that white America must inevitably face up to about its reliance on a fraudulent identity based on dehumanizing others. This is a conversation that each white must first have with himself, and then one that all whites must have with each other. And this time, we will be patiently and willingly awaiting outside the room to hear what your verdict is. This book is a good fist step. Five stars

Thank You Jeff Hitchcock

Great book. I especially appreciate the wisdom and humility you bring to the subject. The book is engaging and I have already shared it with several friends. Keep up the good work!

Asks what white people want from persons of color

Unraveling The White Cocoon is ably written by a white American male who asks what white people want from persons of color - and then presents informative, cogent, challenging chapters which probe issues of racial distinction, racial ancestry, the idea of "colorblindness" in contemporary society, as well as the 'white cocoon' phenomena which exists in a wide variety of scenarios ranging from housing and education, to social organizations, recreational resources and public transportation. Many eye-opening ideas will be food for thought and discussion for school and community groups and Black Studies based curriculums and reading lists.

Unraveling the White Cocoon

As President of the Association of MultiEthnic Americans, I was particularly impressed with Jeff Hitchcock's groundbreaking book "Unraveling the White Cocoon.". He talks about "White Americans as racial beings" and sheds light on their intra- and intergroup workings. Hitchcock takes pains to be respectful of all, then moves quickly into the hard discussion of White people and their innocent perpetuation of racism. He knows about this dynamic intimately as he is a White person himself. Hitchcock states that he believes White people are in fact trying to achieve a unified American society where race does not determine a person's standing. He goes on in "Unraveling the White Cocoon" to address how White people's intentions are undermined by their natural inclination to look at life through the privilege status of a White person, which without a great deal of effort, makes it impossible to compehend daily life as a person of color might experience. A multiracial society is the positive end result for America as described by Hitchcock. As long as Whites are the center of America versus being just another race in America, it will be impossible to achieve the multiracial society that Hitchcock speaks about. Power, institutionalized discrimination, monoracial thinking generally will need to be examined and corrected in order to attain the society in which race does not determine a person's standing. Overall Jeff Hitchcock's book takes one through a journey that unravels the White cocoon, thread by thread. It is required reading for all people seeking to achieve a racially just American society. Levonne Gaddy, President Association of MultiEthnic Americans April 16, 2001

Review of Unraveling the White Cocoon by Jeff Hitchcock

REVIEW OF UNRAVELING THE WHITE COCOON BY JEFF HITCHOCK Kathleen Korgen, Ph.D. (Author of From Black to Biracial, Praeger 1998, 1999) "Decentering whiteness" is at the center of Unraveling the White Cocoon, a new book by Jeff Hitchcock. Unlike much recent academic literature that focuses on whiteness, Hitchcock provides a straightforward, personal, and often moving argument for the need to study whiteness as one culture among many race-based cultures in the United States. Hitchcock lays out a vision of a multiracial America in which white culture will no longer be seen as simply "normal" but one of a mosaic of racial cultures each occupying decentered positions in a society with a multiracial/multicultural center. Unraveling the White Cocoon will be an essential tool for academic classes covering issues of culture and racial/ethnic diversity in the United States, activists, and all persons seeking to understand whiteness as one of multiple race-based cultures in American society. Hitchcock provides an excellent overview of the history of whiteness in U.S. society and the still recent birth and development of examinations of whiteness by both academics and activists. His captivating description of his own transformation from a "colorblind" young man to a leader in the field of white studies provides lively as well as informative reading for readers of all backgrounds. Rather than preach, Hitchcock shares frank and often brutally honest reflections on his own struggles with racism. In doing so, he eloquently drives home the point that an examination of white culture is, while at times painful, possible and worthwhile for all white Americans.