Racetalk Summary

Kristen Myers dedicated this book to the discussion of what she calls “racetalk.” She defines racetalk as “the vocabulary and conceptual frameworks that we use to denigrate different races and ethnicities in our everyday lives” (pg. 2). In this book, she defines the signification of three groups: whites, blacks and browns. It is important that she defines the signification of each group in order to better understand what gives the dominant group its power. The book then moves on to how boundaries are constructed and policed in order to keep this structure of dominance by whites, how this system is justified, and examines how this system can be challenged and changed. Myers’ book focuses on the idea that racism is still alive and has just been modified since the civil rights era. No longer is it acceptable in public to openly discriminate against a person based on the color of their skin. However, racetalk allows racism to continue based on the sharing of the ideology through discreet vocabulary that is so ingrained in society most people do not consider it a problem. Most people that use racetalk deny being racist but still push the racist agenda. …show more content…
Whiteness studies are important in her analysis of how the racial regime functions. Whiteness is the dominant status that shapes the racial order and understanding in American society (pg. 62). Whiteness is what all other races are measured by, but it is often not recognized by the dominant group. This goes along with what we read from Peggy McIntosh (1998). Myers actually quotes from the reading White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack which we read in week 8. McIntosh says that white privilege is “an invisible package of unearned assets that I can count on cashing in each day.” Whiteness is hidden is society much like racetalk, and it keeps changing in order to keep its dominant status (pg.