Theories of Race and Racism A Reader This comprehensive reader brings together foundational works in the study of race and eacism by such authors as W. E. B. Du Bois, Frantz Fanon and Robert Park with some of the most exciting contemporary viritings in the field by, amongst others, Paul Gilroy, Homi Bhabha and bell hooks. Theories of Race and Racism |g divided Into six main seetions covering the following key topics Origins and Transformations Sociology, Race and Social Theory Racism and Anti-Semitism Colonialism, Race and the Other Feminism, Difference and Identity Changing Boundaries and Spaces Each section begins with a brief editorial introduction, groviding a guide to the readings in that section by historically contextualising them and relating them to ther writings in the reader. Cross-national in content, historical in scope and offering a variety of perspectives, Theories of Race and Racism will be an invalu able resource for underaraduates across a range of disciplines. Les Back js Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Goldsmiths College, University of London. Joh Solomas is Professor of Sociology at Sout Bank UniversityRoutledge Student Readers Series Editor: Chris Jenks, Professor of Sociology, Goldsmiths College, University of London Forthooming Titles: Gender: A Reader [Edited by Stovi Jackson and Sue Scott Theories of Race | and Racism A Reader Edited and introduced by Les Back and John Solomos RR foutledge Tirta538 MICHAEL KEITH Pollock, G, (1988) Vion and Dies: Fein, Feminty and the Mitr London: Rout * ers A) ace and Clas (1993) Black Ameri: the Sst a the Campus’, 35 (1), iD. (191) tar dg Cpt of The Ted el, Landon Foe ig, J (198) “Ronjin's Hanae andthe Preble of Resin A, Bejan Gil) The Pres of amt: son and anon, Lamon Rove, Ros, J (1986) Sealy Inte Pd of Yn, Lamon, Verso Senne, R. (1977) The Fl of ic Ham, Leon: Faber sl Faber, Sink (1995) Damar, New York. Vinge (088) Ran Danger 6 Yge Beven eo Teor, om He Sod hechpel ote Lmao Paenen of the Buren, Lomo Cae, Selybray Band A Whyte (198) The Polit and Pais of Tramsesin, London ‘Methuen, Taussig, M. (1993) Mines and Aberty: a Paricular History of the Senscty London: Routledge. (1987) Shamontsm, Colonie andthe Wik Mon, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, Walkowitz, J. (1992) Cy of Dreadful Deligh: Narratrer of Serval Danger i Loe-Pieran Londen, London: Virago. Wilson, E. (1991) Sphinx im the Ciy: Ushon Life the Control of Dioder and Women, London: Virge. ‘Wolf, J. (1989) “The Invisible Hancuse: Women and the Literature of Modernity’, in A. Benjamin (ed.) The Problems of Modernity: Adorno and Benjamin, London: Routledge. Wright, P. (1991) A Journey Though Ruins: The Lax Days of Landon, London: Radius. Young, ILM. (1990) “The ideal of Community and the Polties of Dilference’, in LJ. [Nicholson (ed) Feminism/Poumoderaiem, London: Routledge, Chapter 36 Richard Dyer THE MATTER OF WHITENESS ACIAL! IMAGERY 15 CENTRAL to the organisation ofthe modern ‘world. At what cost regions and countries export their goods, whose voices are listened to at international gatherings, who bombs and who is bombed, who ts what jobs, housing, access to health eare and education, what cultural activ- ies are subsidised and sold, in what terms they are validated ~ these are all largely inextricable from racial imagery. The myriad minute decisions that constitute the practices of the world are at every point informed by juigements about people's capacities and worth, judgements based on what they look like, where they come from, how they speak, even what they eat, that is, radal judgements. Race is not ‘the only factor governing these things and people of goodwill everywhere struggle to overcome the prejudices and barriers of race, but itis never nota factor, never notin play. And since race in itself ~ insofar as itis anything in itself ~ refers to some intrinsically iesigificant geographical/physcal efferences between people, itis the imagery of race that isin play. “There has been an enormous amount of analysis ef racial imagery in the past decades, ranging from studies of images of, say, blacks or American Indians in the ‘media to the construction of the fetish of the racial Other in the texts of colo- rialism and post-colonialism. Yet until recently a notable absence: from such work has been the stuly of images of white people. Indeed, to say that one is interested in race has come to mean that one is interested in any racial imagery other than that of white people. Yet race isnot only attributable to people who are not white, nor is imagery of non-white people the only racial imagery. [..] There is no more powerful position than that of being “ust” human. “The claim to power is the claim to speak for the commonality of humanity. Raced people can't do that — they can only speak for their race.? But non-raced people can, for they do not represent the interests of a race, The point of secing the racing of whites is to dislodge them/us from the position of power,540 RICHARD ovER with all the inequities, oppression, privileges and sulerings in ts tain, di in. dislod thers by underciing the authority with hich they/ We speak an sete on the world. mee ® Ths sr of whit arn cer man evident nthe sec fl to whiten in the hal peo and wring a epg ee (whites) will speak of, say, the blackness or Chincseness of friends, neighbom Saag ees conn my bem mon gene ees seeing manner far we dock nentin te whence of vhost Goes eailayis wine ated wll obce at's aes ies a Writing dow seat nd mess bac pees oer te Se bekc ts wel be eer Sopa ange des oe TY eee tiptoe he Ln ander cock wt tly es aed ona sal fS ec cue tenpres tothe "sehead Joby oo he ashe One mt ays bark Pedare Bs mrs peg Kons a Seo ant soon Se all white people the Wen do haa the hea would be individiou to quote actual examples, and so I shall confine myself to one from my own wrida. In an article on Kalan and gay stereatyper Gag 19936), I difuse th fc that there ean be vaitons on a type sucha the gure oe dj. ine scene nich svonpany th pont Troops see oe fm he nom wh 2 sc ue om Cr Wake a Bop cmt reo sheer de erat of ener rated ena Moke tars tc ly non ge fed te ancl tn ser howcler ptr dal ieee oper Bansal an eine area IE ayn cranlain durpangaph ee bison eae aay See taken as being ust human. ’ 1 Ta “tsps at nite peopl re jut peopl, whch sot fr of ay that whites ae peogle whereas other colours are something cb, enlemie 6 situ ede: Seo or te Suipen cites of fas bet aed ae ‘ould tink Gemadies Be les mc or hte prema bel Boke imc, bs seed low eae sndsgry wht Hos boom wee nec i uw to ele wine whe hye an by som people as white, Often their rage erupts because they believe that all ways of looking that highlight difference subvert the liberal belit in a universal ubjec: tivity (we are all just people) that they think will make racism disappear “They have a deep emotional investment in the myth of ‘sameneit, even as their actions reflect the primacy of whiteness as a sign informing ‘who they are and how they think, (hooks 1992: 167) Similarly, Hazel Carky dlacusees the we of black texts in white claszooms, under ‘the sign of muiticultralim, in away that winds up focusing “on the complexity ‘of response in the (white) rader/student’s construction of sl in relation to & “Glac)perceived“otaer™, We shoul, sh argucs, recognise tat Yvceyone inthis tecil ena hs boon consructed In our peel ioginaton a acai sues” fn thus that we should consider whiteness aswell as blackness, inorder “vo make ‘inl what is rendered invisible when viewed a the normative state of existence! THE MATTER OF WHITENESS 541. ‘he (white) point in space from which we tend to identify diffrence” (Carby 1992: fof whiteness as-a racial position in white (whieh is to say is of a picee with its ubiquity. When 1 said above that this ng to fill a gap in the analysis of racial imagery, 1 repro- peed the idea that there is no discusion of white people. In fet for mast of the sire white people speak about nothing but white peopl, it's just that we couch i ier of people in general. Research ~ into books, museums, the press, adver: thang, films, television, software repeatedly shows that in Wester representation ites are overwhelmingly and disproportionately predominant, have the central Spl claborated roles, and above all ae placed a8 the norm, the ordinary, the san- “Fer! Whites are everywhere in representation, Yet precisely berause of this and their placing os norm they seem not to be represented to themselves a whites but Ss people who are variouly gendered, classed, sexuliedl and able}. At the level of hal representation, in other words, whites are not ofa certain ace, they're just ae cn tll hat eae ling nov world of mpl Hees a hyicny of decnecdne and Fagmentton, The ot sory ued aera gunn race, sokaliy are baking up somone may be black nd worl end fly te maybe be pole or menses, of mix 2 duermnate gender and heaven knows what chs. Yet we have not yt a datum itch white people and wit celtrl agendas reno longer (etke ct The mei, plten, cation ae sil i he ands of wht heal gk for whiter wile eining and sometimes sncerly sing ~ we tor Kamanty, Again the Howerng of + myriad postmodern vot, we veotcs sce the countering tendency towards a homogertion of word tures in the continued deminance of US news dissemination, popular TY cercnmes and Hellywoed moves, Poser malteluaim may hae reel opened up aapce forthe vices ofthe oer challenging the aor ante Wert fe, Oven? 1983), but may aso simultaneous function 2 oS cahow forte peopl who lok om eh light at all he iernces dat ween hein We gy he on our ay to gen hb, mul witout ‘ary hepemny a aye whore we wan to ge to bet We ar there seenr ee wore gt there unl ineace whens, sce Ks power, partic Eig tM Heda pet Tt in ts place and nd true, This why staying whiteness mater Wi aying whiteness qu whiteness, Antoni sometines pa 0 ‘white ei fog, Aiba 190), ut this aways means an entity fas on cultural seas uc Breh, haan a Pls, or Caballo Jewish, or Posh American, ek Amricn, Cathe American and won, These owerer are varitons on winte ebecy (ough as T suggest love, some are more securely white than han he exansnaton of them tends toad away fram a conisraton of Whence ta Jon Ihsn (0981), tn daconion of reserch on white US Mintcoy onctes Oat beng 53, Pah, Cable rsh may note impor: tant to white Americans as some might wish, But being whic is. [. ..| White Tesi ne oar ose hamachi a whit, to ce Ut prc. nother Mons whiteness neds toe made song ny$42 RICHARD DYER Taree 2 pli nto, ba political feclings attendant on it, which bbe briely sy reper oli which need to be brelly signalled in order et El gis Te fo tv gro ah pen Wig {eocss gives white people the go-ahead to write and talk about whee nou corse ie ahem bt tsluational ie inthe West in recent years there have been challenges to the deen tan of ie coms ans sent ewan tte Itures and ae Caters an ss: Pating whee om the aged now igh permis ah relief that we white people don’t after all any to © ret iat white poh IV any longer have to take on all wie Tete eth pote of me-oo am’ prohem of mesos fing tht, ai ci ino npn nn psn Po out, One version ofthis is simply the desire to have attention pad to one, these fr hs bly ny tun il een ep Nar ¢ sense that being white is no great advantage, sthat with being 30 uptight nay of wuch with our holies, burdened wih responce we diet a fer Pat us, A third variant is the notion of white men, specifically, as a new victim I See ate een aeons can't keep women, a view identified and thus hardened up by a Nenoeck coe sory 5 Sopembe 1993 on white mle pani om he grove igh sal e-oai , igor igh snl me too eho he renon of oe men fom "har en er Miranda gi ing de ‘ee, to eal the het of ame ee Se yng ene might seme pr of at ake Pile supe e's we assrvenes «amounting to 3 atatement of Tweety" dhe ag i tio white ratonl’ 1995 30) oF what Pip Norman 1982) ones 2900s ci chic srl n avin le a ogc Da ssl ste i mt psp Ne Ae a a fing on ows ih wt re ying nym enh kn mht ee nc Waco, he "me's movement ce Inne replaced wih strangled vowels and righ altes. The point of looking at whitenes it i fom Its conway and authority, nat to Sat rch kas, ofa Instat ae mach hs, to make 3 ida’ aul ned Fling ‘tard robb shouting low whence 6 gle The Kin of wine pop no ic gigi a ng white pm cra tn fave alway done sy ar Ine tobe thee sess to cam ad th history of wasp for sen pon Asp out hie Sn knowing tht History, we are likly to fel verheled with uit at wt we have done and are doing Gut tes to he 2 bloking emotion. One trans Yo ack x0 mach bow awful white peple have bee that one m3) rg rnd eight thy sf a nen Hew tly tor mg br onsraclompo nl on Ws pte smo luge oar pl wenn her my Ite suresh in or ay hit bears witness to the fineness of a moral spirit that can fee] such th ‘of our guilt is our calvary? i hac fe aah gl — she dey show of reinstating it, wher, like male poss THE MATTER OF WHITENESS 543 1 poltal problem ofa diferent order has to do with what term fo use to refer 1 (ages of) people who are not white, In most contexts, one woul ot i ts make sock rwexping reference 10 s0 general category, but in the Wen comtet of ingot pei of whiten i mate ma eT have opted forthe term non-ehite, This is problematic bss ole vnly have ‘entity by virwe of shat 25 if people who are not whi oe ig Tent a term that I wuukl want to soe sed in other contexts We cnc the tv common alternatives pose greater proms for my purrs ks the term preferred by many dicorsts and activists, as (wo drawbacks Peet i exclude a huge range af people who are neither white nor black, Asians, Feaive Americans (North and South), Chicanos, Jews an so on. Secamd, it ren Rakes the dichotomy of Back : white that underpins racial hought but which Te Sould be our am to dislodge, Blac isa pevilegul term im the construction ite enc imagery and I shall examine i as such, but where f need to we ot aeness in elation to all peoples who are not vthite, “black” wail not do. The Sher option woudl bo “people of colour, the preferred US term (though wih tate cartency in Britain). While Ihave always appreciated this term's generosity, retain i all hose people that “ack” exces it none the Hess reiterates he recon that gome people have colour and others, whites, do not. We need to rezogrite white ava colour to, and just one among many, al we cannot do that Tang Kecp uring 9 term that reserves colour for anyone other than white people Reluctantly, I am forced back on ‘non-white’ Paltigy aber inform more evidently methodological questions, When I fist stared thinking aout studying the representation of whiteness, | soon reali Achat one. could not do. was the kind of taxonomy of typifications that hod passione for non-white peoples. One cannot come up with a limited range of Caiesny repeated images, because the pristege of being white in white culture eatery tac eabjcted to stereotyping in rlation to one’s whiteness. White people we Mtcrcotypedl in terme af gender, nation, cas, sexuality, ability and so on, but ihe overt point of such ¢ypilication is gender, nation, ete, Whiteness generally Colonies the stereotypical detnition of all social categories other than those of sree To be normal, even to be normally deviant (queer, crippled, sto be white White people ir their whitenes, however, ate image as indisdaal and/or clay verse, complex and changing. There are also gradations of whiteness ‘Se people are whiter chan xhers. Latins, the fish and Jews fr istancey are Father eee sccurely white than Anglos, Teutons and Nore indeed, if Jews are ‘ehite at all; i i only Ashkemaid Jews, since the Holocaust, in a few places “The indiviated, multifarious and graded character of white representation docs not mean toat shite culture has succeeded in imagining in white people the lente af human potesil and is only at fault for denying this representations} Tange to non-utite peopl. There # a spect to white represemaion, ht ie love not reside in a set of stereotypes so much as in narrative structural positions, thetorieal tropes and habits of perception. ‘The same is truc of all representation the taxonomic study of stercotypes was only ever an initial step inthe study of ton white representation. However, stereotyping — complex ard contradictory hugh iti (Perkins 1979, Bhabha 1983, Dyer 19933) — does characteris te reprexetation of subordinate social groups and is ane of the means by which544 RICHARD DYER they are categorie and kept in their place, whereas white people fn white are given th lion of thir own init variety WHE ete [.-- Equly, ven the varity of whitenes, | have somstng what an ely wit sbut ie wine a tc Engl, helo ae Europeans and thir descendant), tha thi whiteness would be unrecoge Southern or Eastern Europcans (and thee descendant), For much of te entries, North European whiteness has been hegemonic within a whi’ has none the lesen ssumed to nla Southern and Earn Europea eae {albeit sometimes grudgingly within Europe” and less assuredly without it tn fap instance, the Lain aspora of the America). Its ths ovcarching hago ae whiteness which concer me, one to which Northern Europeans mest eat claims bot which snot to be conflated with dstncive North European alone As others ate found, i often seme that the only way to see the struc, tropes and perceptual habit of whiteness, to see past the illusion of infinite variey, to recogis whit qua white, ie when nonwhite (and above al black) peoples also represented. My inal ab atthe topic of whiteness (Dye 1988) appraceg ie erough thre films which were centrally about white-blck interaction, se my account [Jf how {may have go thinking aout the top at all ase sscs the role of non-white people in my ie, Similarly, Toni Morrison in er ad of whiteness in American literature, Playing in the Dark (1982), focuses on the centrality, indeed inecapability, of black representation {o the construction of sshite identity, perception shared by the very influential work of Edward Said (1978) on the West's construction ofan “Orient” by means of which to make sende of fuel, Ths x more than saying that one can only realy se the spec af one’ eat by realising that could be otherwise, in itll an uncbjection: able human proces. Wht the work of Morrison, Said al sages i Ut white dacourse implseaby reduces the non-white subject to being a encion ofthe white subject, no allowing her/him space or autonomy, permitting nither the recog. nikon of smilartis north acceptance of diflrenato except at ameans for kaowing the white sel, Ts catural proces jutes the cmphas, in work on the repre sentation of white people, om the role of images of non-white people init Yet this empress has also worried me, writing from a white postion. If continue to sce whiteness ony in texts in which there are also non-white people, mI not reproducing te relegation of non-white people tothe function f enabling te to understand mysel? Do I not do analytically what the texts themselves dat ‘Moreover, while this s cerainly the usual function of black images in white texts," to focus excisively on those texts that are ‘about racaldiferenee and imerc Sion rik giving the inpssion iat whiteness only white, or only mater, when itis explily set aganet non-white, whereas whiteness produce el 5 white nes i all toxt all of the timc, Ase product of enterprise an imperialism, whiteness of cause always already predicated on rac dirence, interaction atv domination, Ut tht I rue ofall texts, not jst those that take such mates 2 thor explicit sabjct matter. Similarly, [| there is implit racial resonance to te ides, endemic tothe representation of white heteroserualty, of sexual desi 2 itself dark [| The point ls to ace the spectcty of whitenes, even when the text ial snot tying fo show i to you, does even know that it there 10 be shown." I do make reference to non-white in my analyses in order to early sable THE MATTER OF WHITENESS 545 inforce the notion that ..] White identity is founded on compelling paradoxes: a vividly corporal Coumology that most values transcendence of the boy; a notion of being at once sort of race and the human race, an individual ane a universal subject; a commit. tment to heterosexuality that, for whiteness to be affirmed, ental men fighting inst sexual desires and women having none; a stress on the display of spirit ithile maintaining a position of invisibility: in short, a need always to be every thing and nothing, literally overwhelmingly present and yet apparently absent, both live and dead, Paradoxes are fascinating, endlessly drawing us back to them, either in awe at their unfathomabilty or else out of a wish to fathom them. Paradoxes provide the instabilities that generate stories, millions of engrossing attempts to Find resolution, The dynamisin of white instability, especially in its elas to univer salty, & also what entices those outside to seek (0 cross its borders and those inside to aspire ever upwards within it. Thus it is that the paradoxes and inst bilities of whiteness alse constitute its Mexbility and productivity, in short, representational power. Notes 1 ase the terms aan “ac in his opening section in the mos common though problematic sense, rtring to sapped vsly diferent, supp fay dsrete sch groupings 2. Indheirncaton oe exordnaly succes TV stom about le Claw Aten Ameri fay The Cay Show, Su aly and Jxtin Lert ote the way tht sewer repeat recat the character lacks bu ho el tha “yout tik of tem as people's in ether words hat they don’ ony speak Tor dcr race hall and Laws argue that she achieved bythe the tly conforms tothe everday, gene sort of white television” (1992: 100) an cmcmaly mies wore The family ordinry dope ig teks hese sopra mole i canbe aceped tora tn3 95 Ut margins moe ae Aiion Americas the cele of Arcam mere perience were nce, ont characters woul nt be persed a= i pool’ 3 Sel for inane, Bogle 1973, Hartmann an Hishind 1976, Troyns 1981, MacDonal 1983, Wikon and Gute 1985, an Die 1987, lly and ew {992 (BM), Reva 1998 The resenc nings ae generally a he oer ey prose, texts! argon ard entning dian a problem, Resent acre nthe US ds ge ht ound, in terms of non-white under546 RICHARD OYER Aican-Amerians (but not other racially marginalised groups) have more represented in the media, even in excess of tl Tati be cir proportion ofthe pont However, this number sill lls off fone focuses on central charge The Cying Game (GB 1992) scoms to me to be an example ofthis, It explon with fascination and generosity, the hybrl and fluid mature of identity: gon race, national beloaging, sexuality. Yet all of this revolves around a hemes but ulimately unchallenged straight wlite man ~ i reinsribes Uhe postion a those at the intersection of heterosexuality, maleness and whiteness as tt of the one group which docs not need to be hybrid and Hid He makes this point in the context of both a TV documentary about D, W. Grifth and an article by me on Lillian Gish; though I think it ts inaccurste yp call the ater 2 ‘celebration’ (as opposed to a recognition) of the whiteness of her stardom, the general tenor of his remarks is salutary. Pascal Bruckner discusses liberal guilt aad ‘Third Worlds in his Le sonplot de homme Blane (The White Man's Tears) (1983). Alastair Bonnett makes a related point about the discourse of blame in recent dies of whiteness by white people [Allthough whiteness is subjected to 2 barrage of unsentimental critique, it emerges from this process as an omnipresent and all- powerful historical force. Whitencss is seen to be responsible forthe failure of socialism to develop in America, for racism, for the impov- crishment of humanity. With thi ‘blame" comer a new kind of centring: Whiteness, and White people, are turned into the key agents of historical change, the shipers of contemporary America. ‘Bonnett 1996: 153) On the whiteness of qucers sce Hart 1994, and of disabled people see CCumberbatch and Negrine 1992: 74. Paul Darke argues (in « personal comma ication) that dhe overwhelming prevalence of whites in the representation of disability is due not only to the assumption of white 3s 2 human norm but to ‘wo other fsetors specific to disability ~ that itis to be imagined as ‘the worst quality of life on earth’, which must be most tragic for the most privileged, and ‘hat in the overriding representation of whites as individuals, the fact of the social construction of disability ie hidden A schoolboy phrase I remember being taught was that 'wogs begin at Calis’; leven the French were not white enough for little Englanders, (‘Wog' is British slang for ‘nigger’,) {An insight explored in a film context in Cameron Bailey's analysis of Something Wid (USA 1986), where non-white culure is used as a marker of authentcly and wildness that will give vitality and esionce to the garsh emptiness of mnidle- to the point tat the “wild” white woman (played by Melanie Grilths) who distracts the hero (Jeff Daniel) from the straight and nareow is entirely coded in terms of black culture (Bailey 1988). Lynda Hart's discussion (1994: 104-23) of Auack ofthe $0.Fe Woman and Single White Femole is an example of an analysis i these terms that 1 read too late (0 integrate into the discussion, THE MATTER OF WHITENESS 547 References ‘Ab, Rich D, (1990) Ei Mansy: The Taafrmaton of White America, Nev Haven Yale University Pres pails, Cameron (1988) “Niggee/Lover: the Thin Shecn of Race in Something Hi, Seren 2968): 28-40. tab, Hom (1983) "The Other Question: the Stereotype an Colonial Discourse", Siren 246): 18-36. Bogle, Donald (1973) Toms, Cron, lata, Mame and Bucs An Inepetve Hinery Of Blacks n American Fis, New York: Viking Pes . Alssir (1996) “"White Studies": The Problems and Projects of a New Research Agenda’, They, Cole and Soctay 13(2}. 145-58. Corky, HaeclV. (1992) "The Mkiculsral Ware’ im Dent, Gina (ed) Blok Poplar Gules, Seattle: Bay Pres, 137-98 CComberbatc, Guy ad Negrin, Raph (1992) Imager of Dial on Telrion, London: Routledge Dyers Riche (1988) ‘Whi’, Sow 296) 44268. Reprinted In Dyer 1938 141.63) Dyer, Richarl (1993s) The Mane ftaags Ess on Ryreemations, London: Routh. Dyer, Ricard (1993)) “Sen To B Believed: Problems Inthe Representation of Gay eaple as Typical” in Dyer 19933: 19-51 Hart, Lynda (1994) Foal Womens labin Sealy andthe Mark of dggresion, London Routledge Hamann, Paul and Husband, Clarler (1974) Racim andthe dos Malo, London: Davis-Poynte. tooks, ball (1982) ‘Madonna: nation Mistress of Soul Sister?” ad "Representations ‘of Whiteness in the Black Inagination’, in Black Lake Race ond Reprecmation, Boston: South End Press, 157-68, 165-78 Tison, John (1981) ‘Virgin Land or Virgin Mary? Stadying the Ethnicity of White ‘America’, American Quota, 33(3): 284-308 Sally, Sut and Lewis, justin (1992) Enlighenl Rac: “The Cosy Show’, Alene and the th of the American Dreom, Boulter: Wessiew Pres MacDonald, JF. (1983) Blick an! Whe TY: fodmescam mn Televaan sce 1948, Chicago: Nelson: Hall Moreson, Toni (1992) Playing in the Dark: Whitnex end the Lierny Inagintion, Cambri, MA: Harvard University Pres Nonny Philp (1992) “The Shaxk uf the New', Wich! Gardin 30-31. May +6 Owens, Crag (1983) “The Discourse of Others: Feminists and Postmode Foster, Hal (cd) the Amletha: Exays on Postmodern Cubure, Pore Townsend WA: Bay Pres, 57-82 Perkins, T. . (1978) “Rethinking Stereotypes’ Barrett, Michile, Corrigan, Philip, Kuhn, Annette and Wolf, int (el) olay and Culwral Praduain, London: Croom Helen, 135-59. Philips, Mike (1993) “White Heroes in the Hall of Fame’, Black Film Bullain (4): 30. Bonn Ross, Karen (1995) Black and Whi Melia, Oxford: Polity Said, Edward (1978) Orientalism, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. “Troyna, Barry (1981) “Images of Race and Racist Images in the British News Meaia’548 RICHARD DYER in Halloran, J.D. (el) Aas Media and Mass Communications, Leicester: Leica University Pros ad san Dijk, T.A. (1987) Communicoung Racism, London: Sage. ‘Wilson, C.J. and Getirrer, Fs (1985) Mints aml Mea, Beverley Mil: Sage Chapter 37 Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw RACE, REFORM, AND RETRENCHMENT Transformation and legitimation in antidiscrimination law bed N 1984, PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN signed a bill that created the Martin Luther King, Jr. Federal Holiday Commission.! The commission was charged with the responsibility of issuing guidelines lor states anil localities to Follow in preparing their observances of King’s biethday. The commission's task woul not be easy. Although King’s birias had come to symbolize the massive social moxement that revs out of Alrican-Americans’ efforts to end the long history of racial oppression in America, the frst official observance of the haliday would take place in the face of at east two disturbing obstacles: first, a constant, i! aot increasing, socioeconomic disparity between the raves,' ane second, a hostile x the path of civil rights reforms which many 1c responsible for most of the movement's progress." "The commission, though, was presented with a more essential difficulty: a focus on the co night call not for celebration but for strident criticism of Americas failure to make good on its Promise of racial equality. Yer such criticism would overluok the progress that has bccn made, progress thatthe holiday itself represents, The commission apparently resolved this dimma by calling for a celebration of progress toward racial equality while urging continu commitment to this ileal. This elfort to reconcile the cele bration af an ideal with conditions that bespeak its continuing denial was given the ironic, but altogether appropriate title “Living the Dreams,"* ‘The “Living the Droam directive aptly illustrates Derrick Bell's observation that “most Ames black and white, view the civil rights crusade as a long, slow, but always upward pall that must, given the basic precepts of the countey and the cormmitment of its sventually endl in the fall enjoyment by blacks of administration devoted to chang beh if esparities between blacks and ssi people to equality and bert, all rights and privileges of citizenship enjoyed by whites."