45 pages • 1 hour read
Michael Eric DysonTears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2017A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Whiteness as a Racist Social Construct
At the center of Dyson’s analysis of racism in American society is the social construct of whiteness. Dyson illustrates that whiteness is an invention which connects to white privilege and white supremacy. Dyson separates the concept of whiteness from white people as human beings. Whiteness is “a social inheritance” and has no essential connection to white humanity (44). Whiteness and its attachment to power and privilege are harmful for Black and white people alike. Whiteness is a constructed racial identity that has historically defined American identity. The European groups in America abandoned their ethnicity and languages to create a new American identity around whiteness in contrast to other racial groups whose ethnicity was a factor of exclusion.
The politics of whiteness are pervasive in American society. Whiteness is racially exclusionist. It manages to remain “invisible” and to appear as “neutral, human, American” (46). Dyson argues that whiteness defines itself against Blackness and feeds on its exclusion, and that the existence of Black people reveal its artificiality. The politics of whiteness intend to maintain control over narratives. The mainstream version of American history has centralized whiteness and justifies the white imagination. Dyson posits that “what so often passes for American history is really a record of white priorities or conquests set down as white achievement” (52). Thus, whiteness attaches privilege to itself and excludes the history of other peoples, obscuring their culture and undermining their humanity. White Americans continually invest on whiteness as the foundation of America’s national mythology. Whiteness reinforces racial inequality as it keeps white Americans ignorant and indifferent toward African Americans.
Dyson also shows how whiteness is racist through the analysis of white grief, white fragility, and innocence. White Americans fear losing their cultural dominance and sociopolitical control, which often leads to dramatic and even violent manifestations of grief and guilt. White Americans’ profound investment in whiteness often leads them to reaffirm its racist intentions. When white Americans are confronted with the history of racial violence, their white privilege, and their own responsibility for racism, they find it intolerable and claim innocence. Whiteness also has a distorting effect on Blackness. Dyson emphasizes that whiteness appropriates Black culture in ways that appeal to the white imagination and obscures its truth.
Ultimately, whiteness erases Black history and culture, downplays historical events like slavery as causes for Black suffering and pain, and negates the humanity of other racial groups. Whiteness is one of the main reasons why inequality persists. Dyson describes it as a burden and “a catastrophic investment in false grievances” (94). Ultimately, whiteness upholds the idea of white supremacy, as it values white life more than Black life.
Police Brutality as a Form of Institutional Racism
Police violence is central to Dyson’s analysis of Black life in America. For African Americans, the police signify intimidation and terror rather than public service and protection. Dyson illustrates that police brutality does not include not just isolated expressions of bigotry. Rather, it represents a larger sociopolitical issue that derives from America’s foundations. The police have historically dehumanized Black people because the Constitution and the structures of law enforcement have never recognized African Americans as fully human. Therefore, police brutality connects to the racist power structures that have defined social hierarchies in America.
To highlight the historical persistence of racism, Dyson connects police brutality to slavery. Slavery initiated the practice of policing Black bodies. Dyson compares the pursuit, arrest, and the questioning of enslaved people who escaped to today’s policing practices. He notes that even after the abolition of slavery, freedom remained fragile. Today, racism remains as Black skin and bodies “are relentlessly monitored and policed” (177). Dyson compares police brutality to terrorism. He describes the practice of racial terror and hatred by the police: “Spreading state-sanctioned violence. Menacing Black communities. Seeing Blackness as criminal. Punishing back talk. Killing Blacks who run” (179). Dyson’s thesis is that police brutality represents the institutional racism inherent in American society and highlights its persistence throughout American history:
You cannot know the terror that Black folk feel when a cop car makes its approach and the history of racism and violence comes crashing down on us. The police car is a mobile plantation, and the siren is the sound of dogs hunting us down in the dark woods (181).
Here, Dyson uses analogies, comparing police brutality to the signatures of slavery: the plantation and the dogs that would hunt slaves. Dyson describes the possibility of atoning for police violence as a delusion. Discussions about restoring the civil relationship and trust between the police and Black people fail to acknowledge police brutality as a systemic problem and erases the long history of violence against African Americans. Not acknowledging “the structures, systems, and social forces that shape how Black folk are seen and treated” in American society reinforces racism and inequality (181). Dyson also highlights how white people are responsible for police brutality; racial violence is not “a matter of personal belief” but of “social learning and behavior” that derives from the politics of whiteness (182).
Challenging institutional racism is a complex process. Police violence is a persistent problem, as “the police bring overwhelming credibility and authority to the table” (183-84). As part of power structures, the police carry “a shield of honor and incorruptibility” and have “the support of the state” (184). Institutional racism is hard to dismantle as the police’s legitimacy is posited against Black protest and resistance.
For Dyson, the police reinforce racist social structures. He highlights that racism is not only a personal conviction but a social and political practice: “Bigots are surely a problem, but they are sustained by systems of belief and perception, by widely held stereotypes and social practice” (185). Police brutality perpetuates a legacy of racial terror that plagues American society.
Empathy and the Hope for Social Change and Equality
Despite the persistence of racism, Dyson explores and promotes possibilities for social change. Dyson structures the book as a sermon to illustrate how it is necessary to battle racism collectively and through a constant effort for dialogue and connection. He advocates for America’s healing from racial hatred and violence and describes his vision for a hopeful future.
Dyson argues that America’s problem is racism and emphasizes the country’s need for redemption. Dyson delineates specific steps that are necessary to take toward social change, and highlights the crucial role of white Americans in the struggle for equality: “The only way to save our nation, and, yes, to save yourselves, is to let go of whiteness and the vision of American history it supports” (49). White participation is key for achieving equality. White people must “make a conscious effort to change,” acknowledge their privilege, and abandon their investment in whiteness (70). The burden of racism is harmful for everyone, and racial healing can only happen through a united effort by white and Black Americans. The deconstruction of whiteness is a necessary step for forging the path to equality.
Black humanity represents hope for America’s future, and is “the only salvation white American humanity has” (141). The view of Black people as “other” by mainstream American society deepens the racial chasm. Therefore, the recognition and knowledge of Black humanity is key to social change. “Black forgiveness” is also crucial in racial healing. The perseverance of African Americans against racism and their resistance against racial terror have historically granted America “spiritual will” and “moral maturity” (142). African American activism continues to fight for America’s best values on the basis of Black and white people’s “shared culture and existence” (142).
Dyson illustrates his hope for equality as he believes in love and empathy. He emphasizes that whiteness and white privilege reinforcing racial hatred “can only quenched by love” (99). This kind of love refers to a collective force and not a “private” or “personal” expression of love (99). As Dyson argues, it is “a public expression of love that holds [everybody] accountable” (99). Love equals justice and justice equals love: “Justice is what love sounds like when it speaks in public” (99). Thus, assuming responsibility for racism is a profound expression of humanity.
Ultimately, empathy is key for achieving social change. Empathy can bridge the racial chasm and subvert privilege and discrimination. Dyson’s investment in social change also manifests in his teaching. Dyson encourages his students to “adopt the vocabulary of empathy, to develop fluidity in the dialect of hope and the language of racial understanding” (70). Empathy is a process. To practice empathy is to shift form one’s perspective and identify with the experiences of others. White people must put themselves in the position of Black people and imagine their lives defined by racism. Empathy will lead white Americans to a “democratic impatience for injustice” (211). Thus, it will unite them with their Black fellow citizens in the common pursuit of equality.
