Race is Always Part of the Story

Univsersity of Texas professor Robert Jensen, author of the controversial new book, The Heart of Whiteness, laments two versions of his life story. The first does not address race; the second does. The two versions represent the differing mindset of whites and people of color.

Story One: “I was born in a small city in North Dakota, to parents in the lower middle-class who eventually scratched their way to a comfortable middle-class life through hard work. I never went hungry and always had a roof over my head, but I was expected to work, and I did.”

Story Two: “I was born in a small city in North Dakota, to white parents in the lower middle-class who eventually scratched their way to a comfortable middle-class life through hard work. The city I grew up in was almost all white. It was white because the indigenous population that once lived there was either exterminated or pushed onto reservations.”

TheStateOf . . . Race. Jensen is one of the rare white people who understand how this society is viewed by many people of color. Which story is right? And what are we to do about it?