“You, the white people, invented race”: Now Ask Yourself Why!

Category: whiteness

When most people think about racism and oppression they think about the oppressed. They think about individuals who live under the heel of the oppressor. They think about the atrocities that the oppressor commits. They think about the acts of resistance against the oppressor. They do this and then they label it “the Negro problem” or “the Jewish question,” placing the onus of the … Read More “You, the white people, invented race”: Now Ask Yourself Why!

May 30, 2023 + Achille Mbembe, african american literature, algeria, france, the stone face, whiteness, william gardner smith

The Illusion of Safety in William Gardner Smith’s “The Stone Face”

by Matthew Teutsch

William Gardner Smith’s The Stone Face, as I have written about over the past few posts, revolves around the tension that Simeon feels about living in Paris as the Civil Rights Movement occurs back in the United States. Simeon’s conflict arose partly from Smith’s own experiences as an expatriate in France but also from the experiences of other African America expatriate writes in France … Read More The Illusion of Safety in William Gardner Smith’s “The Stone Face”

October 6, 2022 + atlanta, donald glover, race, whiteness

The System of Whiteness in Atlanta’s “Three Slaps”: Part II

by Matthew Teutsch

In a last post, I started looking at the system of whiteness in Atlanta’s “Three Slaps,” specifically at the ways that Loquareeous’s guidance counselor at school and the social worker who takes him away from his mother work within the system of whiteness to impact Loquareeous. Today, I want to continue with that discussion, looking a little more at Loquareeous’s “disruption” in class that sparks … Read More The System of Whiteness in Atlanta’s “Three Slaps”: Part II

October 5, 2022 + atlanta, donald glover, race, whiteness

The System of Whiteness in Atlanta’s “Three Slaps”: Part I

by Matthew Teutsch

In a recent post, I looked at the illusion of whiteness in the opening scene of Atlanta’s “Three Slaps.” I delved into how the white character on the lake talks about the inaccessibility and accessibility of whiteness, and discussed Michael Collins’ feelings of comfort in the illusion of his closeness to whiteness in Dwayne McDuffie and Denys Cowan’s Deathlok. Today, I want to continue looking at … Read More The System of Whiteness in Atlanta’s “Three Slaps”: Part I

January 11, 2022 + fairoaks, frank yerby, georgia, georgia literature, southern literature, whiteness

The Lies We Believe in Frank Yerby’s “Fairoaks”

by Matthew Teutsch

A few weeks ago, I saw a review of Frank Yerby’s Floodtide (1950) on Twitter. At that point, I hadn’t read Floodtide, and this point, I still haven’t. For some reason, my brain misremembered the review and I started to read Yerby’s Fairoaks (1957), a novel centered on the life of Guy Falks. I didn’t realize my mistake until I started making a Twitter … Read More The Lies We Believe in Frank Yerby’s “Fairoaks”

Interminable Rambling

“You, the white people, invented race”: Now Ask Yourself Why!

Category: whiteness