Time Wise: Whiteness and its Role in Telling Histories

Tim Wise’s website: http://www.timwise.org/

His blog: http://www.redroom.com/blog/tim-wise

The discussion today led me to reflect about authorship of history and the role of privilege in its dissemination. It is difficult to address the complexities of a white writer interviewing, editing, and packaging the narratives of black Americans. I think that having anyone tell someone else’s story is inherently problematic for obvious reasons, but the dynamics implicit in Classen’s book are particularly intriguing. Some people in class argued that because “Watching Jim Crow” was produced by a white person as a product for consumption by a primarily white audience, the book is perhaps less honest or complete of a history; the idea that a history written by a person of color would have been more valuable. Others suggest that because Classen openly admits the limitations of his analysis and is reflexive about his interpretations, his book is successful in its mission.

The debate made me think about Time Wise, a self-proclaimed “white anti-racist activist” and author who actually gave a lecture at Scripps three years ago. Wise tours colleges across the nation and has written extensively about the importance of discussing issues of race from a white perspective. One short quote from his book “White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son” stands out as particularly pertinent: “race is still viewed as something that can only be understood from the perspective of ‘the other’” (p. 3). In the book, Wise insists on the great value of white people writing/speaking/blogging/etc. about black (and other) narratives because otherwise race could be misconstrued as a non-white issue. In other words, by having white people talk about race, we are not only drawing attention to the importance of racial issues to everyone but also bringing to the forefront the concept of “whiteness.” I think that, sadly, unless white people write about these topics, they could be viewed as not relevant to white people. When a white person writes about black narratives from a perspective that is not entirely ignorant, (Classen is a great example), the importance of whiteness and white privilege is difficult to dismiss. Thus, I argue that it is imperative that there is representation of people of color sharing their own narratives AND white people writing about them in academia and exploring them in pop culture. It can be tempting to dismiss white authors and criticize Classen for not having included more direct oral histories in his book, but I think his perspective is unique and valuable.