Some White Folks: A Discussion with Jennifer Chudy about the Possibilities and Limits of Racial Sympathy

Reflecting on race and the presidency, Barack Obama once stated, “There are…some white folks who really like me and give me the benefit of the doubt precisely because I’m a Black president.” Jennifer Chudy, associate professor of political science at Wellesley College, got curious about these particular white folks in her new book, Some White Folks: The Interracial Politics of Sympathy, Suffering, and Solidarity, which explores the origins and effects of white racial sympathy in modern American politics. We talk with Jennifer about what racial sympathy is, how it can coexist with racial prejudice, and the consequential reasons one might study the racial attitudes of white people while working toward a multiracial democracy.

 

Links to further reading from our discussion:

• Jennifer Chudy’s book, Some White Folks: The Interracial Politics of Sympathy, Suffering, and Solidarity, takes its title from statements Barack Obama made about his white supporters reflecting on his first presidential campaign.
• Some examples farther back in history of white racial sympathy include the SCOPE project to support voter registration during the civil rights movement in the 1960s and participation in protests following the 1992 police assault of Rodney King in Los Angeles.
• We also consider how and why sympathy lasts, like this piece, with Jennifer Chudy and Hakeem Jefferson, on whether support for Black Lives Matter lasted.
• We discuss not only the racial sympathy index, but the reality of racial resentment.
• In an analogous conversation about belief and action, Neil wrote about how belief in climate change doesn’t necessarily change behaviors or mean that behavior matches the necessary scale of response.
• On the “Kamala question,” her multiple identities, and the challenges she faced about them.

• Likes
• Download
• Share