Quotes from Derald Wing Sue

Becoming antiracist, therefore, may mean significant changes in how Whites live their lives and may alter their relationships with family, friends, and coworkers as well as affect the environments in which they live (neighborhoods, communities, schools, and worksites).

This change often presents a major challenge because the person may experience loneliness and the type of marginalization that people of color have constantly experienced. For many White Americans, the challenge and isolation may be too much, and they will return to their old ways allowing denial and self-deception to reestablish themselves.

The inability to see how the assumptions and biased practices exist in one's own beliefs and behaviors allows Whites to operate in a vacuum of naïveté and innocence that distances them from responsibility or the knowledge that their unawareness fosters complicity in the inequities of our society.

As long as biases remain hidden, however, responsibility for change at the individual, institutional, and societal levels can be avoided. The invisibility of White racial superiority and minority inferiority is a well-kept secret as long as people are not allowed to talk about it.

the potential White ally must find others who will walk with him or her, encourage him or her to continue the journey, and form new friendships and partnerships, especially among people of color. Studies suggest that antiracist people have greater racial diversity among friends, support affirmative action, possess greater cultural sensitivity and empathy, and are more prone to take social action to rectify injustices (Spanierman et al., 2009).

It is clear that the early founders had good intentions and meant well; they were not evil men whose conscious motivation was to oppress and dominate others.

most people, including Whites, perceive racial relationships as binary: Black–White only (Pew Research Center, 2012). So, when matters of prejudice or discrimination are brought up for discussion, other groups of color, such as Asian Americans, Latina/o Americans, and Native Americans, often feel left out of the dialogue and rendered invisible (B. S. K. Kim, 2011; Takaki, 1998).

issues or racial situations present themselves, it is important to ask, "Where are the feelings of uneasiness, differentness, or outright fear coming from?" They may reveal or say something about one's biases and prejudices.

Why is race talk difficult between and among people of color? Why are some people of color hesitant to address interracial/interethnic differences? These are questions often asked privately by groups of color, but seldom publicly discussed for fear of negative consequences and the destruction of political unity (Orbe et al., 2013; Sue & Sue, 2013).

When around people of color or when race-related issues or racial situations present themselves, it is important to ask, "Where are the feelings of uneasiness, differentness, or outright fear coming from?" They may reveal or say something about one's biases and prejudices.

In the analysis of some scholars, the media has delighted in playing up interracial/interethnic conflicts leading to political consequences to the detriment of communities of color (E. H. Kim, 1998; Sue & Sue, 2013).

For persons of color, dealing with bias and prejudice is a day-to-day occurrence. If Whites are to be helpful, their lives must also be a constant "have to" in dealing with racism.

Boyd-Franklin (2003, 2010) describes teaching Black children, especially males, (a) to express aggression indirectly in the face of insults and indignities, (b) to create as few waves as possible by engaging in ritualized accommodating/subordinating behaviors, and (c) to read the thoughts of others while hiding their own.

It is important to understand that prejudice by people of color occurs under an umbrella of White racial superiority and supremacy. Raised in the United States, they are equally prone to inherit the stereotypes and biases of the society. Although people of color can be prejudiced and discriminate, they do not have the power to oppress on a large-scale basis (Spradlin & Parsons, 2008; Sue, 2003).

while the politeness protocol, the academic protocol, and the color-blind protocol serve as ground rules that prevent race talk by Whites, the commandments (a) "Thou shall not air dirty laundry in public" and (b) "Thou shall not speak ill of one another and destroy group unity" are equally powerful forces preventing people of color from honestly dialoguing about their thoughts and feelings toward one another.

Whites do not realize that possessing unchecked power and control over others often results in the dimming of their own perceptiveness and leads to a distorted reality. This is because their high status and power means they (a) seldom have to worry or even think about people of color, (b) use only one another to validate their sense of a false racial reality, and (c) inaccurately define people of color from a stereotypical template.

Becoming aware of the customs and contradictions of the dominant group is a coping mechanism that maximizes survival.

Many Black students report that to convey their message and have it received the right way, they cannot be emotional while speaking. Squelching their natural style of communication to conform to White talk was often described as humiliating. They described the psychological costs as being inauthentic, having sold out, not being true to the self, and a deep sense of losing one's own integrity.

Trainers have to be cognizant of the many defensive strategies used by participants to avoid race talk in order to anticipate and overcome them.

The issue is not whether one is unbiased, but how aware, honest, and open their White counterparts are to their prejudices and stereotypes, and whether these biases will interfere with the White person's ability to relate to persons of color.

In the face of microaggressions, whether in the workplace, classroom, or other public forums, the emotional toll for people of color can be great (Sue, 2010). Three large categories of emotional reactions were identified.

First, many people of color report being incensed when they felt their integrity was being assailed.

The problem with the maintenance of harmony is that it negates deeper explorations of biases, stereotypes, and nested emotions associated with race and racism. The teachable moment is lost.

Second, anxiety and outright fear of the personal consequences for raising issues of bias and unfairness were always on the minds of the targets.