Grappling with the Violence of Whiteness

In public discussions of racial violence, the focus is often on people of

color and the way they experience racism. In this episode of Peace Talks

Radio, our guests turn the lens on Whiteness, asking how the notion of

Whiteness came to be, how it has shaped American history and how it

perpetuates injustice in interpersonal interactions and systems in

American society today. We talk with John Biewen, audio director at the

Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, who produced the 2017

series Seeing White for his podcast “Scene On Radio”. The fourteen-part

documentary audio series takes a deep dive into the history of Whiteness

as a tool used to oppress people of color.

Then we speak with Cheryl E. Matias, Ph.D., an associate professor at the

University of Colorado Denver’s School of Education and Human Development.

Matias, a woman of color, teaches mostly white teacher-candidates who

often have the well-intentioned goal of teaching students of color in

urban schools. Her book, "Feeling White", details how her students’ strong

negative emotional reactions often derail important conversations about

race, and offers lessons on how to work through those “emotionalities of

Whiteness” in order to have more productive dialogue.

We’ll also hear excerpts from an October 2018 workshop entitled “What Is

Whiteness?” taught by educator and anti-racism activist Frida Miles at the

Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice. Hannah Colton hosts.