"This book is about white Americans as racial beings. It is a personal work. It’s about my people."

So writes Jeff Hitchcock, a white man from a liberal white family. After the civil rights movement of the 1960s, he married a black woman, worked for years as a diversity trainer, and now co-directs the Center for the Study of White American Culture.

Focusing on Whiteness

Unraveling the White Cocoon sets out to live up to its name. By speaking directly to a white audience about race, racism and white privilege in America, the book points the way to a metamorphosis of sorts. Hitchcock’s goal is to build a multiracial society, defined as one where "multiracial relationships are commonplace, where racial tension is not a factor, where justice is not influenced by a person’s racial status, and where each person has equal opportunities." Hitchcock knows that we have a long way to go.

In a non-threatening and open tone, Hitchcock tells it like it is. He is unafraid to name whiteness and white cultural affirmation. He goes on to discuss white guilt and shame resulting from the knowledge that throughout our country’s history people of color have played the necessary role of the exploited class.

He sprinkles the book with thought-provoking sidebars, such as a "Racial Interaction Inventory" (measuring how many inter-racial interactions we each have in our daily lives); "Who is White?" (examining the changing definition of whites in America); and the educational pros and cons of instituting "European American Heritage Month."

Another particularly compelling piece is titled "Who Has the Power?" This thought experiment for white people asks us to imagine trying to achieve justice for a wrongdoing. The officials we encounter first become increasingly whiter as we move up the ladder of authority (as is currently the case). Imagining this scenario a second time, the officials become progressively blacker and show a strong African influence. We then must speculate on just how fair the ultimate outcome will be for the white victim.

Hitchcock’s book also takes a large step toward redefining what it means to examine white American culture. No longer is he willing to let white supremacists lay claim to all conversations about whites and whiteness. He convincingly argues that looking critically at whiteness is essential to seeing its good and bad points, and being able to realize a "fuller nationhood."

Colorblindness Re-examined

Central to Hitchcock’s argument is his penetrating examination of "colorblindness." In the past 40 years our society has moved quite far away from condoning white supremacy and has embraced a colorblind ideal. While honoring this great accomplishment, Hitchcock challenges his readers to question whether the popular notion of colorblindness truly is moving us toward a multiracial society. He writes,

"Colorbliness only makes sense from within the big white cocoon. Rather than packing and getting ready to make the long and arduous journey on the road to a multiracial society, a society no longer structured by race, colorblindness sits blindly in the middle of a racially structured society and tells itself it has already arrived, No journey [from the status quo] is necessary."

Several years ago, I encountered a particularly harsh colorblind attitude from a newspaper editor in a predominantly white suburb. He refused to publish an article on the small but growing Asian population in his town. Apparently it was not "appropriate" to acknowledge a group of people of color in a non-assimilationist way.

According to Hitchcock, the predominant attitude says, "Since race doesn’t matter, it’s rude to even notice what race we are." But, he insists, it does matter -- a lot -- for two main reasons:

1) We, white people, can’t create a multiracial society on our terms alone. We need people of color. That’s a new experience for us.

2) If race relations are to change, then white American culture must change. And white American culture is best changed by those who have the power to change it, i.e., white Americans.

White Studies

Hitchcock draws heavily on the emerging academic field of White Studies. In one example, Hitchcock analyzes the word "diversity." The word implies diversion from something -- and that something is the white male norm. He quotes scholar Ruth Frankenberg: "Whiteness comes to be an unmarked or neutral category, whereas other cultures are specifically marked 'cultural.'" We can all think of everyday examples of this: such as the "ethnic" products aisle at the market or the lack of a European American/white culture section at the bookstore.

Hitchcock also describes the Race Game, as suggested by African American theologian Thandeka. For a week, white people are asked to use the word "white" whenever mentioning the name of a Euro-American. In the sample studied, few whites could successfully play the game because, as one player explained, "I felt that I would be rejected and shunned" for pointing out what is often assumed or taken for granted among his white friends and colleagues.

An Alternative

In the final pages of the book Hitchcock lays out a model that he and his wife, Charley Flint, have designed to show us to a multiracial future. The model places multiracial values in the center of American life, and white culture alongside all other monoracial groups at the margins. Hitchcock and Flint acknowledge that this fundamental shift in racial structure will take time and sustained effort. But when access to power and resources are finally equally shared among racial groups, those who can operate well in multiracial settings will be the most likely to succeed.

Given the debilitating racial structure of today’s American society, Hitchcock’s ideas are definitely worth considering.