But, this may be rooted in a deeper need for a white person to be positively self affirmed. Perhaps explaining that this happens all the time makes a white person feel negatively about himself. Another solution may be to include some combatants to negative self affirmation in the explanation. Something like “I’m not saying all white people want to kill black people, but this is a pattern we have seen many times in the past,” could work better? Just some thoughts.

Much like we have seen with Katrina, Whites will see this as an individual incident propagated by an individual man, who may or may not have been racist because police wouldn’t let a truly guilty man roam free. I do not agree with that modality of thought but according to the Adams et al (2006) study along with the Unzeuta & Lowery (2008) study, sadly, that is indeed the “White” way of thinking when it comes to issues of race. I think that until we get the point across to Whites incidents of violent crimes against Blacks by Whites occur more often than the news cares to report and more than we care to hear the status quo will continue onward.
I have had heard countless times from many Whites that as soon as they see Rev. Jackson and Al Sharpton on the television speaking out against an incident, they tend to “tune it out”. When I asked why I was told that “they always see everything as being racially charged” and my response was that if Rev. Jackson and Al Sharpton are involved it IS racially charged and needs to be paid attention to. My next question was never answered and that was, had Dr. King not been assassinated would they say the same thing or feel the same way if he were on television? This was usually met with blank stares. It’s almost as though they struggle with saying what they are thinking (which is “yes”) versus what is acceptable within society and specifically with regard to a man who is a highly regarded historical hero who was clearly murdered because of his race and his fight for equal rights.
When it comes to family and even friends, nothing is ever easy let alone discussion about race when they, if White, will feel attacked. Attempting to navigate a highly charged conversation and remaining calm is tough however; sometimes getting combative will not send the right message because you end up being tuned out or being regarded as “irrational” and therefore any points made from there are discounted and ignored. For me, I tend to ask “why” questions a lot because I have found that when something is founded on irrational/inaccurate thought; it usually cannot be explained rationally without sounding crazy. Also, if you start posing questions that challenge the thought process you get further than you do if you yell or walk away or “play nicely”. Think about how we have been challenged to think in this class; most of our growth came from the questioning of our own biases THEN application of the terms and studies solidified things for us. Sometimes, questioning and even leaving the question hanging in the air creates a greater wave than becoming enraged and combative.