Some White Folks - The Interracial Politics of Sympathy, Suffering, and Solidarity

A pioneering exploration of the unexamined roots and effect of racial sympathy within American politics. There is racial inequality in America, and some people are distressed over it while others are not. This is a book about white people who feel that distress. For decades, political scientists have studied the effects of white racial prejudice, but Jennifer Chudy shows that white racial sympathy for Black Americans- suffering is also a potent force in modern American politics. Grounded in the history of Black-white relations in America, racial sympathy is unique. It is not equivalent to a low level of racial prejudice or sympathy for other marginalized groups. Some White Folks reveals how racial sympathy shapes a significant number of white Americans- opinions on policy areas ranging from the social welfare state to the criminal justice system. Under certain circumstances, it can also spur action-although effects on political behavior are weaker and less consistent, for reasons Chudy