ABSTRACT
There are few subjects that generate as much conflict in U.S. history as race relations (Kinder and Sanders 1996), and yet few white Americans think race relations is a topic about them. Gunnar Myrdal made the same point in his famous book, An American Dilemma (Myrdal 1996 [1944]:37): “One can go around for weeks talking to white people in all walks of life and constantly hear about [the racism of other people], yet seldom meeting a person who actually identifies himselfwith it.” Myrdal’s point is underlined by Mary Jackman (1994:137), who argues that racial inequality is reproduced “without active participation by individual whites, and hidden from their view.” Thus, when it comes to issues of race, as Jennifer Hochschild notes (1995:55-71), most white Americans cannot understand “what the fuss is about.”
