White Men Challenging Racism

"It is inspiring to read about white men who are working on the complex task of eliminating racism. In these times of backlash against civil rights gains of the past, we need more fighters like these. Yesterday's movement was truly interracial and today's must be as well."-Julian Bond, Chair, NAACP, and Professor of History, University of Virginia and American University "With range, depth, and integrity, the narratives in this collection flesh out both the 'promise and the way of life' of white people who have taken on racism as central to their life work. White Men Challenging Racism is a valuable contradiction to the construct of 'angry white men' that has fueled racial backlash over the past twenty years."-Mab Segrest, author of Memoirs of a Race Traitor

Cooper Thompson is a senior consultant at visions, a multicultural consulting organization. Emmett Schaefer is Adjunct Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. Harry Brod is Professor of Philosophy and Humanities at the University of Northern Iowa. He is the editor of The Making of Masculinities.

Foreword / James W. Loewen xv Preface xxxi Acknowledgments xxxv Introduction: Just Living 1 Movement Elders Herbert Aptheker, 86, radical historian; San Jose, CA 17 Stetson Kennedy, 85, journalist and Klan infiltrator; Jacksonville, FL 27 Art Branscombe, 81, fought for a racially integrated neighborhood; Denver, CO 37 Horace Seldon, 77, coalition builder; Boston, MA 44 Pat Cusick, 70, community organizer; Boston, MA 51 Nat Yalowitz, 70, social worker and organizer; New York, NY 60 Grassroots Organizing Jesse Wimberley, 43, organizes working-class white men; West End, NC 73 Jim Hansen, 42, executive director, United Vision for Idaho; Boise, ID 82 Chip Berlet, 52, researches right wing groups; Cambridge, MA 90 Joe Fahey, 44, union official and labor organizer; Watsonville, CA 99 Mike McMahon, 60, community organizer with Central American immigrants; Houston, TX 109 Art and Politics David Attyah, 34, graphic artist and founder of Think Again; San Francisco, CA 121 Si Kahn, 57, singer/songwriter and executive director of Grassroots Leadership; Charlotte, NC 132 Steve Bailey, 43, executive director of Jump-Start Performance Company; San Antonio, TX 143 Tim Wise, 33, writer, lecturer, social critic, and activist; Nashville, TN 152 Billy Yalowitz, 42, community-based performance director and choreographer; Philadelphia, PA 164 Challenging the System from Within John Allocca, 39, bilingual Spanish teacher; Boston, MA 175 Bill Johnston, 60, former Boston police officer; Emerald Isle, NC 185 A. T. Miller, 43, teacher and director of multiculturalism at University of Michigan; Ann Arbor, MI 194 Ken Kimerling, 56, lawyer for Puerto Rican and Asian American civil rights; New York, NY 203 Monte Piliawsky, 57, teacher and historian; Detroit, MI 212 Lonnie Lusardo, 56, consultant and community organizer; Seattle, WA 222 Lee Formwalt, 51, historian and dean at a historically black college; Albany, GA 228 Nibs Stroupe, 55, minister of a multiracial congregation; Decatur, GA 237 Challenging the System from the Margins John Cole Vodicka, 53, founder of the Prison and Jail Project; Americus, GA 249 Richard Lapchick, 56, advocate for racial and gender justice in sports and society; Orlando FL 258 Chris Shuey, 46, environmental health specialist; Albuquerque, NM 265 Terry Kupers, 58, psychiatrist, prison activist, and author; Oakland, CA 272 Rick Whaley, 51, Native American treaty rights advocate; Milwaukee, WI 280 Jim Murphy, 54, firefighter and advocate for children's rights in Southeast Asia; Boston, MA 289 The Next Generation Sean Cahill, 38, researcher with the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force; New York, NY 299 Tobin Miller Shearer, 36, director of a Mennonite anti-racism initiative; Akron, PA 305 Jason Wallach, 32, grassroots coordinator for the Mexico Solidarity Network; Chicago, IL 314 Bill Vandenberg, 31, co-executive director of the Colorado Progressive Coalition; Denver, CO 322 Matt Reese, 26, community activist; Louisville, KY 330 Appendix 339 Endnotes 343 Suggestions for Further Reading 351 About the Authors 355