Part III, Understanding Whiteness in a White Context, Chapter 6, The Development of White Identity Summary and Analysis

Tatum argues that White identity is as important to Whites as Black identity is to Blacks. Many Whites' only sense of Whiteness is that it is "normal" but true, positive white identity should be based in reality, not in a tacitly assumed superiority. Whites need not be the Klan but accurate. Tatum does not want Whites to feel badly about being White. Instead, she wants them to recognize institutional and cultural racism. There are generally five stages that Whites pass through in dealing with race: contact, disintegration, pseudo-independent, immersion and autonomy.

Contact is the first step. Whites are initially unaware how the internalization and socialization of racism has affected them. This leads to a feeling...