Temple University Press Chapter Title: The End of the Great White Male Chapter Author(s): JOHN R. GRAHAM Book Title: Critical White Studies Book Editor(s): Richard Delgado, Jean Stefancic Published by: Temple University Press. (1997) Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1bw1kc5.5 JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected] Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at https://about.jstor.org/terms Temple University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Critical White Studies This content downloaded from 144.80.21.94 on Mon, 16 Sep 2019 15:26:28 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Part I How Whites See Themselves If any theme is characteristic of contemporary thought in the social sciences and in cultural studies, it is "perspectivalism"-the idea that one's view- point matters. Indeed, every chapter in this book can be seen as an effort to analyze, defend, criticize, celebrate, or examine one perspective or another about race and whiteness. Some even question, not how, but do whites see themselves? Upon looking into and beyond the mirror, whites have found their whiteness both opaque and transparent. Most whites have not thought much about their race. Few, upon being asked to identify themselves by at- tributes, would name whiteness among their primary characteristics. Part I offers a variety of ways whites, and some nonwhites, see the white race, ranging from biological and social-construction theory, to economic determinism and advantage and disadvantage, to innocence (feigned or real). Later parts deal with how whites see other races (Part II), how earlier periods saw whites and whiteness (Part III), the role of language and color imagery (Part V), and white consciousness and white power (Part X). As the reader will soon notice, these sections overlap thematically to some ex- tent. The reason is simple: Race seems to be, to a large extent, relational. Whiteness, acknowledged or not, has been a norm against which other races are judged. One cannot get clear about whiteness without also gain- ing a sense of what it means to be nonwhite-and vice versa. The examinations of whiteness presented in this book may open a way for whites to talk about race and racial problems acceptably and nondefensively. Copyrighted Material This content downloaded from 144.80.21.94 on Mon, 16 Sep 2019 15:26:28 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Copyrighted Material This content downloaded from 144.80.21.94 on Mon, 16 Sep 2019 15:26:28 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 1 .

1. Temple University Press
Chapter Title: The End of the Great White Male
Chapter Author(s): JOHN R. GRAHAM
Book Title: Critical White Studies
Book Editor(s): Richard Delgado, Jean Stefancic
Published by: Temple University Press. (1997)
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1bw1kc5.5
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars,
researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information
technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about
JSTOR, please contact [email protected]
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the
Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
https://about.jstor.org/terms
Temple University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to
digitize, preserve and extend access
to Critical White Studies

2. This content downloaded from 144.80.21.94 on Mon, 16 Sep
2019 15:26:28 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Part I
How Whites See Themselves
If any theme is characteristic of contemporary thought in the
social sciences
and in cultural studies, it is "perspectivalism"-the idea that
one's view-
point matters. Indeed, every chapter in this book can be seen as
an effort to
analyze, defend, criticize, celebrate, or examine one perspective
or another
about race and whiteness. Some even question, not how, but do
whites see
themselves? Upon looking into and beyond the mirror, whites
have found
their whiteness both opaque and transparent. Most whites have
not thought
much about their race. Few, upon being asked to identify
themselves by at-
tributes, would name whiteness among their primary
characteristics.

3. Part I offers a variety of ways whites, and some nonwhites, see
the white
race, ranging from biological and social-construction theory, to
economic
determinism and advantage and disadvantage, to innocence
(feigned or
real). Later parts deal with how whites see other races (Part II),
how earlier
periods saw whites and whiteness (Part III), the role of language
and color
imagery (Part V), and white consciousness and white power
(Part X). As
the reader will soon notice, these sections overlap thematically
to some ex-
tent. The reason is simple: Race seems to be, to a large extent,
relational.
Whiteness, acknowledged or not, has been a norm against which
other
races are judged. One cannot get clear about whiteness without
also gain-
ing a sense of what it means to be nonwhite-and vice versa.
The examinations of whiteness presented in this book may open
a way for
whites to talk about race and racial problems acceptably and

4. nondefensively.
Copyrighted Material
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2019 15:26:28 UTC
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1
The End of the Great White Male
JOHN R. GRAHAM
After more than two centuries of running the nation,
American white men are being threatened with loss of power.
Five centuries ago, the foundations of the world were shaken.
So-called
immutable truths toppled forever as man was replaced by the
sun as the center of our uni-
verse. Equally wrenching is the current shattering of white
males' world view, in which
they long have seen themselves as the central characters on
society's stage. All around are
the effects of a revolution that is both painfully distressing and
totally confusing to what

5. well may become known as the last of the great white males.
As the turmoil continues, white males are the inevitable
scapegoats-and their difficul-
ties only are beginning. The illustrations are everywhere. Even
though rumblings have
been heard for more than a decade now, the Earth really shook
when the national United
Way organization was disrupted in 1992. The white male who
built and ran the powerful
agency for two decades was knocked out of his seat of power
and replaced by an Asian
woman. To focus on the fact that she is Asian and female is to
miss the point. She happens
to know the current rules of the game: You don't turn the
business into a private sandbox.
Limos and other self-serving luxuries aren't part of the bargain
today, a lesson that has
been lost on white males, many of whom continue to believe
that they possess a divine
right to the perks of power.
The cracks in the Earth's surface widened as the quakes have
come fast and furious with the
deposing of great white males throughout Fortune 500 firms.
The great white males feel
threatened and somewhat confused about why it is happening.
Until now, the great white male
had considered it no one's business what he takes out of the
company, the way he conducts
business, how much he is paid, or even how he treats his
subordinates, particularly women.
Throughout the last several hundred years, the great white male

6. has lived by the strict
code of the old-boy network. The dismissal of corporate leaders
symbolizes the replace-
ment of the old-boy network by quite a different code of
behavior-competence. Who you
know is giving way to what you know, a sure sign that
Americans finally have entered the
information age full tilt.
Several other threats plague the great white male. One of them
is sheer numbers.
The Huns once again are invading, but this time they come
masked as Hispanics,
Asians, and, yes, women. Even though Americans are told in a
dozen ways that His-
panics are the fastest growing segment of U.S. society, the great
white male mentality
can not accept change, just as many refused to acknowledge that
the sun was the cen-
USA TODAY, November 26, 1993. Originally published in USA
Today. Reprinted by permission.
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4 John R. Graham

7. ter of our universe. Meanwhile, sheer energy, drive, and
education soon will give
Asians the upper hand in American business. Although they may
be today's small
merchants, they will emerge as tomorrow's leaders in
manufacturing, education, and
finance. The great white male is no match for the Asian drive
and work ethic. At one
point, the Wall Street Journal noted that American business is
not running as fast as
it did in the past. The great white males are having a difficult
time keeping up with the
emerging minorities.
The major threat to the great white male, however, clearly is
women. He honestly be-
lieves there is a conspiracy afoot and that females are the
enemy, working feverishly to
take control of everything. Like most other conspiracy theories,
the conclusion does not re-
flect the facts. What actually is happening is totally different,
since the great white male is
doing everything possible to hand over the jobs and to transfer
the power of business and
politics to women. The number of females elected to the u.s.
Senate and House in 1992 af-
firms the direction.
The most intense drama in the world of politics was presented
on TV for everyone to
see. This watershed event was the 1991 Clarence Thomas
Supreme Court confirmation
hearings that were brought to the public's attention by the
Senate, the last bastion of the
great white male. No single subject drives the great white male

8. into an irrational frenzy
faster than Anita Hill. The debate continues long after Thomas
has taken his seat on the
Court. The attempts to discredit Hill and resurrect Thomas'
reputation continue unabated.
More than a desire to arrive at the facts, it would appear that
this may well be the last ef-
fort to help the American male become whole again.
Why was it that the great white males of the Senate Judiciary
Committee found it so
easy to sympathize with Thomas? Or, to state it more
accurately, why did they find it so
hard to side with Hill? Had they found her truthful, they would
be presiding over their
own demise. Many women seem to understand easily what white
males have difficulty
grasping. When it was over and all the votes had been tallied,
Thomas lost (even though
he was confirmed as a Supreme Court justice) and Hill won.
It is no accident that hundreds of women have burst upon the
political scene following
the confirmation hearings. Nor is it a quirk of fate that the great
white males in the halls
of Congress are dropping like flies. The number who chose to
retire at the end of 1992 was
the highest in history. Although they expressed disdain for
politics as the main reason for
leaving office on their own, they saw that their world had
changed.
It is fascinating that the great white male always expects to be
taken care of by his co-
conspirators-the other great white males. While growing up,
every boy learned the first

9. lesson of manhood: "Take care of your friends and they will
take care of you." Later, go-
ing to college, it was given a socially acceptable description of
"male bonding."
In many important ways, women are different from the great
white males of the past.
Women seem to harbor the strange notion that hard work,
knowledge, competence, and
persistence are the proper ingredients for success. On the other
hand, the traditional great
white male scoffs at such nonsense. "Who you know is all that
counts," he repeats confi-
dently. The lairs of maledom down through the decades-
everywhere from the poker
party to the private club-attest to belief in the proposition.
The corollary is that the great white male harbors the illusion
that, once he rises to the
top, he has a right to all the goodies he can get and that he has
to answer to no one. It re-
ally doesn't make any difference how the goodies are obtained.
Wasn't that the lesson men
learned when they were elected to the House of
Representatives-to the victors belong the
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The End of the Great White Male 5

10. spoils? This applied even to accepting cash bribes or
propositioning a woman in the office-
or elsewhere.
Those who are threatening the great white male-women,
Hispanics, and Asians-hold
a totally different view of the world, as different from that of
the great white male as the
change which occurred 500 years ago. The code of competence
holds that the farther one
rises, the greater the responsibility-a truly remarkable idea!
Where you park your car or
the location of your office in reference to the power brokers is
inconsequential in terms of
defining your worth, status, or importance when it comes to the
business of business or the
business of politics. In effect, American society finally may be
arriving at the point where
it's what you know, not who you know, that counts.
Extinction Ahead?
What about the future? Will the great white male become
extinct? Will
he no longer be seated in the offices of the corporation, at the
head of the table? Will he be
only a memory in the halls of political power? What about the
u.s. presidency? These
questions are far more pertinent than even in the recent past. It
is no accident so many jokes
about Hillary Clinton are making the rounds today. One way or
another, they all point in
one direction and make one point as they portray "The President
of the United States and
Mr. Clinton." However, Americans shouldn't be surprised that
the stories bring only un-

11. comfortable laughter. Something happened when Bill and
Hillary moved to 1600 Penn-
sylvania Ave. that is very different from the days of Ronnie and
Nancy or Babs and George.
Many are having difficulty accepting that Hillary Clinton is
comfortable with herself, a
situation that makes great white males (and others) uneasy. The
critics were quick to com-
plain that she wasn't elected to office when her husband
appointed her to head the power-
ful commission on health care. Yet few thought it unseemly that
a James Baker or Sherman
Adams should exert such inordinate influence without benefit of
election. Why is Hillary
Clinton so different?-simply because she is a woman who has
dared to enter the male lair.
What abou t the future of the great white male? Whether he is
destined for a final resting
place in the museums of the land remains to be seen. There will
be pitiful efforts to restore
his feathers, to prop up his prowess and power. Nevertheless,
the great white male's day has
passed, along with his unlimited, unilateral power and
influence. Even as noble a figure as
Lee Iacocca is in danger of finding himself sadly irrelevant,
somehow out of step with the
times. From now on, the great white male will be one of many.
He no longer will be able to
say, "It's lonely at the top." Whether it takes another 500 years
for the next total upheaval
in the intellectual history of society remains to be seen. In the
meantime, it will be inter-
esting to watch how the great white males take to their changing
circumstances.

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