“Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” And Other Conversations About Race
Book Review by Janice Hwang
10/27/04

Beverly Daniel Tatum, Ph.D., opens up a challenging topic of conversation by writing “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” And Other Conversations About Race. She gives background and explanation as to how different ethnicities identify themselves over the course of their growth into adulthood. In doing so she has succeeded in her efforts to break the silence around the sensitive issue of race.
She begins by defining racism as distinct from prejudice. Prejudice, she says, is not the fault of an individual. It is the stereotypes that have shaped our thoughts as we grew up. Although prejudice is not our fault, we still have a responsibility to break the cycle, and clean up the negative effects of prejudiced thinking. Racism is more than individual prejudice, but “a system of advantage based on race” (7). Racism is like institutional discrimination in that it benefits the dominant culture or those in power.
Next, Tatum discusses the complexity of identity by pointing out that our identities are not one-dimensional, consisting only of cultural background. Sex, sexuality, religion, socio-economic status, physical or mental ability, and age also contribute to our identities. Tatum was making a clear choice in focusing her book on race rather than any of the other components. Volumes could be written if she were to include everything. I have noticed that race seems to be the most visible and most sensitive aspects of our identity, and I wonder why. There must be a good reason that Tatum chose to write about racial identity over gender identity. Perhaps she has been exposed to the most interesting patterns in groups when concerned with race. For example, someone asked the question: “Why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria?” because it was a strange phenomenon—one of the many absurdities of race.
The bulk of Tatum’s book focuses on the formation of racial identity throughout life stages, first of Blacks, then Whites, then Latinos, Indian Americans, Asians, and multiracial groups. Her strongest emphasis was on Blacks. Again, she is making a conscious decision to focus most of her energy on writing about Black issues, followed by an emphasis on White consciousness. Perhaps she does this because she can identify most with Blacks and has the most credibility in writing about Black identity over, say, Asian identity. Or perhaps she did this because Black/ White issues have been at the forefront of discussions about oppression for the longest period of time, arousing the most curiosity of those around her.
As she writes about identity development for children, she speaks of the need for parents to explain things to their children rather than keeping race a hushed topic. She wants her children to be able to spot “that stuff” meaning racism, sexism, classism, or any other form of subjugation (47). Embarrassing questions should not be dealt with by silencing the children, or else they would learn to ignore issues of race altogether, denying that a problem exists.
Tatum then discusses identity development for Black adolescents and explains the first two of William Cross’s five stages of identity development: pre-encounter, encounter, immersion/emersion, internalization, and internalization-commitment. The function of this chapter was to help us to understand adolescents’ struggles in the backdrop of societal cues that, for example, Blacks should not have high career goals.
Many of her examples shock the reader as to the level of ignorance and prejudice that exists in people. For example, the substitute teacher who had limited knowledge of the students’ academics suggested that the Black student go to a community college (59). It is then in this context that we can understand why Black adolescents develop an oppositional identity, where they reject their White friends to protect themselves from further offense, and sit together in the cafeteria. Then in the fifth chapter, the rest of Cross’s stages occur in adulthood. The significance of that chapter is that race is an ongoing issue throughout adulthood and does not necessarily get easier to deal with, as the reader discovers in “the corporate cafeteria” (88).
Tatum does a wonderful job of bringing up the need for Whites to examine their own privilege without condemning them to a sense of guilt. Instead she empathizes with their discomfort and shame. She then places the responsibility on them to fight stereotypes, whether it is through educating people or through other ways of interrupting the cycle of racism. This chapter demonstrates the practicality of Tatum’s book in that it addresses the majority population and voices out their fears and guilt while helping them to identify a positive white identity and encouraging them to ally with the Blacks in the struggle against racism.
She then deals with the issues that Latinos/Hispanics, American Indians, Asians and biracials face. We are given the history of immigration and discrimination of each group. By fleshing out the sad facts of oppression of the past and present, she proves that racism does not only belong to a Black/White context. She shatters myths and stereotypes, such as the stereotype of the Asian-American model minority.
The biggest contribution to works on racial formation that Tatum makes is expressing the need to communicate and speak up about race issues. She encourages a cross-racial dialogue in the last chapter and brings hope for social change. It is a very inspirational chapter. The chapter would be a big help for people to conquer their fears of breaking the silence. Tatum then provides practical resources for taking the next step in learning more about racism in the appendix.
The reasons for the current “status of affairs” are that society is set up to benefit those of the dominant culture, and that change is difficult, like walking the opposite direction on a moving conveyor belt. Oftentimes Whites who have broken the cycle of racism have the temptation to revert to their former ways because of the pressures of their community. The point of view of the book was from the author’s: a Black, Christian, able-bodied, educated woman. She was able to identify with those of differing aspects of oppression because she was aware of her own privilege. She writes that change can happen by individuals speaking out in their own spheres of influence. Change must happen or else racial violence and institutional discrimination will continue.