The Psychosis of Whiteness: Surviving the Insanity of a Racist World - Review by Graeme Kemp
For Andrews nothing has really changed much and progress is largely an illusion
Book review of ‘The Psychosis of Whiteness: Surviving the Insanity of a Racist World’ by Kehinde Andrews; Allen Lane; London; 2023.
Kehinde Andrews is a professor of Black Studies at Birmingham City University; he is an academic and author of a new book, The Psychosis of Whiteness. His latest work is a provocative and extreme assessment of the issue of racism in contemporary society. It is a strange mixture of valuable insights into past bigotry as well as sometimes baffling claims about racism as a global issue today.
So, let’s start with a definition of what Kehinde Andrews means by a psychosis of whiteness:
“I use psychosis here as a metaphor to diagnose the delusional thinking that is necessary to maintain a racist society…”
Adding….
“To avoid facing up to its true nature, society creates myths and distortions, resulting in what I am calling the psychosis of Whiteness” (Page 16).
Not all people who are white suffer from this disorder, Andrews points out, creating a feeling that perhaps he is indeed being reasonable here. The delusions of superiority found in the racist pseudo-science he highlights are all too real, historically. Andrews is brutal about how people who were black were repressed and abused as less than human in the past by those who enslaved or colonised societies outside of Europe. It makes for grim reading. Empires established by European nations created a misplaced sense of superiority in these white majority societies and a negative view of those who were black or brown, those who suffered this colonial disdain.
The account in this book of the lynching of a black woman, Mary Turner in 1918 in Georgia, USA, is horrific. The assault on “black bodies” was reflected in the assault on “black minds,” with racism inflicting real psychological harm and mental distress. Even sciences such as psychiatry have had a poor record in this area, he points out. It is a past that we should recoil from in horror – yet many today still refuse the acknowledge these alarming aspects of our past.
All the above sounds reasonable enough; the historical record of racism is indeed bleak. Yet for Kehinde Andrews the UK, and indeed the world, exists in a world still gripped by racism and racist delusions “as much as in the day of the British empire” (Page 24). For Andrews nothing has really changed much and progress in equality is largely an illusion.
At first my reaction was to reach for my copy of ‘Beyond Grievance’ by Rakib Ehsan and dig out the evidence and facts explaining how much progress many ethnic minorities have made in education and employment in the UK. Indeed, ‘This is Not America’ by Tomiwa Owolade is another rich source of facts and thoughts on this area. Both books have an optimistic quality to them about race issues, as well as being realistic about the progress we still need to make.
However, it was only as I delved deeper into The Psychosis of Whiteness that I realised how radical and pessimistic Andrews’s book is – nothing can dissuade him from his conclusion that we live in a totally racist world. He sees a globe that is still repressive and totally built around racist delusions of white supremacy, not progress. Indeed, he argues that much contemporary anti-racism is simply ineffective in digging up the deep roots of “white racism”. Only a full-bodied revolution will destroy the economic system that embodies this racist outlook – reform and steady progress are limited solutions in this fight, he argues. Indeed, trying to convince individuals that racism is wrong is weak and flawed; it is economic and political systems that must be destroyed. He is optimistic, though, about the main solution to racism: revolution.
The Psychosis of Whiteness is a book marred by what I assume may be misplaced humour. It’s difficult to tell. Andrews gives the following example of how television programmes can cause white psychosis. The presenter Richard Madelely and the programme ‘Good Morning Britain’ are his examples. Read it and see what you think:
“…Madeley is your bog-standard, passive aggressive, mediocre White man who thinks he is being clever when he really is not. The show itself is almost designed as a showcase for the psychosis of Whiteness and they regularly talk about race, but only in the most dramatized manner.” (Page 160).
Really? The mediocre white man is something that Andrews complains about at the start of the book, as well. Clearly some stereotypes are OK! This mediocre white figure, apparently, is the typical debate host on UK TV today. Breakfast TV may be guilty of many things – but white supremacy is probably not one of them.
By this stage of the book, I was getting a bit irritated by Andrews’ insistence of giving words like ‘whiteness’ a capital letter.
Is he trying to be funny, provocative or both in what he writes? I honestly began to wonder, so make what you will of another odd example of white psychosis that he cites; it concerns economic changes in modern Chinese food production:
“China is so deeply engulfed in the psychosis of Whiteness that the government is pumping billions into transforming its population to be able to consume a Western diet. The symbolism could not be more apparent; milk is actually white.” (Page 201).
I refuse to take this seriously. In a book that deals with serious matters, this is frankly ridiculous – and insulting if it is intended to have a humorous aspect.
Yet, the book only gets worse.
Part of Kehinde Andrews argument is that although some white people do not suffer from white psychosis, some black and Asian people end up propping up this racist world system. The reason, he claims, is that black people can internalise white racist values and reproduce them in their views or behaviour. Indeed, beware of ethnic minority success, he argues, as this privileged position can often exacerbate the problem. This is the issue of the comparatively well-off ‘house-negro’ found in US plantation slavery, fawning on his master, as opposed to the exploited; ‘field-negro’ working hard, in a lowly position. This still effectively happens today, argues Andrews. The position of most black people has not improved much, he claims.
Impressed by the election of Barack Obama becoming US president twice, he says? Don’t be; this success by Obama only hides the lack of status and progress for the majority of black people in the USA. And remember – Donald Trump represented the subsequent white backlash to Obama becoming president, anyway. You don’t have to be a fan of Trump to find this implausible – if racism was so dominant a factor in presidential elections, then how could Obama be elected for a first, never mind a second term of office? Does white racial resentment really ebb and flow like that? I really don’t think so.
Indeed, Kehinde Andrews sees the worst in everyone, including traditional black heroes, such as Nelson Mandela, who still did “the master’s bidding” (Page 194) after being elected president. Mandela is not seen as being radical enough in economic or social terms. Other explanations for Mandela’s actions – that Mandela wanted reconciliation across the racial divide and acted pragmatically – are ignored. Surely, the social situation in South Africa was ultimately a matter for Mandela and South African voters to decide on? Yet Andrews is insistent that black voters can be taken in by such “Uncle Tom Leaders” (Page 192). White supremacy is clearly so powerful that any sense of agency on the part of black people is diminished.
Particularly awful is the section on Tony Sewell and the Sewell Report by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, which Andrews satirises as the “Sewage Sewell Report” (Sewage crossed through with a horizonal line, Page 186). What had Tony Sewell done wrong? Andrews’ answer is that he was guilty of “cooning” (Page 186) – acting in a way that reinforces racism or stereotypes, pandering to the prejudices of a mainly white readership. This insult goes beyond debating the contents of the report and I think is pretty awful in its assessment of Tony Sewell and his motives.
Rejecting any of Andrews claims just proves he’s right, of course about racism….
But it gets worse. Much worse.
The following quotation is from near the end of the book. I had to read it several times as I wondered if my negative reaction was justified or not. I will quote the whole paragraph to add context:
“Whiteness is not a fixed category and there is no perfect biological link to Western Europe that defines a person as White. Like every other identity, it changes, depending on the times and the needs of a given society. Jewish people are a good example of a group that can switch in and out of Whiteness, to deadly effect. Defined as less than human by the Nazis who exterminated six million Jews, they are now the settler colonialists-in-chief of Israel and have been given full support of the West’s (and Whiteness’s) power.” (Page 120).
This was written before the invasion of Israel by Hamas in October 2023..…but uneasy doesn’t even begin to capture my reaction to this. It’s so awful I keep reading it again and again. I’m not sure if Andrews realises what exactly he’s writing sometimes.
The Psychosis of Whiteness by Kehinde Andrews ends with some suggestions about how to overthrow our apparently totally racist world, including advice that black people should avoid white institutions where possible. Ultimately, only by overthrowing capitalism globally in a revolution can black people be truly free.
Alarmingly, this book is endorsed on the back cover by figures such as the radical geographer Danny Dorling and David Lammy M.P. - a shadow front-bencher for Labour.
We have been warned…..
Graeme Kemp is a former teacher and civil servant who currently lives in the Midlands. He is an English and Cultural Studies graduate of several universities in England and Scotland. He has also contributed book reviews to the Don't Divide Us website and 'Bournbrook' Magazine.
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