‘White Fatigue’ Author Explains How White People Can Understand & Confront Racism
Joseph Flynn, author of "White Fatigue"
In the wake of protests against racism and police brutality across America, The 21st talked with Northern Illinois University professor Joseph Flynn, Jr. He wrote a book called “White Fatigue: Rethinking Resistance for Social Justice.”
Flynn speaks about his mental health in regards to the racism he experienced growing up, the meaning of 'white fatigue' and systemic racism.
"It's important that white folks really take the time and to understand how white people appear on the scene in the first place," says Flynn. "The whole idea of 'white people' didn't exist until the 1600s; this category of 'white people' was a completely made-up idea. That's not to say white people aren't real, that's just to say the whole idea of 'white' was created and then became real."