Educational Philosophy and Theory

Incorporating ACCESS

ISSN: 0013-1857 (Print) 1469-5812 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rept20

American Chimera: The Ever-Present Domination

of Whiteness, Patriarchy, and CapitalismA
Parable
Roberto Montoya, Cheryl E. Matias, Naomi W.M. Nishi & Geneva L. Sarcedo
To cite this article: Roberto Montoya, Cheryl E. Matias, Naomi W.M. Nishi & Geneva
L. Sarcedo (2015): American Chimera: The Ever-Present Domination of Whiteness,
Patriarchy, and CapitalismA Parable, Educational Philosophy and Theory, DOI:
10.1080/00131857.2015.1068683
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2015.1068683

Published online: 25 Aug 2015.

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Educational Philosophy and Theory, 2015

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2015.1068683

American Chimera: The Ever-Present

Domination of Whiteness, Patriarchy, and
CapitalismA Parable
Downloaded by [The UC Irvine Libraries] at 17:25 09 June 2016

ROBERTO MONTOYAa,b,c,d, CHERYL E. MATIASe,f,g,h,i,j, NAOMI

W.M. NISHIk,l,c & GENEVA L. SARCEDOm,n,c
a

Ethnic Studies, Regis University; bPolitical Science, Colorado Mesa University; cSchool of
Education and Human Development, University of Colorado Denver; dUrban Community
Teacher Education, University of Colorado Denver; eRace and Ethnic Studies in Education,
UCLA; fSocial and Multicultural Education, California State University Long Beach;
g
Cultural Communications, University of California San Diego; hSchool of Education and
Human Development, University of Colorado Denver; iUrban Community Teacher Education & Urban Ecologies Doctoral Program, University of Colorado Denver; jSchool of
Education and Human Development, University of Colorado Denver; kInternational and
Intercultural Communication, University of Denver; lScientific and Technical Communication, Michigan Technological University; mOrganization & Leadership, University of San
Francisco; nHuman Development, University of California, Davis

Abstract
In Greek mythology, the Chimera is a fire-breathing monster with three heads: one of a lion,
one of a horned goat, and one of a powerful dragon. Of similar construction is the presence
of three structures in US society, whiteness, patriarchy, and capitalism, which are
overwhelmingly represented, valued, and espoused when examining areas of progress, i.e.,
family income, poverty rates, high school and college graduation rates, and home ownership.
This modern American three-headed beast controls, manipulates, and permeates all aspects of
US society irrespective of class, culture, or gender. Using critical race theory and critical
whiteness studies, this critically interpretive parable draws from the ways in which whiteness,
patriarchy, and capitalism function in social, cultural, economic, and educational spheres.
The parable tells the story of Sue Libertad and analyzes how this metaphorical Chimera,
despite its ubiquity, silently permeates all aspects of her life. Not until a tragic outbreak
occurs, does the hegemony of this chimera erodes and Sue.
Keywords: critical race theory, whiteness, patriarchy, capitalism, critical
whiteness studies

2015 Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia

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Roberto Montoya et al.

Overwhelmingly valued in the US definition of success are the three prongs of

whiteness, patriarchy, and capitalism. Taken against the backdrop of family income,
poverty rates, high school and college graduation rates, and home ownership (see
Losing Ground, 2013), this triumvirate reigns and terrorizes, for what else more deviously controls, manipulates, and permeates all aspects of US society irrespective of
class, culture, or gender? The three-headed Chimera of Greek mythology is likewise a
fire-breathing monster with three heads: one of a lion, one of a horned goat, and one
of a powerful dragon. The Chimera devastated whole countries and was feared for
wielding the unique powers of its three beasts (Rosenberg & Baker, 1981). In the
Iliad, Homer (2010) declares the Chimera an evil to many (p. 351).
Much like the Chimera of antiquity, in contemporary US society, when coalesced,
whiteness, patriarchy, and capitalism, comprise a formidable creature who wreaks
havoc on those in its wake and not of its ilk. Despite the omnipresence of these
oppressive institutions, conceptualizing them in a way that expresses how they interact
is neither simplistic nor intuitive for this beast is no brutish melange: each head interacts independently, in partnership, or in unison with seamless ease and purpose with
its brethren.
With that said, as we approach the 25th anniversary of the Derrick Bells (1992)
seminal book Faces at the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism, we feel a
stylistic obligation to pay homage to his tenacious parable/chronicle approach to racial
analyses. Refusing to let his style die in race research, we describe the American
Chimera through the use of a parable that utilizes critical race theory (CRT) as a theoretical lens through which to examine racism and white supremacy. Bells popular
chapter The Space Traders as a speculative fiction is seemingly far-fetched, but it
resonates for people of color and other marginalized groups merely as they find similar examples and experiences in their contemporary lives which parallel the story.
Thusly, we focus on the parable to better illustrate how the mechanism of the chimera reveals these parallels. While our parable is indeed a counter-narrative in
the strictest CRT pillar sense, we want to focus on social science fictions which we
believe are, as Preston (2014) argues, more substantive and real than the physical
universe where racism is often covert and hidden, (p. 9). As such, this parable will
draw upon Prestons (2014) notion of magical racial realism in which, despite certain
unbelievable aspects of the story, the artifacts serve a purpose in highlighting aspects
of racial inequality, white privilege, white supremacy, and resistance (p. 8).
Drawing on the ways whiteness, patriarchy, and capitalism function in social, cultural, economic, and educational spheres, this parable tells the story of Sue Libertad
and analyzes how this metaphorical chimera, despite its ubiquity, silently permeates
all aspects of her life. It is not until a tragic outbreak occurs that hegemony of this
chimera erodes and Sue truly realizes the impact and legacy of whiteness, capitalism,
and patriarchy imprints on her life.
In order to problematize this American Chimera, this critically interpretive parable
draws from CRT and critical whiteness studies (CWS) because these applications
acknowledge the endemic nature of race and racism inside American schools and best
situate the saliency of racism in education (Solorzano & Yosso, 2002). Methodologically, the chapter draws from Derrick Bells (1992) use of parables and speculative

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American Chimera: Whiteness, Patriarchy, and CapitalismA Parable

fiction to reveal and animate a nuanced understanding of racism, white privilege,

white supremacy, and subordination. As Preston (2014) elucidates, In this way the
social science fictions are more substantive and real than the physical universe
where racism is often covert and hidden (p. 9). Furthermore, CWS focus on the
hegemonic nature of whiteness and how its exertion maintains a system of oppression
(Allen, 2004; Leonardo, 2009). CWS are kin to the intellectual undertaking of CRT
and looks to theorize and problematize the construction of whiteness as an absent
racial category and dominant social norm. Whiteness scholars concur that whiteness
is linked to institutionalized power and privileges that continually advantage white
Americans (Giroux, 1997; Roediger, 2005). A thorough understanding of domination
must include an analysis of the complexity of oppression, which must attend to the
ways that racism, classism, sexism, ableism, and heterosexism intersect.
This article begins with a parable that challenges the essence and existence of the
American Chimera and concludes with an analysis of how educational and societal
white dominance will persist unless deconstructed and mitigated.
American Chimera: A Parable of Whiteness, Patriarchy, and Capitalism
Exposed
Sue Libertad is enjoying her coffee and newspaper on a cold winter morning in early
March. She habitually does this each Sunday at her favorite local coffee shop. Her
life, like that of so many other academics, is imbued with routine. So, each Sunday
she grabs a paper copy of the Post, knowing full well that print is a dying medium,
soon to be deemed a relic. Yet she believes there is something nostalgic, tangible, and
perhaps counter culture in visibly reading the newspaper among the endless sea of
laptops, tablets, and smartphones that infest this and so many others coffee shops.
She doesnt mind the raised eyebrows and sideways looks she receives from the two
white guys sitting next to her with their dueling sweater vests, boat shoes, and scarfs;
a complete juxtaposition to her United Farm Workers t-shirt and Chuck Taylors.
She knows that they are probably wondering who this Other is and why she parades
her antiquated and unhip reading style about.
Nonetheless, as she always does, she orders her soy latte Viennese and starts by digging into the obituaries. Her dad never understood her macabre fascination with this
section, but she remembers Dr Escalante, one of her favorite professors from grad
school and the only Latino professor she ever had, saying You can learn a tremendous amount about life from reading about death. He was an amazing philosopher
and anthropologist, and so many of his dichos1 remain with her.
Today, as she meticulously makes it through each page, a particular story in the
Around the Nation section draws her attention. Apparently a strange outbreak of
syphilis is baffling medical experts in her hometown of Seattle. Despite all efforts, the
sickness seems to be spreading along the peculiar lines of race. She makes a mental
note to reach out to her colleague and friend Chet Whitman, who is currently doing
his residency, specializing in Ophthalmology, at the Swedish Medical Center in
Seattle. Chet was her sidekick and partner in crime in grad school. She always
thought of him as the shining beacon of whiteness, the model advocate representing

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the hope of what is possible when whites choose to give up their own privilege and
stand with and not for marginalized communities. He would go to every invited talk,
conference, and rally with Sue. Although from privilege, Chet was always willing to
engage in critical dialog although theory was never his forte. As she professed on
numerous occasions, You are one down-ass white boy. But she knew he was an
anomaly and her experience during grad school and the dissertation process was
marred by racism, sexism, and racial battle fatigue.
Like James Baldwin, Sue left her home country of the US to take a tenure track
position in Vancouver due to her exasperation with the neo-conservative Tea Party
rhetoric and legislation taking aim at her ovaries, pigmentation, culture, ethnicity, and
citizenship. While she loved distancing herself from the many absurdities of US
politics, she still struggles in her new country, new institution, and new position. Her
biggest struggle is connecting and understanding her white colleagues: Sue, like far
too many other minority professors, is the only faculty member in her department
who is a person of color. She often feels objectified and fetishized because of her
expertise and ethnicity (see Matias, 2013).
Because of Sues racial and gender identity, she is well aware of how racial and
gender microaggressions structure the lives of people of color and women. Yet, she
works in a department that focuses on social justice and is doing an incredible
amount of work, research, and publishing in critical race theory, particularly in
counter-narratives. The irony, which often keeps her up at night, is that she is the
only one who can claim ownership of a counter-story, despite the regularity in which
they are published, paraded, and co-opted by her colleagues (see Preston, 2014;
Solorzano & Yosso, 2002).
Sue is shocked to read the Posts front page headline: Surge in Syphilis Targets
Unsuspecting White Men. She has not had a chance to call Chet as she had planned.
Over these past two weeks, the endlessand arguably pointlessdepartment meetings have bombarded and overwhelmed her schedule. As she gropes through her
purse, she cannot help but think of the irony about some bizarre form of syphilis
targeting white men. Especially given the Tuskegee experiment, she thinks.2
Hello Chet, Sue says as he answers her call.
Como estas? replies Chet. Chet also spoke fluent Spanish, honed during his
numerous vacations and chances to study abroad. I am doing well thanks! How are
you? Sue asks in her most concerning tone. Chet, I am reading the Post and cannot
believe what its saying about Seattle. Is it true? Is there some form of syphilis
targeting white men? she asks.
Sue, I cant rally chat right now. Honestly, I probably shouldnt have even
answered but I didnt want to miss your call. My shift ends later this afternoon. Is it
cool if I give you a shout then? I need your help and expertise. Sue is taken aback
because such a request puzzles her as follows: How could she be of any assistance? It
was common for them to joke in grad school how very different their fields of medicine and philosophy were. Even though they were taught in the same language, they
couldnt speak to each other in either: she would cringe at his descriptions of bodily
functions, and his eyes would glaze over at the mention of Marx or DuBois.
Okay. I look forward to chatting later, she says.

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American Chimera: Whiteness, Patriarchy, and CapitalismA Parable

Sounds good have to run Just hold on Sir!! We have 40 here before you and
waiting to be seen he trails off as he hangs up.
QUARANTINE: The talking news heads are speculating on the origin and intent
of this new strain of syphilis that is not responding to traditional antibiotic treatments.
One conservative show conjectures an act terrorism to erode at the heart of American
excellence, while another religious figurehead implies that Satan has sent the sickness
to attack the core of the faithful! One pundit goes as far as to say that the minorities
of the country released it and are trying to kill all the white men so they can take over
and give colored people unchecked welfare. Sue is amazed that these arguments are
so irrational and fear promoting, yet she realizes this is how the news media operates
in America. Now the reports say that many of the white men first to test positive for
the bacterium are now going blind.
The buzzing of her phone startles her from the. Sue realizes it is already afternoon.
Hello? she says.
Hey Sue, its Chet. Is now a good time to talk? he said, sounding quite exhausted.
It is, she replies while pressing mute on her remote. How are you? she asks.
When we spoke earlier, you sounded stressed and overwhelmed.
You would not believe what is going on over here, declares Chet.
Ive been watching the news is it as bad as they are saying? she asks,
concerned.
Sue it is worse. We have over 600 confirmed cases of this syphilis outbreak in
Seattle alone and more are coming in every day. Plus, were hearing there are
confirmed cases as far south as Denver and as far east as Chicago, he explains with
some panic tingeing his words.
What is it? How did it begin? Are men really going blind? asks Sue.
This is what we know so far. The first case was about a month ago and the gentlemen who came in was from Texas. He was having problems with his vision and was
not sure why. We ran a battery of tests and could not figure out what could be
impacting his sight. We generally will do an STD test as standard operating procedure to eliminate all variables. When he came back positive for syphilis, we thought
we had a very simple answer. The patient was not happyhe claimed he had never
cheated on his wife and so then it was impossible for him to have contracted an
STD. I blew it off as the guilty rants of cheating husband in denial, he says.
I see, Sue answers, rolling a mental picture through her head. But, Im confused.
You said you needed my help. Should I be offended that you think I am an expert in
either STDs or infidelity? she concludes with an attempt at a laugh.
No! No! Sorry let me tell you how we figured out how its spreading. After our
first patient was diagnosed, we put him in a triage room with a few other patients.
We were really swamped that day and beds were at a premium. Well, here is the
unbelievable part: while he was in the room, he started talking to the other patients,
and an orderly overheard him saying I cant believe I caught an STD. I feel like one
of those niggers who get AIDS trying to get crack, or one of those Mexican whores.
When the orderly talked to her boss about what he said, I just happened to be at the
front desk checking some paperwork and just dismissed ittrust me it wasnt the first
time weve had an openly racist person in our hospital. What was strange though was

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Roberto Montoya et al.

that the three white gentlemen in the room with him all came back a week later
claiming they too were having sight problems. Strangely, when we ran tests on each
of them, they tested positive for syphilis too. We called the original patient back three
days ago. He was completely blind, and he told us his brother, son-in-law, and two
close neighbors were also experiencing symptoms. He was clearly furious, repeating
that he did not cheat on his wife, and that he knew his neighbor, son-in-law, and
brother are God-abiding men who would not have cheated either.
Sue is still unsure how she fit into this scenario.
Here is where it gets worse. While meeting with him, six colleagues and I stepped
aside to confer and he yelled to us You have to cure me Doctors! I am not one of
those dirty minorities who spreads diseases! A few of us turned and gave platitudes
to his offensive talk. We let him know that we were trying to figure it out.
Chet paused for a minute, then began again, Sue , he said, his voice almost a
whisper. Four of us that were in the room talking to him now have symptoms his
voice trailed off.
She quickly asked, Only four? What about the other two who were in the room
with all of you?
Four of us were white men; the other two other doctors are not white or arent
men. Ones a Black woman, and the other a Latino male. Lab results sent from the
CDC confirmed the disease spreads in an airborne fashion; but what Im thinking
its physically attached and spread via racist language, he declares.
How could you know this!? Shes now beginning to understand how he thought
she could help: she researches whiteness, racism, and emotionality.
Chet continues, Well, one of my colleagues, who was in the room, is a notorious
racist. His nickname around the hospital is Doc Limbaugh. Today, we have seen 15
of his golf buddies from his country club all with the same symptoms. Sue, apparently
this is a racially transmitted disease, he declares.
Is that even a real medical term? She cannot believe her ears. She has always
considered racism a sickness given that it spread much like diseases do, but never
like a real virus or bacteria. How could utteringlet alone hearingthe word
nigger make one go blind? Just then it hits her. Wait, Chet, you have the symptoms
as well? she says.
I do. And I tested positive.
Jesus! What are you going to do?! Are you alright!? The questions fly out of her
mouth.
Heres where it gets really weird Sue. To answer your question, I am scared, and
I am terrified of the thought of going blind. So far, blindness is the only physiological
impact that we have seen. But there is a cure, he says.
Thats wonderful! Sue responds. How did you find one so quickly? Do traditional
treatments for syphilis work? she asks.
No. One of my colleagues stumbled upon it. Our original patient was prescribed
Prozac to calm his anger and resentment toward his diseasehe was quite livid and
inconsolable as a result of the ordeal. After taking the pills, he called us immediately
and said that he can now see. We were all ecstatic; relieved that such a readily
available drug has cured the one known symptom of this outbreak.

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American Chimera: Whiteness, Patriarchy, and CapitalismA Parable

However, there is a caveat Chet says in a solemn voice. As a result of his

illness, the patient says that he now sees the world through different eyes.
What do you mean different eyes ? Sue questions.
Well, the patient revealed that he now sees himself in the world through the eyes
of a young, immigrant, single mom on welfare, replies Chet.
That is impossible! How can he even claim that? Sue challenges.
He says that, when he looks in the mirror, interacts with others, or observes the
world, his sight has changed, like a new lens. He says that he cannot help but see his
environment from the eyes of an oppressed young girl.
Is he the only one? says Sue.
No. So far we have 80 confirmed cases of white males who have the rare syphilis
sickness, that have been prescribed Prozac, and that now see differently, explains
Chet.
Sue reflects on what shes just heard and learned. How odd that this disease, borne
by the act of racism, spread at such an amazing rate. As a Critical Race theorist, she
knew that racism itself multiplied in the same way, yet lived undetected in its
normalcy and acceptance despite that most enactors never admit to being racist.
What are the authorities doing? she asks Chet.
We have alerted the CDC, and they have a press conference scheduled for later
this evening. Hey Sue, I have to run, but lets talk later. he says.
Wait! But I thought you needed my help! she exclaims.
We do and we willas more cases come up, we will need help in assisting these
men acclimate to their new perspectives. Clearly, well need a race expert to help
them understand these new thoughts. The first person I thought of was you. I hope
you dont mind, but the CDC may call you because I took the liberty of giving them
your name.
I have to run SueI have an appointment to check on the status of my eyes. Chet
hangs up quickly, leaving Sue in utter shock.
It takes her several hours for Sue to regain her composure and wits. She cannot
stop herself from thinking about the events over and over. She thinks aloud: A racially
transmitted disease that spreads via racist language, that only targets white men, resulting in
a rare form of syphilis, that causes blindness, is cured by Prozac, but the resulting cure makes
the affected white man see from the perspective of the marginalized?
It is almost too much to digest, but a part of her cannot help but think that it is
some karmic form of poetic justice. White men, who have routinely seen no relevance
in acknowledging race, racism, sexism, patriarchy, and how they are maintained
through capitalism, are now forced to pick between blindness or seeing the world
through the eyes of the Other they have created, manipulated, denied, and oppressed.
As she watches the press conference that night and witnesses the aftermath over the
next month, she is not surprised at all when she reads the headline: To Date: 80% of
Those Infected Choose Blindness. She is not surprised to read that Zacpro, the drug
company who makes the drug Prozac, is driving up prices and limiting production to
maximize demand and profits. There are reports that some white men were willing to
give up their entire life savings for altered Prozac that gives sight back without the
liberal baggage.

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Yet, remarkably, not a single white man confirmed being able to see as they once
had. After the moderately attended white man March in Washington, DC both
Houses of Congress are now pushing through the Visual Rights Act of 2014 which
provides lifetime financial assistance to victims of this tragic and unwarranted sickness who are unduly burdened with stress, unwanted perspective, and blindness. It
was being called the great civil rights issue of our generation. Many Black, Latino,
and GLBT leaders cried fowl but were being branded as unpatriotic and unsympathetic to the struggles of the truly marginalized and stamped as reverse racists. Race
relations are now worse than ever before.
She spoke to Chet only twice over that past month. The first time letting him know
that she declined the CDCs request to assist with a pilot program aimed at assisting
white men in dealing with the emotional trauma of their new perspectives. And the
second time, he had called to let her know that he was leaving his position at
the hospital. When she asked why he said, Have you ever heard of a blind
ophthalmologist?
So much for shining beacons, she sadly acknowledged.
The Chimera as Parable: An Analytical Discussion
This parable presents the idea that the American Chimera of patriarchy, capitalism,
and whiteness is constantly intertwined and becomes threatened when the absurdity
of a racially transmitted disease enters the racial imagination. While the idea of such a
racially transmitted disease is far-fetched, the parable nonetheless examines how each
beast rears its ugly head and impacts the social landscape of American race relations.
Acknowledging that such a disease only infected white men, this parable mocks the
commonplace parlance of whiteness as epistemologically innocent that which Mills
(2007) articulates as a falsity. Since whiteness is so often rendered invisibly, this parable highlights the complicity of whiteness and demonstrates how it interconnects with
patriarchy and capitalism, all working independently and, at times, in concert in order
to dictate the racial lay of the land. That cost of Prozac skyrockets reminds us that
capitalism dictates health quality; in relation to whiteness and patriarchy, the option
of that health quality is reserved for a few white men. Yet when overlaying this
phenomenon onto the experiences of people of color in a racist system, the health
option of seeing through the eyes of the Other is no longer a viable cure; for what
white man so seeks to live his life through the eyes of the oppressed?
According to Matias and Zembylas (2014), although emotions such as caring, pity,
and empathy are often expressed by racially dominant groups toward marginalized
groups, it exists within a politics of disgust. That is, often emotions within whiteness
are sentimentalized and thus expressed as understanding and aligning with people of
color when, in fact, they instead mask an innate disgust of the Other. No where is the
emotionality of whiteness more clearly illustrated than when the parable presents a
cure dependent on the cost of white privilege: the emotional resistance to giving up
whiteness becomes intimately tied to maintaining the chimera (Matias, 2012).
In fact, the emotional investment in whiteness is personified in Chet. Despite his
perceived liberalness, and exposure to invited talks and critical perspectives he

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American Chimera: Whiteness, Patriarchy, and CapitalismA Parable

eventually, as many white men do in the parable, chooses his privilege over a
marginalized perspective. According to Lipsitz (1998), the possessive investment in
whiteness reaps real benefits; giving that privilege up relegates oneself to just another
Face at the Bottom of the Well (Bell, 1992). Suffice it to say, the cost of being white is
patently more dear than any cure.
Another aspect of the chimera is how patriarchy is upheld. According to the parable, through their privilege in whiteness and maleness, white males are victimized and
thusly moved to the margins of society with the infection of the racially transmitted
disease. Not infecting women and people of color, the syphilis disease highlights the
duality of privilege in both being white and man.
Although not a racially transmitted disease, the institutional manifestation of white
supremacy and patriarchy infects people of color and women. According to educational research (Lipsitz, 1998; Matias, 2013), some options to people of color or
women in moving through the institutional operations of white supremacy and
patriarchy come at a humanly cost. For example, Fordham (1988) details how
African-American females achieve academic success at the price of racelessness. Or,
Fanon (1967) describes how Black men who wear Black Skin, White Masks do so at
only through dependency on the internalization colonized self through the colonizers
eyes. Although adopting internalized racism and/or sexism or whiteness ideology
becomes a means for surviving a racist and sexist society, doing so nonetheless exacts
a toll on the human psyche. In the parable, to see life through the eyes of the
marginalized is unconsidered, worthless.
Finally, capitalism is addressed through the parableand arguably, in reality
through a Congress that defends the rights and financial well-being of white men in
the face of unfamiliar burden. Conversely, as Bonilla-Silva (2014) points out,
although most white Americans are willing to have the government step in to support
physically abused women or children, they are not willing to have the government
step in to support African-Americans who have been racially abused for centuries.
This phenomenon is of particular interest in that it shows emotionality of whiteness,
specifically wherein the title of humanity falls. From the Three-Fifths Compromise
to Brown v. Board of Education, the value of people of color has always been considered less than equal to thosemen and womenwith white skin. When government
intervenes to decide that valuebe it three-fifths or separate but equal, the chimeras concerns are omnipresent: what will the valuing mean to the Souths economy,
the schools enrollment, neighborhood home values, the number of electoral votes.
When Parables Parallel History
Even though the examples in this parable are fanciful, bordering on science fiction,
there are historical and contemporary examples of each of these in American society.
In the parable, 80% of white men choose blindness over seeing as the Other. There
is precedence in choosing blindness over sight in our contemporary society; albeit a
different type of visionlessness. Take for example the plethora of poor whites who
align politically with the far right most of whose membership represents a much
higher tax bracket (see Gelman, 2009). Essentially, these white poor prefer to support

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Roberto Montoya et al.

wealthy demagogues based on the emotional wedge issues of gay marriage and
immigration reform, than align with people of color who share a similar class and
economic struggles as promulgated by these very demagogues. As the late Derrick
Bell (1992) explains as follows:

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Even the poorest whites, those who must live their lives only a few levels
above, gain their self-esteem gazing down on us. Surely, they must know
that their deliverance depends on letting down their ropes. Only by working
together is escape possible. Over time, many reach out, but most simply
watch, mesmerized into maintaining their unspoken commitment to keeping
us where we are, at whatever cost to them or to us. (p. iv)
Similarly, the parables Visual Rights Act of 2014 is eerily similar to other real
legislative programs that were specifically created to help white men. In his book,
When Affirmative Action was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in TwentiethCentury America (2015), Katznelson vehemently criticizes the Servicemens Readjustment Act of 1944 (also known as the G. I. Bill of Rights), a series of programs that
funnelled $95 billion dollars into social and economic opportunity for soldiers returning from World War II. Over all, the G. I. Bill was an astonishing success, allowing
16 million veterans to attend college, receive job training, start businesses, and purchase their first homes. A generation later, President Clinton extolled the G. I. Bill as
quite possibly the best deal ever made by Uncle Sam. However, it is well documented that African-American, Latinos, Asian Americans, and Native American
veterans received significantly less help from the G. I. Bill than did their white counterparts (see Katznelson, 2005; Losing Ground, 2013; Roediger, 2005). As Katznelson
(2005) explicates, Written under Southern auspices [the] law was deliberately
designed to accommodate Jim Crow and had been earmarked For White Veterans
Only (p. 114). In the same fashion, the Visual Rights Act of 2014 is designed to
ensure a safety net to take care of wounded White men and ensure their material
safety.
Reliving Race Analysis: A Momentary Conclusion
Honoring the legacy of parables in CRT and how they offer illustrative and creative
analyses of how race, racism, and white supremacy operate in American society, our
parable of Sue Libertad is more than an attempt to pay homage to Derrick Bell; it
seeks to identify and problematize the American Chimera in fiction in order to unveil
it in reality. With respect to CRT, the intersections of race, class, and gender are welcomed, yet few theories attempt to describe how they work in concert, let alone
through the use of parable. As such, we offer Sues story not only as an analytic tool
to see expressions of whiteness, patriarchy, and capitalism within society, but to also
provide a pedagogical tool for those beginning to methodologically employ the use of
parables in race-related research.
For many race scholars, a part of Sue Libertad lives in all of us and her experiences
are emblematic of the struggle to which we are committed. Yet antiracist endeavors
are entrenched in emotionality, pain, trauma, joy, anger, and a myriad of other

American Chimera: Whiteness, Patriarchy, and CapitalismA Parable

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internalized feelings that should not be ignored lest we forget the humanizing qualities
that make us a passionate people. As Leonardo (2013) concludes, Race thought is
never easyit is full of tension, ripe with contradictions, and needs all the help it can
recruit. The analysis should be as complex as the topic itself, (p. xv). As such, our
parable becomes a complex expression of how the American Chimera entangles itself
into the fabric of our humanly lives wrought with the tensions of race, class, and gender. In order for us, as a people, to move beyond the relegation of where we reside in
the ever-widening gap characterized by whiteness, patriarchy, and capitalism
whether it be with the haves or the have- notsthe hope of its truncation can be
visualized in the power of a story. And thusly, we begin with a parable.
Special Note
Para nuestros familias (biologica y academica), amigos, y gente.3 Adelante!
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes
1. Stories.
2. For nearly forty years, the US Public Health Service studied the effects of syphilis within a
population of Black residents of Tuskegee, AL. Led to believe they were receiving free medical care, the PHS knowingly withheld curative treatment and other medical knowledge, giving rise to the civil liberty of informed consent.
3. For our families (biological and academic), friends, and people. Move forward!

Notes on contributors
Roberto Montoya is a PhD student and lecturer with teaching and research interests in CRT,
LatCrit, Critical Whiteness Studies, feminist perspectives, Hip Hop pedagogy, and performance.
Cheryl E. Matiass teaching focus is in Urban Community Teacher Education and her research
interests include CRT, Critical Whiteness Studies, and Black feminist perspectives. She is a
motherscholar of six-year-old twins.
Naomi W.M. Nishis teaching and research interests are in racial inclusivity, the deconstruction
of Whiteness in higher education, and learning from CRT and Critical Whiteness Studies perspectives. She is the motherscholar of a two-year-old biter.
Geneva L. Sarcedo is a PhD student and academic advisor whose professional experience influences her research interests in advising best practices for first generation and low-income college
students.

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