I'm Not Gonna Honk for Honky

Dr. Conley came to Hamline this year and his frankness about his whiteness and life-long class journey was refreshing. It's nice to have a white person talk about whiteness every once in a while.

Although Dr. Conley has written a number of books, the one given to me is his autobiography/memoir/personal sociological musings called Honky. Long story short: he was a white kid living in the (mostly black) projects of NYC and attending schools with rich, bohemian white kids. He grew up, realized he was white and he wasn't rich. Some illegal activities and lots of musing ensue. Basically, it was what I image Mike Reynolds' book would be...but set in NYC instead of NYmiddleofnowhere.

It's not a long or hard read. I thought there were a few funny parts. But for a person of color who always has to think about class and race, I could have done without. I heard enough of this already.

But if you are white and you are looking for language to talk about your race and class realities (or you know a white person who needs some help talking about their race and class realities) this book is for you. It would be a great summer reading for first year students, or a text in a First Year Seminar.

Some things I underlined:
-"...race and class are nothing more than a set of stories we tell ourselves to get through the world, to organize our reality" (xiv).
-the "ultimate sin in American society: downward [class] mobility" (33).
-the idea of the "ritual of consumption": "I grew addicted to shopping. I had never realized how empowering it felt to spend money" (92-3).