''Searching for Whitopia: An Improbable Journey to the Heart of White America'' is a 2009 non-fiction book by
Rich Benjamin
Rich Benjamin is an American cultural critic, anthropologist, and author. Benjamin is perhaps best known for the non-fiction book '' Searching for Whitopia: An Improbable Journey to the Heart of White America''.
He is also a lecturer and a publ ...
.
In May 2010, Benjamin briefly summarized his experiences in a
TED talk
TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "ideas worth spreading". TED was founded by Richard Sau ...
.
[
]
Overview
African American journalist Rich Benjamin
Rich Benjamin is an American cultural critic, anthropologist, and author. Benjamin is perhaps best known for the non-fiction book '' Searching for Whitopia: An Improbable Journey to the Heart of White America''.
He is also a lecturer and a publ ...
documents his journeys to find out why more and more white Americans move to small towns and areas that are, for the most part, white, and to explain why Whitopias are growing and what it means for the United States.
Benjamin mounted a two-year tour of the United States, covering 26,907 miles (43,303 km), looking for "Whitopias", which he defined as:
*an area which has experienced at least 6% growth rate since 2000;
*the great majority of that growth consists of white persons;
*the area has a pleasant look, feel, ambiance, or charm.
He spent several months in three such areas: St. George, Utah
St. George is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Utah, United States. Located in southwestern Utah on the Arizona border, it is the principal city of the St. George Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). The city lies in the northe ...
, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
Coeur d'Alene ( ; french: Cœur d'Alène, lit=Heart of an stitching awl, Awl ) is a city and the county seat of Kootenai County, Idaho, United States. It is the largest city in North Idaho and the principal city of the Coeur d'Alene Metropolita ...
, and Forsyth County, Georgia
Forsyth County ( or ) is a County (United States), county in the north-central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Suburban and exurban in character, Forsyth County lies within the Atlanta Metropolitan Area. The county ...
. In each case, he generated a master plan to thoroughly immerse himself in the community's core, with lists of the power brokers, the important groups, and the significant events. He tried to volunteer or involve himself with those people and groups.
Author's experiences
In St. George, Benjamin rented a house over the telephone
A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into e ...
in a gated community, La Entrada.
He took up golfing, fishing and Texas hold 'em
Texas hold 'em (also known as Texas holdem, hold 'em, and holdem) is one of the most popular variants of the card game of poker. Two cards, known as hole cards, are dealt face down to each player, and then five Community card poker, communit ...
.[ He was generally welcomed in every instance, and learned that the dominant topic in St. George was ]illegal immigration
Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of the immigration laws of that country or the continued residence without the legal right to live in that country. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upwar ...
; a local group had been organized to fight immigration, and they held regular rallies.[
In Idaho, Benjamin rented a resort cabin at ]Lake Coeur d'Alene
Lake Coeur d'Alene, officially Coeur d'Alene Lake ( ), is a natural dam-controlled lake in North Idaho, located in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. At its northern end is the city of Coeur d'Alene. It spans in length and range ...
.[ He found a significant number of retired ]LAPD
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-large ...
officers living there,[ and also found a significant number of gun owners where he learned to shoot a pistol at the local gun range.][
He spent time at a retreat, the only non-white journalist in the group, at the Council of ]Aryan Nations
Aryan Nations is a North American antisemitic, neo-Nazi, white supremacist organization that was originally based in Kootenai County, Idaho, about miles (4.4 km) north of the city of Hayden Lake. Richard Girnt Butler founded the group i ...
compound.[ He was told that the group is not "white-supremacy"; they are "white-segregation" - they merely don't want to live in close proximity to non-white people.][ He noted the preponderance of Confederate flags.][
In Georgia he found the predominant cultural activity revolved around a mega-church, so he involved himself in its activities.][ He felt the most comfortable in this situation, since both blacks and whites in this area are used to seeing the other - as contrasted to the first two sites, where a black person is still a rarity.][
]
See also
*White flight
White flight or white exodus is the sudden or gradual large-scale migration of white people from areas becoming more racially or ethnoculturally diverse. Starting in the 1950s and 1960s, the terms became popular in the United States. They refer ...
References
{{reflist
External links
''Searching for Whitopia'' at Google Books
2009 non-fiction books
Books about the United States
Books about race and ethnicity
Debut books
Books about cultural geography
English-language books
American non-fiction books
Works about White Americans
Race in the United States
Hyperion Books books
Demography books