Interpretive generosity leads antiracists to misread silence and opposition as resistance

Evidence

Exaggerating resistance or misinterpreting particular practices are common ways in which antiracists avoid or minimize nonwhite racism. As in the above case, a rejection of interracial relationships is misconstrued as antiracist. In other instances, silence is justified as a necessary response (Hanchard, 1994:63) or generously defined as a form of strategic resistance (see Sheriff, 1997). Silence is certainly a response to racism, but to define as resistance Afro-Brazilians’ refusal to talk about racism, even in private settings, is unconvincing. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 3631