In trauma circles, it's common to talk about threat responses. The well-known phrase "fight or flight" refers to two such responses, but there are two more that matter. The full list is Fight, Flight, Freeze, and Appease.

 

A threat response is an unconscious, unstoppable instinctive reaction. They occur when we feel unsafe, overly vulnerable, in danger, or otherwise severely at risk.

 

There is no difference to a threat response to perceived physical danger (lions/tigers/bears/heights/etc) and a perceived social danger (I'm about to look bad and lose friends/etc).

 

A fight response tends to be assertive, confrontational, and obviously intense. The idea is to overwhelm the threat with a show of strength. Fight responses are sometimes assumed to mean "going on offense" but most fight responses throughout nature are actually defensive.

 

A flight response is all about one thing: getting away. We don't even really care where we go, as long as it's not close to the threat.

 

A freeze response involves shutting down. Be still, be silent, be invisible... until the threat goes away on its own.

 

An appease response is perhaps the easiest to overlook. The basic idea is "if I make friends (or at least peace) with the source of danger, it won't hurt me."

 

What does all this have to do with whiteness?

 

These are some of the most common reactions of whiteness to, say, conversations about social justice issues:

 

 

 

Can you recognize that these are fight, flight, freeze, and appease?

 

This is why it seems so easy for some of us to spot unresolved bigotry and prejudice in people.

 

We are inherently communal creatures. We don't have threat responses to people we feel like we can safely, truly accept.

 

The anti-culture of whiteness, however, conditions us to feel threatened - and respond accordingly - to anyone and anything that does not conform to the whims of white supremacy.