Gail Ferguson, PhD, Associate Professor at the Institute of Child Development (ICD), and graduate fellows Lauren Eales, Sarah Gillespie, and Keira Leneman published an article in a 2022 issue of American Psychologist titled “​​The Whiteness Pandemic Behind the Racism Pandemic: Familial Whiteness Socialization in Minneapolis Following #GeorgeFloyd’s Murder”. Recently, the article has been awarded the 2022 George A. Miller Award for an Outstanding Article by the American Psychological Association Division 1 (Society For General Psychology). 

In the wake of George Floyd’s murder, Ferguson and her team surveyed about 400 white mothers in the Minneapolis metro area to ascertain the communication, if any, mothers had with their children about the event itself and systemic racism at large. What their research showed is that the majority of mothers were “racially silent” and did not discuss race, racism, or racial injustice with their children. Ferguson describes how this lack of conversation “communicates apathy or approval of racism, even if that’s not what adults intend.”

Expanding upon these initial findings, the study demonstrated how white parents’ racial identity, including their understanding of racism, was linked to how they socialized their children in general. Ferguson’s article identified a Whiteness Pandemic to describe this phenomenon. This framing follows declarations of racism as a pandemic and epidemic made by the American Psychological Association (APA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s within the past two years. 

“Collectively, color-evasion and power-evasion —pathogens of the Whiteness pandemic—are inexorably transmitted within families, with White parents serving as carriers to their children unless they take active preventive measures rooted in antiracism and equity-promotion,” according to the article. 

Reflecting on the contribution of the article, Ferguson outlines how “moving from ‘racism’ to ‘whiteness’ language turns the gaze from victims to perpetrators and allows us to better target our psychological research and intervention efforts.” Additionally, articulating how the culture of Whiteness — colorblindness, White passivity, and White fragility — is a pandemic that spreads as White families socialize their children, purposefully “leverages society’s newfound appreciation for deadly pathogens where everyone plays a role in their spread or containment – there are no bystanders,” says Ferguson. 

The review committee assessed nominated articles according to several criteria, including the degree to which they draw from multiple research areas, demonstrate an appropriate or exemplary use of methods, address an important and timely topic, offer the potential to generate new research, and have the potential for cross-disciplinary impact. The committee judged that the “The Whiteness Pandemic” article exceeded expectations in each of these categories.

Jocelyn Turner-Musa, PhD, Chair of the George A. Miller Outstanding Article Award, stated “This is a very timely article and exemplifies the best of a general and integrative approach to psychology…with application in sociology, political science, criminology, and public health. It is believed that there are potential new research efforts that may result as the ‘Whiteness Pandemic’ is defined and investigated in different populations and environments.”

Ferguson and her team will present a symposium “From Parenting to Policy: Approaches to Tackling the Whiteness Pandemic” at the APA 2022 convention being held in Minneapolis this August, and Ferguson will deliver an invited address at the 2023 APA convention in Washington D.C.  

Congratulations to Gail Ferguson and her team!
For parents, teachers and caregivers interested in learning more about the ‘whiteness pandemic,’ how to continue self-reflection for the development of a healthy white racial identity and how to prepare for and have a conversation with children about race, racism, white privilege, and antiracism please refer to the curated list of resources from Ferguson’s Culture and Family Life Lab’s Whiteness Pandemic Page.