Hypocrisy runs rampant in Black Like Me. Seriously, it's all over the place. It's the way that "well-meaning" white racists excuse their prejudice and their double standards for the different races.
While in real life some hypocrites may be hard to uncover, in this book they are all terrible liars. We see them for what they are (terrible people) and Griffin doesn't allow us to fall under the spell of their illusions.
Questions About Hypocrisy
- Which is worse according to its depiction in Black Like Me, hypocritical racism or plain old racism? Or are they the same?
- Which people in the text are hypocritical? What sort of people are they?
- Why do you think the hypocritical people in the text use hypocrisy? What advantages does it give over sincerity, if any?
- How the hypocrites give themselves away in Black Like Me?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
The hypocritical people in Black Like Me are better than sincere people, because at least they are trying to be nice.
Hypocritical racism is more dangerous than other types of racism in the text because the hypocritical racists don't even realize that they are racist.