Tempest M. Henning

"You’re Not as Ignorant as You Say You Are" critiques white ignorance literature and offers up a remedy for not only the lacuna identified within the literature, but also the pragmatic problems that the literature is creating. Epistemologies of ignorance regarding anti-Black racism either situates white ignorance as pertaining to a lack of knowledge regarding the atrocities committed by white America or the ignorance concerning false truths, which then cannot constitute itself as knowledge. Often the remedy to white ignorance is for white allies to gain knowledge regarding anti-Black racism. Racial horrors within America occur due to the lack of knowledge within the white ignorance framework – be it a deficit in knowing or believing of racial falsehoods. However, this project argues positing epistemologies of ignorance as hinging on knowledge can manifest problems that has been highlighted within multiple Black feminist works. This research contends that the epistemologies of ignorance framework should utilize the distinctions between ‘understanding’ and ‘knowledge’ that have recently resurfaced within virtue epistemology. Doing so will not only provide a more robust description of the phenomena of white ignorance, but it will better remedy some of the racialized problems that white ignorance literature seeks to alleviate.

Through the lens of Black Feminist and Womanist theories, this project examines the intersections of race, gender, and gun ownership, focusing on Black American women’s historical and contemporary relationship with firearms. It reframes armed self-defense as a form of refusal, emphasizing Black women’s agency in confronting systemic oppression and domestic violence. While mainstream discourse on gun rights and control centers on public safety, liberties, and crime, this project shifts the focus to the complex structural and personal threats that shape Black women’s experiences with firearms. Utilizing political philosophy, this project reconceptualizes civil disobedience, violence, and agency in the context of Black women’s armed self-defense. Juxtaposing state-sponsored violence—including police brutality and white supremacist violence—with intimate partner violence, the project highlights the multifaceted threats Black American women navigate. Given the pervasive racial and gendered violence from both state and domestic spheres, this project argues that Black American women ought to arm themselves, despite the barriers posed by racial profiling, discriminatory policing, and restrictive gun laws that disproportionately impact Black communities.