Are all white people racist?

[Dedication Through Light]

I don't think the majority of white people are racist in a hostile, or superior way. If that makes any sense. As in I don't think most white people walk around thinking "I hate black people and I know I'm better than them.

However, I think most white people are racist in a built in prejudice/ignorance fashion. As in, maybe they see a black guy in a hoodie walking down the street in the evening and get nervous, kinda way.

Click to shrink...

I feel most closely aligned with that thought.

And perhaps more also along with things they may do knowingly or unknowingly (ie, is anyone on your committee not black, is anyone in your photo of *insert event* not black, did you choose anyone of your non white students in class to speak (do you give them a void, do you actually look non whites in the eye when you talk, do you change how you talk/words you uses/etc to nonwhites?, do you say hi to the nonwhites you pass by like you do the whites), also conversation topics and etc...

I've gotten some pretty weird questions from people who must have never had any type of substantial conversation with a black person before.

 

[Deleted member 36578]

I'm white, I'm not racist. That won't change no matter how someone tries to twist it.

 

[prophetvx]

I think you are misunderstanding that poster. They are saying white people benefit from racism globally. Even in societies where white people are the minority and face some level of discrimination, they are still treated more highly than other minorities.

That doesn't mean that non-white people can't benefit from racism, they do all the time. But that doesn't in any way invalidate the statement that white people tend to benefit from racism everywhere.

Click to shrink...

Define "white". Eastern Europeans don't benefit in Western Europe. White doesn't necessarily mean any benefit in Asian countries.

I get the premise, white people generally do benefit but it's not all. Even when they are the minority, they are often at a competitive advantage over other minorities as well. I don't disagree with that, what I don't agree with is that there is a blanket rule and it's not conducive to constructive discourse to suggest otherwise.

The vast majority of caucasian people benefit from systemic racism in western culture, knowingly or unknowingly. If you're a minority, you are at a competitive disadvantage but not everyone is, which is my point and that being the case, no not all whites are racist.

 

[Jonscrambler]

so this site is 65% white?

 

[RedMercury]

I'm white, I'm not racist. That won't change no matter how someone tries to twist it.

Click to shrink...

No offense but do you feel like you're being personally attacked?

 

[Messofanego]

I just struggle with the notion of labelling a white 2-year-old a racist or a soon-to-be racist.

Click to shrink...

Kids get conditioned early on to have biases. You're aware of the doll test?


We all are racist or bigoted to some degree until we became aware of it and improve on our unconscious/conscious biases. A white person might not be conscious of their biases and privilege, and when confronted by it can often get defensive rather than take the message on board aka white fragility. You cited Dr Robin DiAngelo, have you watched her talks on white fragility? Here's a short primer. The problem is if your definition of racism is a binary good/evil system that relies on a racist being an individual, being conscious of their bigotry, and being intentional. That's why there's so much white fragility because the systems, biases, and privileges don't get past that simplistic and not comprehensive definition.

 

[Deleted member 36578]

No offense but do you feel like you're being personally attacked?

Click to shrink...

Not at all, as nobody is referring to me specifically. But I feel broad generalizations are quite silly and that's what I think the mind set of a racist is based on to begin with.

 

[Deleted member 11413]

Define "white". Eastern Europeans don't benefit in Western Europe. White doesn't necessarily mean any benefit in Asian countries.

I get the premise, white people generally do benefit but it's not all. Even when they are the minority, they are often at a competitive advantage over other minorities as well. I don't disagree with that, what I don't agree with is that there is a blanket rule and it's not conducive to constructive discourse to suggest otherwise.

The vast majority of caucasian people benefit from systemic racism in western culture, knowingly or unknowingly. If you're a minority, you are at a competitive disadvantage but not everyone is, which is my point and that being the case, no not all whites are racist.

Click to shrink...

I don't get where your disagreement is really coming from then. Yeah Eastern Europeans are generally worse off than western Europeans, but that's not due to their whiteness. No one here is claiming that white people can't be poor or marginalized. This may be a weird example, but a white homeless person is way more marginalized than, say, Kanye West. But that homeless person isn't marginalized BECAUSE of their whiteness, whereas Kanye might be super rich and influential, but he has still experienced problems in life solely because of his blackness (he's also a fucking asshole but that's beside the point).

You've brought up some Asian cultures in which white people are at a disadvantage compared to the dominant culture there...and while that's true, in every example I can think of white people are still at less of a disadvantage than every other minority. You are going to have a much, much easier time visiting or living in, say, Japan as a white person than as a black person. Even in places where white people are a minority, they are preferred over other minorities.

I guess I don't understand what your issue is? Like if all you mean to say is that not all non-white people are at a disadvantage everywhere then...yeah, true, but no one was arguing otherwise.

 

[smileyforall220]

I think you are misunderstanding that poster. They are saying white people benefit from racism globally. Even in societies where white people are the minority and face some level of discrimination, they are still treated more highly than other minorities.

That doesn't mean that non-white people can't benefit from racism, they do all the time. But that doesn't in any way invalidate the statement that white people tend to benefit from racism everywhere.

Click to shrink...

How does a "white"(hate this term, as it's a product North American blending of everything down into its simplistic component) person have power in the Chinese Han dominated ethnic group in modern day China? A country where being Han is pushed above all else, people lie on their birth certificates so that they aren't ostracized by society for not being Han Chinese. They might get bit parts for being white but that is only them being used as a token minority for entertainment. While true that they might enjoy less discrimination than someone with darker skin, both of these ethnic groups do not hold power in said society, so its not a competition.

My point being that no, not all white people are racist, because white people aren't in a position of power all across the world. Also the term white and black are hilariously simplified terms that encompass a wide array of ethnic groups.thoughts/ideas/ and ways of life that are different. A first generation immigrant from Nairobi is going to have a much different world view than someone who was brought over on slave ships a couple hundred years ago, and the amount of damage that systemic racism has done to them is also different due to obvious reasons. This need to break everything down into simple black and white statements is why so many people in this thread are talking over one another.

 

[Sloth Guevara]

I'm of asian descent that grew up in Sydney, Australia. I've experienced plenty of racism.

All people don't benefit, which is the damn point. Others in here are saying that if you're an oppressed minority, you are incapable of racism as well, which is patently false.

Click to shrink...

Well the structural issue set by colonialism kinda does give them a huge leg up.

 

[prophetvx]

I don't get where your disagreement is really coming from then. Yeah Eastern Europeans are generally worse off than western Europeans, but that's not due to their whiteness. No one here is claiming that white people can't be poor or marginalized. This may be a weird example, but a white homeless person is way more marginalized than, say, Kanye West. But that homeless person isn't marginalized BECAUSE of their whiteness, whereas Kanye might be super rich and influential, but he has still experienced problems in life solely because of his blackness (he's also a fucking asshole but that's beside the point).

You've brought up some Asian cultures in which white people are at a disadvantage compared to the dominant culture there...and while that's true, in every example I can think of white people are still at less of a disadvantage than every other minority. You are going to have a much, much easier time visiting or living in, say, Japan as a white person than as a black person. Even in places where white people are a minority, they are preferred over other minorities.

I guess I don't understand what your issue is? Like if all you mean to say is that not all non-white people are at a disadvantage everywhere then...yeah, true, but no one was arguing otherwise.

Click to shrink...

My disagreement is with "all". It's wrong.

That's it.

 

[RedMercury]

How does a "white"(hate this term, as it's a product North American blending of everything down into its simplistic component) person have power in the Chinese Han dominated ethnic group in modern day China? A country where being Han is pushed above all else, people lie on their birth certificates so that they aren't ostracized by society for not being Han Chinese. They might get bit parts for being white but that is only them being used as a token minority for entertainment.

Click to shrink...

The Privileges and Pains of Being a Western Student in China

You don't need a 4.0 to get serious scholarship money.

www.vice.com

Why Foreigners in China Should Check Their Privilege

Why are Chinese hesitant to police foreigners’ bad behavior when they’re so quick to condemn their own?

www.sixthtone.com

When Intangible Becomes Tangible: White Privilege in China

The metal detector inside the first Beijing club I visited seemed to be more for show than anything else.

www.hercampus.com

On White Privilege in Taiwan

I have lived here in Taiwan for over four years. Overall it’s been a great experience. However, it’s undeniable that there is a rift…

medium.com

 

[Deleted member 11413]

How does a "white"(hate this term, as it's a product North American blending of everything down into its simplistic component) person have power in the Chinese Han dominated ethnic group in modern day China? A country where being Han is pushed above all else, people lie on their birth certificates so that they aren't ostracized by society for not being Han Chinese. They might get bit parts for being white but that is only them being used as a token minority for entertainment. While true that they might enjoy less discrimination than someone with darker skin, both of these ethnic groups do not hold power in said society, so its not a competition.

My point being that no, not all white people are racist, because white people aren't in a position of power all across the world. Also the term white and black are hilariously simplified terms that encompass a wide array of ethnic groups.thoughts/ideas/ and ways of life that are different. A first generation immigrant from Nairobi is going to have a much different world view than someone who was brought over on slave ships a couple hundred years ago, and the amount of damage that systemic racism has done to them is also different due to obvious reasons. This need to break everything down into simple black and white statements is why so many people in this thread are talking over one another.

Click to shrink...

Regardless of whether they are part of the dominant culture, they are still treated 'better' than other minorities in those societies because whiteness is valued over other racial groups. That's an example of white priviledge, even if white people aren't the hegemon in those societies. Being treated more favorably, even as an outsider, than other groups is a benefit of the preference of whiteness globally.

Of course all white people aren't in a position of power, but 'whiteness' is, and even in the places where whiteness isn't, it's still preferable to blackness.

 

[Bwlzero]

It's funny that so many are up in arms because you're using the word all. "I'm one of the good ones!!! Pls don't lump me in with the actual racists.". Just let it go and move on White people, you're gonna be just fine while POC are fighting out with real issues not "I'm no racist mah feelings"

 

[smileyforall220]

Regardless of whether they are part of the dominant culture, they are still treated 'better' than other minorities in those societies because whiteness is valued over other racial groups. That's an example of white priviledge, even if white people aren't the hegemon in those societies. Being treated more favorably, even as an outsider, than other groups is a benefit of the preference of whiteness globally.

Of course all white people aren't in a position of power, but 'whiteness' is, and even in the places where whiteness isn't, it's still preferable to blackness.

Click to shrink...

What do you consider white though? People that are obviously british or american? People that share a culture of western identity with fairer skin color? Uyhgurs in China can have white skin as well, are you saying that they are currently enjoying white privelege while being systemically eliminated in China? Do you consider lighter skin people in Mexico to be white as well? According to the US census, many light skinned hispanics suddenly got added to the group of "white", have they also been enjoying the benefits of white supremacy? Where is the cutoff to whiteness? Is there a certain pigment ratio that is needed until you are no longer "white enough" to enjoy the benefits of priveledge?(aka something similar to the one drop rule but the opposite).

To me this is why saying all whites are racist is a dumb simplified statement to the point of being completely useless. Its akin to claiming that racism is am inherited trait thanks to the pigmentation of your skin color which I think you would agree doesn't seem right, as opposed to the society/culture informing racism and racist beliefs.

 

[Quample]

I totally get what the lady in the video is saying, and I don't disagree. With that said, admitting our preconceptions about race is something I will concede in a conversation with people, while admitting racism is not. Why? Because admitting to someone that I'm racist comes with its own preconceptions. It's not a statement that can be undone by further explanation. In other words, that word has ties to a specific type of "active" racism which is also tied to historic events and a specific state of mind. The word "racism" means a lot of different things to different people, but most people can generally agree that it is a word that usually denotes conscious prejudice/hate, not an abstract inexorable underlying predisposition. Words aren't just a dictionary definition, they have historical significance. And that is the part of the argument that I can't agree with. I don't consider myself racist, because I don't think the definition of the word is the same as the definition that the woman in the video is claiming. It's a sensitive topic, and should be dealt with care, not more generalization...which will only lead to more confusion.

 

[never]

As a white person, I don't know how other white people watch the video in the first post and then say, "No, none of this applies to me or my life."

That just seems so bonkers to me.

 

[Jegriva]

Has there ever been a gross generalization that had been right?

of course not,

 

[Vincent Alexander]

As a white person, I don't know how other white people watch the video in the first post and then say, "No, none of this applies to me or my life."

That just seems so bonkers to me.

Click to shrink...

Because they stop after the first 30 seconds and try to come up with the reasons why the video is wrong instead of finishing the video and trying to ingest what is right in the video. Putting themselves in someone else's shoes is difficult.

Not all white people...okay, great. Move on and let's hear what you think about the other 13 minutes.

 

[never]

I totally get what the lady in the video is saying, and I don't disagree. With that said, admitting our preconceptions about race is something I will concede in a conversation with people, while admitting racism is not. Why? Because admitting to someone that I'm racist comes with it's own preconceptions. It's not a statement that can be undone by further explanation. In other words, that word has ties to a specific type of "active" racism which is also tied to historic events and a specific state of mind. The word "racism" means a lot of different things to different people, but most people can generally agree that it is a word that usually denotes conscious prejudice/hate, not an abstract underlying predisposition.

Click to shrink...

Isn't the point to admitting you were indoctrinated into a racist system and thus racist, that you have to acknowledge the thing exists and influences you before you can actually want to take any kind of effort to do anything about it?

Isn't saying you acknowledge that systemic racism exists, but that you are somehow immune to it, part of the reason why we don't really ever try to change it?

I think the power in all of us saying we are racist and we were born into this system that perpetuates it, is acknowledging the scope of the bullshit and all the work that we have to do to change it.

 

[Jegriva]

The problem is that the idea of a duality "white/black" is an american concept, that cannot be applied with the same clarity onto other nations. A nigerian-born-adopted-by-italian-parents kid is generally going to suffer less discrimnations in Italy than a muslim Albanian. A black american is probably going to suffer more discrimination because he's american than because he's black.

Discrimination in Europe exists, but it cannot be grossly simplified with two absolute colors...


EDIT: I quoted a poster by mistake.

 

[The Adder]

As a white person, I don't know how other white people watch the video in the first post and then say, "No, none of this applies to me or my life."

Click to shrink...

Easy: They just don't watch the video.

 

[The Adder]

The problem is that the idea of a duality "white/black" is an american concept,

Click to shrink...

No it isn't.

 

[Speevy]

Has there ever been a gross generalization that had been right?

of course not,

Click to shrink...

This one in particular requires quite a bit of explanation of society and how we are not immune from our world and still doesn't lead to the answer "All white people are racist."

The truest things are the things children can understand. Children come to you knowing racism is wrong, and when they hear "Black people are..." or "White people are..." they are immediately taken aback because it is counter to a basic human desire to accept. This innate human characteristic is something which must be undone by adults, who then posit questions like "Are all white people racist?"

 

[Kinggroin]

They *built the shit first and set the rules around them. Even if not every white person was racist, they have the most skin in the game which causes them to act ridiculous when the game's rules are adjusted around newcomers.

 

[Prax]

Most if not everyone is at least a little bit racist or implicitly biased if only because they are exposed to the media which reinforces or teaches this kind of bias, even if subtly. If there is hierarchy to be learned (through perceived gender, race, colour, whatever), it'll be learned. And if you want to be a better person, you slowly try to unlearn or correct it to reality.

To think yourself otherwise or above this.. I would say such a person lacks self-awareness.

 

[Jegriva]

No it isn't.

Click to shrink...

Enlighten me.

 

[RedMercury]

Has there ever been a gross generalization that had been right?

of course not,

Click to shrink...

"All nonwhites in the US have experienced racism"

 

[dlauv]

Only insofar as they participate in systemic racism, but that's not really much of a choice because everyone is whether they benefit or not.

 

[The Adder]

Enlighten me.

Click to shrink...

Apartheid: Definition & South Africa | HISTORY

Apartheid, the legal and cultural segregation of the non-white citizens of South Africa, ended in 1994 thanks to activist Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk.

www.history.com

 

[Conmex]

A good friend of mine from work who is black told me he doesn't feel comfortable around any non black folks in large numbers.

He says they all give him "the look".

 

[SecondNature]

Kids get conditioned early on to have biases. You're aware of the doll test?

Click to shrink...

Heartbreaking, but not surprising. Though Im curious, does the person asking the questions influence answers?

 

[Jegriva]

Apartheid: Definition & South Africa | HISTORY

Apartheid, the legal and cultural segregation of the non-white citizens of South Africa, ended in 1994 thanks to activist Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk.

www.history.com

Click to shrink...

I am pretty sure that pro-slavery laws in the United States predate the apartheid by a century-wide margin. Not to talk about the atlantic slave trade that suddenly first brought masses of subsaharian people as property of western european people in the Americas.

 

[Quample]

Isn't the point to admitting you were indoctrinated into a racist system and thus racist, that you have to acknowledge the thing exists and influences you before you can actually want to take any kind of effort to do anything about it?

Isn't saying you acknowledge that systemic racism exists, but that you are somehow immune to it, part of the reason why we don't really ever try to change it?

I think the power in all of us saying we are racist and we were born into this system that perpetuates it, is acknowledging the scope of the bullshit and all the work that we have to do to change it.

Click to shrink...

You're putting words in my mouth. I'm saying that under the videos definition of racism, I have to be racist. But the logic is tautological, not sound.

My point is that the word "racism" has too many strong historical ties to things that I actively advocate against. If being white is inexorably tied to racism, then everybody is everything; it breaks down language into a useless form and progress cannot be made in discussion. Definitions of words are ambiguous, but we should strive to understand the common ground in order to avoid confusion. Therefore, I say that I am not racist in the common understanding of the word. If everyone is racist, then the word itself has no definable meaning.

I'm not saying that this means we shouldn't be aware of the system and how it innately affects us, I'm only saying that we should take care in how we word things. Saying "all white people are racist" is not being careful with language, it lumps a bunch of people together in a pointless manner. Like I said, sensitive topics require care, specificity, and awareness. Generalizations are the antithesis of this, even if it holds a glimmer of truth. And that's the problem with generalizations, they're so ambiguous that attempting to verify/falsify them through proof/research is a futile endeavor. There is no legitimate starting point.

 

[Vincent Alexander]

Heartbreaking, but not surprising. Though Im curious, does the person asking the questions influence answers?

Click to shrink...

I believe this kind of test has been done multiple times with similar results, but I would have personally liked to see the question "Are either of these dolls..." instead of "which one..." By asking which one is bad, you are leading with the idea that one is good, and one is bad. Closes the door for them to answer that neither is bad.

"All nonwhites in the US have experienced racism"

Click to shrink...

Nailed it.

 

[Thordinson]

I say all this to say this: The thought that there is any white person on Earth where colonialism has touched that has not been susceptible to white supremacist thinking is laughable. The question is not "Are all white people racist?" The question should be "When are white people going to step up and actually work towards making a more equitable world?"

Click to shrink...

Amazing post. I would like to engage with this part specifically.

I'm a white man. I benefit from racist institutions and systemic privilege whether I realize consciously or not. I have implicit biases that I work hard to correct everyday. White people need to not only acknowledge this but actively work to correct it all. I can list all the things I believe about being respectful all I want, it doesn't matter if it's not actually bettering the world around me for everyone. I was guilty of laughing off my relatives racist comments when I was younger as "well, that's just racist Uncle Freddy!" as if it didn't matter. It's up to me to call them out on this. Not just family but friends, coworkers, classmates, etc. If I don't work towards changing this world as a person of privilege, progress will be stifled. It's up to me help change hiring practices, battle stereotypes, raise my voice for issues that affect minorities, shut down racist speech, and just as importantly, realize that I am part of the problem if I don't do these things. And it's an ongoing endeavor. It doesn't stop. I truly believe that if one human being hurts, we all hurt. It's up to me to put that into practice every single day.

Sure, being called racist might suck. But, it's absolutely nothing compared to living in a racist system that seeks to harm minorities at every turn. A system that's specifically sets minorities up to fail. I implore others like me to help me dismantle this system and rebuild a world that is equitable.

 

[Messofanego]

A good friend of mine from work who is black told me he doesn't feel comfortable around any non black folks in large numbers.

He says they all give him "the look".

Click to shrink...

Same.

 

[Jegriva]

Something that, as European, completely took me by surprise was discovering that in the USA the "latino race" was a thing.

It doesn't make any sense, first as a terminology (French, Romanians and Italians spoke latin-descended languages too), second as a concept. To create an artifical distance between WASP and central-south american people, they fucking CREATED A "RACE". That's a sick process...

 

[The Adder]

I am pretty sure that pro-slavery laws in the United States predate the apartheid by a century-wide margin.

Click to shrink...

"Only Jimmy steals things."
"Michael, you stole something two days ago."
"But Jimmy stole something two weeks ago, so obviously only Jimmy steals."

Not to talk about the atlantic slave trade that suddenly first brought masses of subsaharian people as property of western european people in the Americas.

Click to shrink...

"Western Europeans brought black people over as slaves, clearly demonstrating that Europeans do not historically have a dichotomy of black and white."

 

[bananab]

It's hard to sharply define the lines between "lives in a racist society," "benefits from racism" and "is racist." If a wizard snapped his fingers and a "nonracist" white person had their privilege taken away, would they be unhappy about it? If they were unhappy about it, what does that mean?

 

[The Adder]

Something that, as European, completely took me by surprise was discovering that in the USA the "latino race" was a thing.

It doesn't make any sense, first as a terminology (French, Romanians and Italians spoke latin-descended languages too), second as a concept. To create an artifical distance between WASP and central-south american people, they fucking CREATED A "RACE". That's a sick process...

Click to shrink...

Race doesn't exist to begin with, they were all created. Mostly by Europeans.

 

[nillansan]

how am I dismissing racism, by saying that it is everywhere?

Click to shrink...

By simply stating that everyone is racist and coming across as flustered and offended by the thread title and calling it racist (which I think makes light of the racism we as minorities experience), especially in light of the context provided by the video in the OP and the thoughtful responses already given in the thread. I am not only talking about you by the way. Thanks to white people my country is fucked up to the point that I don't feel safe visiting it. They deemed us sub-human and saw it fit to trample over us and exploit our resources. My country won't ever recover from this thanks to genocidal whites, they still exploit our resources and the majority of our people and culture has been erased from existence. See? Racism and the experience thereof differs greatly, getting offended by the thread title and calling it racist just comes off as utterly pathetic.

What is "white people" even, how do we define this?

Click to shrink...

I was actually called stupid for using the term "white europeans" earlier in the thread, but as I see it, if white supremacy can gain traction and prosper in a country then I think it is fair to assume that the country is made up by a white majority, I acknowledge that there might be some cases where this doesn't apply, I can't think of any though. In very rare cases we do see white supremacy being propped up by self-loathing members of a marginalised/minority group, but again those are very rare cases and probably negligible in the grand scheme of things.

I'm sure that this can be bend into me being a hyper racist in some way if you make an effort.

Click to shrink...

Nobody is calling you a fucking hyper racist, this is why I limit talking race relations with whites, 99% of the time white fragility just kicks in real quick.

Personally i don't like refer to peoples color, i actually find it a bit disgusting.

Click to shrink...

I know that when some white people state this, they do it with the best of intentions, but in practice it just does more harm than good. Essentially you're just taking a stance that allows you to ignore how our experiences of navigating society will differ greatly. I also feel your stance about not seeing colour is kind of at odds with your statement below.

Just know that i am deeply aware that a large section of the worlds population has it extremely hard and are judged by their skin color, traditions, what someone else did or some other bullshit.

Click to shrink...

 

[Deleted member 11413]

What do you consider white though? People that are obviously british or american? People that share a culture of western identity with fairer skin color? Uyhgurs in China can have white skin as well, are you saying that they are currently enjoying white privelege while being systemically eliminated in China? Do you consider lighter skin people in Mexico to be white as well? According to the US census, many light skinned hispanics suddenly got added to the group of "white", have they also been enjoying the benefits of white supremacy? Where is the cutoff to whiteness? Is there a certain pigment ratio that is needed until you are no longer "white enough" to enjoy the benefits of priveledge?(aka something similar to the one drop rule but the opposite).

To me this is why saying all whites are racist is a dumb simplified statement to the point of being completely useless. Its akin to claiming that racism is am inherited trait thanks to the pigmentation of your skin color which I think you would agree doesn't seem right, as opposed to the society/culture informing racism and racist beliefs.

Click to shrink...

You've never heard of the term 'proximity to whiteness'? Or 'colorism'? Or 'white passing'? Again, just because someone is white doesn't mean they can't be persecuted for other reasons. Majority of Jewish people are white and they were the victims of mass genocide.

Generally though, in white supremacist societies the closer you are to whiteness the more you benefit from that closeness. Yes, some Hispanics DO benefit from whiteness and white supremacy, have you not heard of fucking Bolsonaro?

Racism is not an 'inherited trait of whiteness' and no one is claiming it as such. It's a part of humanity. Every society has racism. The difference being that white people are the ones who colonized and subjugated and oppressed the majority of the globe, so white supremacy ended up being the dominant form of racism.

 

[Nepenthe]

Amazing post. I would like to engage with this part specifically.

I'm a white man. I benefit from racist institutions and systemic privilege whether I realize consciously or not. I have implicit biases that I work hard to correct everyday. White people need to not only acknowledge this but actively work to correct it all. I can list all the things I believe about being respectful all I want, it doesn't matter if it's not actually bettering the world around me for everyone. I was guilty of laughing off my relatives racist comments when I was younger as "well, that's just racist Uncle Freddy!" as if it didn't matter. It's up to me to call them out on this. Not just family but friends, coworkers, classmates, etc. If I don't work towards changing this world as a person of privilege, progress will be stifled. It's up to me help change hiring practices, battle stereotypes, raise my voice for issues that affect minorities, shut down racist speech, and just as importantly, realize that I am part of the problem if I don't do these things. And it's an ongoing endeavor. It doesn't stop. I truly believe that if one human being hurts, we all hurt. It's up to me to put that into practice every single day.

Sure, being called racist might suck. But, it's absolutely nothing compared to living in a racist system that seeks to harm minorities at every turn. A system that's specifically sets minorities up to fail. I implore others like me to help me dismantle this system and rebuild a world that is equitable.

Click to shrink...

Thank you. You are one of the few white people in this topic that actually gets it.

 

[Ajax125]

Everyone in the world is racist. The question is to what degree. Institutional racism is the most insidious part of it.

Click to shrink...

/end thread

 

[T002 Tyrant]

I can't be racist because I was a black person for a whole night.

Click to shrink...

- Justin Trudeau

 

[Toxi]

Something that, as European, completely took me by surprise was discovering that in the USA the "latino race" was a thing.

It doesn't make any sense, first as a terminology (French, Romanians and Italians spoke latin-descended languages too), second as a concept. To create an artifical distance between WASP and central-south american people, they fucking CREATED A "RACE". That's a sick process...

Click to shrink...

All races are artificial constructs. They do not reflect actual human genetic diversity.

As a white Latino, yes, it's really fucking silly how societies set up the conditions for prejudice.

 

[never]

... If everyone is racist, then the word itself has no definable meaning.

Saying "all white people are racist" is not being careful with language, it lumps a bunch of people together in a pointless manner.

Click to shrink...

But everyone isn't racist...We're talking about white people benefiting/propagating/being completely indifferent to a self perpetuating system at the expense of others. To me that is pretty specific.

And forcing us to acknowledge the scope of the problem doesn't seem pointless to me.

 

[nillansan]

You've never heard of the term 'proximity to whiteness'? Or 'colorism'? Or 'white passing'? Again, just because someone is white doesn't mean they can't be persecuted for other reasons. Majority of Jewish people are white and they were the victims of mass genocide.

Generally though, in white supremacist societies the closer you are to whiteness the more you benefit from that closeness. Yes, some Hispanics DO benefit from whiteness and white supremacy, have you not heard of fucking Bolsonaro?

Racism is not an 'inherited trait of whiteness' and no one is claiming it as such. It's a part of humanity. Every society has racism. The difference being that white people are the ones who colonized and subjugated and oppressed the majority of the globe, so white supremacy ended up being the dominant form of racism.

Click to shrink...

Amazing post, thank you.

 

[TraBuch]

Thank you. You are one of the few white people in this topic that actually gets it.

Click to shrink...

Did you just straight up drop a "you're one of the good ones"?