The events of the last few days make it clear that racism is not about how individuals feel about each other. It’s about how structures and systemic practices fuel our racist system—everything from how cop shows narrate events to the history of Supreme Court rulings on qualified immunity. Our system is racist in a lot of ways, and one of them is that it privileges the feelings of white people. (That’s why Trump is the whitest of Presidents—everything is about his feelings.)
So, if you’re a white person interested in helping make our world less racist, then writing about how badly we feel about what’s happening is still doing the thing. Racism isn’t about how white people feel bad. Racism won’t be ended when white people feel more bad, or more white people feel bad, or, whatever. Racism isn’t about individual white people having individual white people feelings.
Racism is about white people feelings driving the world. So, white people treating our current situation as though the solution is white people telling POC how we feel is still saying that white people fee-fees are the most important thing right now. Making racialized and unaccountable policing about white people fee-fees is doubling down on the racism. Just don’t. It’s about the policing, not our feelings.
It also doesn’t help if white people turn to our “black friend” and say that we are now willing to listen to them. Our “black friend” is not our spiritual guide. S/he might have other things to do, and we have google.
There are some great lists out there of really helpful books to read. Here is Ibram X. Kendi‘s .
Here’s one that includes Kendi’s work.
This is a list specifically for white people.
This is an important insight that is so hard for us whites to keep in mind. Our structures and the unconscious assumptions upon which they build–they are what we have to change if anything thing is to have a chance to change.