It’s almost funny how easily white people get offended by trivial shit, and yet don’t get how white people shitting on other people’s cultures, or the routine murder of young black men by police officers, might be offensive to POC. Anyone would think that maybe a lot of white people are actually white supremacists, that are on the down low (what I call: casual racists). It also amuses me how offended white people (particularly white men) get when someone points out their offensive behaviour, or how their views might have a cultural imperialist bias. Like it’s okay to be a bigot, but to criticise a bigot is an outrageous violation of the bigot’s freedom of speech.
The scary thing is that far too many white folks are so disconnected from reality, and insulated by their privilege and self absorption, that they genuinely have no idea that they are racist. If someone doesn’t identify as ‘racist’ then they somehow in the clear, and the mere implication that the person may be racist, or hold racist views, is seen as somehow deeply offensive. That being ‘labelled’ racist is somehow more offensive than actual racism.
Obviously this isn’t all white people (I’m pretty white myself) but certainly the vast majority. I guess the point I’m trying to make is that, if your not actively addressing racism in yourself and in society, then your probably at least a ‘casual racist.’ You certainly don’t have to wear swastikas, or even believe you’re racist, to be a white supremacist. In some ways, everyone is at least a little racist (a fact that was very hard for me to accept) in the sense that we all have a tendency to presume our way/culture/religion/etc is best, and to discriminate against people on the basis of (often) unconscious biases and stereotypes. Thus the words ‘I’m not racist’ are practically meaningless (especially when they are so routinely used by blatant racists like Trump). The only truly ‘non-racist’ stance is ‘anti-racism’ (the same could also be said for sexism).