I have been bashing my head against a wall, along with a few others, in a discussion forum I am a member of. There are 4 women who are *adamant* that Ferguson is a demonstration of criminals being upset because they got treated like criminals. It is maddening. Those are the type of people who are saying "Well he…

I totally see why black people would find it painful, frustrating, and anger-inducing to read #crimingwhilewhite. But I have to disagree that the conversation should not in part be about white people. Changing / ending racism is very much about white people. White people are the actors in racism, they are the ones…

well as a white person who doesn't behave in criminal activity I think the hashtag is helpful. It puts things in perspective. It's really easy to say "I never resisted arrest and never died from a chokehold" since I don't commit crimes. But seeing that other white people have and got away with it makes it more…

I made an account here just for this. I hope you do not mind a non-American who lives as a minority expat in a third country giving you an observation that I think you might have overlooked.

But it IS about white people. You can't discuss racism without discussing how it benefits the privileged class. And that is EXACTLY what #CWW is about.

I disagree. I felt it is tremendously important precisely because it helps highlight the difference in treatment. Moreover, for the white people who post on this hashtag, it has the effect of making <i>them</i> think directly about their own privilege. Think about it - it's an entire movement of people talking…

Listening is critically important. But I think self-acknowledgment followed by collective realization of the toxic double-standards that society treats as "normal" *has* to happen before society changes. I would, very respectfully, point out that perhaps the power of publicly acknowledging the crimes your skin color…

I can't help but read this as in contrast to Chris Rock's recent comments about how we talk in america about black progress when we should be talking about white progress. To me, that rang really true and it is primarily white people who need to change to fix racism. I'm not arguing that the conversation should be…

No. It is a bunch of white people using this opportunity to recognize their own white privilege and the disparity between how races are treated, and to force other white people to recognize it in their own lives. In your article, you ask is anyone surprised? The answer is yes—in fact, many still don't see it. That's…

We've covered that question extensively on Jezebel in regards to sexism - why do people listen when men speak out on an issue that women have been talking about for years?

Here's the thing about #crimingwhilewhite - it completes a data set.

So to talk about this in a different frame, saying "cops treat PoCs differently" is the hypothesis. Showing a lot of data that says, "PoCs are treated like X" only invites people who would say, "Man, but white people are also treated like X,…

Agree - I witnessed many ignorant white people on Facebook saying things like "Yeah, if I [robbed a convenience store/sold illegal cigarettes/played with a toy gun "suspiciously"] I would EXPECT the cops to shoot me!" I think the hashtag is trying to help these people understand how different these interactions are…

I'm very confused when you tell a white person "IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU" when talking about an issue that is very much rooted in racism. Maybe I'm an idiot, but I don't understand how you can discuss racism while leaving out one half of the equation :/ How can things get any better if white people don't acknowledge…

I disagree with the piggybacking argument. The first thing out of someone's mouth when you bring up Garner or Tamir or Brown, is "Well if they had just not done X (held a toy gun, been committing a minor infraction, been polite to the officer, etc.)" and, to me, the point of the hashtag is to shut that down and say…

I don't feel this is a redirect of the conversation, this is the conversation. Its all part of the conversation. Black peoples stories from the #AliveWhileBlack tag and white peoples stories from the #CrimingWhileWhite, they are two sides to the same coin. Black people having the conversation in a vacuum (as another…

I don't think we can ever underestimate the number of white people who don't know that white privilege is a thing. For those of us who run around in fairly liberal circles, it's such an obvious given, but there's a whole population out there who honestly think that all of black peoples' problems went away when Lincoln…

That was my first thought, too. I was able to show this to my [white] parents and use it to explain to them that I am not making this shit up, white privilege is a thing they don't even know exists because they're living within it. They don't generally have any interaction with the police, so it's easy for them to…

I think the disparity was always the point, just that it started from "when black people are suspected of a crime (Brown/Garner/Rice/etc) they get killed, when white people are suspected of a crime they get a funny story to tell." Then she started the tag that took it a step further — remove crime from the equation…

I'd say because currently power in this country rests on the opinions of white people. That's not going to change and it's important, whatever way white people currently can, to have this conversation and have it publicly. Regardless of generally rightness, the ablity of white oppinons to cause social change,…

I'm black and I think the hashtag is ingenious. White people are in general NOT listening to black people, but they ARE listening to other white people and therefore when white people say "Hey, heads up. Black people aren't crazy, this is unfair. I've done WORSE than Mike Brown and I got a pat on the back."