I once asked my Chinese boyfriend what he thought of polite white people racism—the racism where white people deny it up and down, but really, their behavior was racist. Conversely, his Chinese relatives were pretty open about their racism. Could we say that one was "better" than the other? He said that he thought at…

To think someone can benefit from white privilege for decades and to be raised the product of an obviously un-equal society and not to let that seep in is kind of ridiculous.

Yeah, I think that we, as white people, HAVE to step away from the idea that racism is something intentional and conscious and deliberately cruel/prejudicial/harmful. It's so much more than that narrow set of racist actions, and it's absolutely true that we are ALL racist in that we have all internalized these ideas…

Thank you for saying exactly the way I feel willsomeonethinkifthekids. I too am weary of being the articulate Safe Negro that good white people admit Criming While White stories to. I live in a small town in the Midwest where many people openly defend the police officers who killed black men recently and I am not…

This, right here. I envy and sometimes resent my husband and white friends because they can just go through life without dealing with this. Like, I can't even go into local store and buy pantyhose or foundation that suits my skintone. I have a white friend who was like, "I'm so pale I can't find powder!" It's. Not.…

i think a lot of goodwhites are really just decent people not seeking congratulations on being a decent person, but hoping to encourage decency in others.

The problem, as I see it, from the "good" white people perspective is that we know 1) there's a very vocal minority of whites that are hateful assholes wherever they get the chance, and 2) there's a gigantic silent majority that are not racist, but aren't even paying attention to injustices. If the "good" white…

Racism is a huge issue in Europe. Roma are routinely ostracized, abused, and oppressed. There was a story recently about people throwing bananas at black soccer players on the field in Italy. The Netherlands is only now having a national discussion on "Black Peter", Santa's "friend" (slave) who comes down the chimney…

Really great article. I am one of those "good white people" and never noticed how every time one of my black friends talked about racism here in the Netherlands, I immediately needed to show them I wasn't one of those white people... until one day one of my friends got frustrated with me and said: It's not about you!…

This is a great piece. One thing I will say, in my experience has someone who is half white and half brown, is that the same system that keeps people of color "in their place" after all of these years is the same one that blinds a lot of white people who mean well. Is this an excuse for their behavior? No, maybe not,…

Is a member of another oppressed minority (First Nations), I disagree quite strongly with this.

What about talking about it for the purpose of encouraging others to do the same? I do sometimes have to remove someone, not just racism, but all kinds of things I don't want to see on my feed, sexism, graphic photos, candy crush invites, and I usually follow up with a post saying "I'm not into this, if you want to…

This has given me all the feels. I am struggling not to cut all of the white people out of my life (kind of hard, given I'm married to a white man) and many of those people are "good white people." They are shocked at racism and racist behavior— so much so they I get links to racist posts on websites because they…

Didn't someone once say that he who is wisest is him who admits he knows nothing? I've found, equally paradoxically, that, as a white person, I may contribute less to the system of racism the more I recognize just how racist I truly am.

The basic problem, for me, is that no one will share or praise this essay more enthusiastically then those same good white people. Which is a real difficulty with all kinds of radical critiques of privilege these days: no matter how direct they are in challenging every privileged person, they always end up being…

I guess the question is "How can white people be supportive of the issue without seeming to demean or take over the issue? " If white people don't talk talk about what they do in the situation, then the narrative is that white people are ignoring the issue (which so many do). If white people talk about the issue,…

Thank you for writing this. Feel free to delete this comment if you don't want to hear the response of yet another self-congratulatory "good white person".