Are White People Inherently Racist?

In this 3-minute video, I respond to a frequent question directed at antiracists.

Recently on social media someone responded to one of my posts with a question frequently posted to antiracist advocates:

Do you think white people are inherently racist?

That modifier “inherently” makes all the difference. It implies that antiracists believe that white people are spiritually, biologically, or ontologically wired to be racist. They are racist by birth. If that is true, so the logic goes, then antiracists are being just as racist as any white person who says Black people are inherently ______ (fill in the blank).

While writers (including me) sometimes ratchet up their rhetoric to make a point, I do not believe white people are inherently racist. That is, I do not believe that the amount of melanin in one’s skin predetermines their level of racial prejudice.

What I do believe is that we live in a society based on the myth of white supremacy and anyone considered white receives its racist benefits by default.

You do not have to opt-in to a racist white supremacist system, it is already up and running, and you are automatically enrolled into a racially unjust system.

Although white people receive the benefits of a white supremacist system by default, they do not have continue that way. They can intentionally practice antiracism and push back against racial inequality.

Listen to this 3-minute video I posted on Facebook for more details.

What do you think? Leave a comment below

P.S. Here’s the original tweet that prompted the question.