Accept That You’re Racist. Then, Get To Work Dismantling Racism

Very few people would call themselves racist, and getting called out on racist behavior tends to elicit defensiveness. This reflex is so culturally ingrained that its scripts are practically punchlines: “I don’t see color.” “<a href="https://forge.medium.com/performative-allyship-is-deadly-c900645d9f1f" rel="noopener">Some of my very best friends are Black.</a>” Donald Trump — the same president to deride Central American migrants as “<a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/5/16/17362870/trump-immigrants-animals-ms-13-illegal" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">animals</a>” and who <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/02/has-trump-declared-war-on-the-us-to-save-his-own-skin" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">threatened martial law</a> to stamp out nationwide protests against anti-Black police brutality — has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/video/2019/jul/30/trump-claims-least-racist-person-in-the-world" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">declared himself</a> “the least racist person there is.” As the writer Vicky Mochama points out in Canada’s Globe and Mail, with self-avowed racists in <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-white-people-know-racism-exists-now-its-time-for-them-to-finally-do/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">such short supply</a>, one might conclude that racism magically perpetuates itself. <a href="https://forge.medium.com/what-it-means-to-accept-that-youre-racist-fbeef3839e47">Website</a>