All white people are racist and, far from absolving them, this places an urgent burden on each and all. Anyone who thinks this statement is wrong, or that it needs further qualification that could weaken our understanding of it, or that it makes “racism” a powerless word: find some place else to debate it. If your first reaction is ever to deny an accusation of racism rather than listen and learn, this is the wrong sub. We’ve had a strong public understanding of how bias affects us all at least as far back as “The Doll Test” made famous in Brown v. Board of Education. Decades of research since have developed our knowledge in this field. Implicit bias tests are a well-known modern example, and the body of research is far stronger than what trickles into pop culture.

It would also be true to say “all people are biased.” True in the same way that “all people are dying” would be a true reply to an LGBT activist in the 80s who dared to say “HIV/AIDS patients are dying.” Truly a distraction from a more urgent issue that deserves separate consideration. We all absorb society’s toxic programming, but the US sheriff running self-described concentration camps and the US president pardoning him for related charges are not people of color who failed the doll test in Brown. In a discussion about white racism, raising the “everyone does it” flag is misleading at best, almost always derailing, and weakens the critical efforts of anti-racism.

Decent white people (the ones we’ll worry about for now) make varying efforts to end racism and never wanted to benefit from their privilege. Some think it is unfair or devalues the word’s meaning to call them “racist.” It’s true that there’s an important difference between that kind of person and a Trump supporter or other Nazis. We won’t end racism, though, if we fail to acknowledge its more “decent” formulations. Otherwise decent people who shy away from this label lose out on its insights and its demands. Just what are decent white people to do then? Acknowledging one’s own racism isn’t about shame or self-flagellation, responses that unduly elevate white people and their experiences. White people will have to get in line and follow the march for racial equality, because the question isn’t answered, the solution isn’t here yet.

Even the most altruistic white advocate for racial justice or any cause stops advocating somewhere. There’s no easy answer for how much of ourselves to give to our causes, but for white people this is a cause that they give to, while for minorities it is a life that they experience. White people go home, eat, sleep, look after their own well being in ways no one could fault them, yet even so that is a (very reasonable) decision to prioritize their needs, in this case, over the needs of people of color. That’s not wrong. It’s also not a choice anyone else can make. Black skin can’t be shrugged off while more mundane needs are attended. White racism is not over until people no longer have to make a daily decision to put racial justice down and prioritize something else, promising to come back to it later.

In light of the above, a summary of our community standards might be:

Do not debate or undermine the existence or urgency of white racism. Debate as appropriate what solutions should look like. But no self-pity about how white racism is a challenge for otherwise decent white folk.