Sublime

contrary to the ideology of individualism, we represent our groups and those who have come before us. Our identities are not unique or inherent but constructed or produced through social processes. What’s more, we don’t see through clear or objective eyes—we see through racial lenses.

a positive white identity is an impossible goal. White identity is inherently racist; white people do not exist outside the system of white supremacy.

All these moves push race off the table, help white men retain control of the discussion, end the challenge to their positions, and reassert their dominance.

“From one white person to another its [sic] on US to end White Supremacy #whitework.” Her name was Heather Marie Scholl, and McInnes’s interview with her went so viral that it has more views than all of his other episodes combined (despite other guests including such heavy hitters as Tucker Carlson and Ann Coulter).

To continue reproducing racial inequality, the system only needs white people to be really nice and carry on, smile at people of color, be friendly across race, and go to lunch together on occasion.

I did not set this system up, but it does unfairly benefit me, I do use it to my advantage, and I am responsible for interrupting it. I need to work hard to change my role in this system, but I can’t do it alone.

For example, if my answer is that I was not educated about racism, I know that I will have to get educated.

When I talk to white people about racism, their responses are so predictable I sometimes feel as though we are all reciting lines from a shared script. And on some level, we are, because we are actors in a shared culture. A significant aspect of the white script derives from our seeing ourselves as both objective and unique.

But the technocrats draw a sharp distinction between themselves (predominantly white) who are at least engaged in a struggle to transcend oppression in thought and speech and those whites who continue to practice it.