Why do I claim that all white people are racist?
Because the very act of arguing against the claim is in and of itself counterproductive to the anti-racism project.
Here’s why. My understanding is that all people of color constantly experience systemic racism. To exclaim “wait, not all white people are racist!” is to reorient the conversation so that it focuses and centers on the white experience. This is an act that explicitly depends on the unearned privilege of whiteness in order to deny or erase the lived experience of people of color, and as such exhibits (inadvertently, if you insist) the very systemic racism one claims not to harbor.
Hence my preference would be that rather than expending energy on arguing for the existence of white people who aren’t racist (which, importantly, serves no one’s needs but the need white people have to feel comfortable), we should seize the opportunity to be supportive of people of color by actively engaging in anti-racism.
