... But I'm NOT Racist!: Tools for Well-Meaning Whites

by Kathy Obear

Another deeply impactful cost of racism for white people is the corroding impact of believing racist stereotypes and prejudice. It is severely debilitating for whites to carry this level of fear, distrust, and hatred towards people of color. These racist attitudes result in so much negativity in our lives and poison our relationships with others and with ourselves. We are weighed down by the illusion of danger and constantly fear for our safety. We limit our choices of where we live and work, who our friends are, where our children go to school, where we worship, what media and news we listen to, and what activities we do. We live in constant fear that people of color will do to us what we have done to them over the centuries. As a result, we create such segregated lives that we wall ourselves off from over 85% of the world’s population. In my experience, few white people ever realize how severely limited and narrow our lives truly are.