Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor

by Layla F. Saad

People with white privilege often do not want to look directly at their privilege because of what it brings up for them—discomfort, shame, and frustration. But not looking at something does not mean it does not exist. And in fact, it is an expression of white privilege itself to choose not to look at it.

Your desire to be seen as good can actually prevent you from doing good, because if you do not see yourself as part of the problem, you cannot be part of the solution.

“We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.” —DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.

If you do not examine your own reactions to being called out/in, then you will stay in a state of fragility, and you will continue to weaponize this fragility against BIPOC by centering yourself as the victim and refusing to apologize or change your behavior. This keeps white supremacy firmly in place.

Maya Angelou famously said, “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”43 When it comes to racial conversations, that means beginning with the willingness to lay down white fragility and unconscious bias, listen to the feedback being offered (even though it causes discomfort), reflect on your actions and unconscious beliefs, educate yourself, apologize, make amends through changed behavior, and do better in the future.