Uncomfortable Conversations With a Black Man

by Emmanuel Acho

When I say that reverse racism is a myth, what I mean is that, though individual black people can be prejudiced against white people, reverse racism by black people at large against white people at large just doesn’t exist. It can’t exist, because that’s not how collective power works in this country. What is reverse racism if it’s not, well, real? It’s a prime example of what scholar Alice McIntyre calls white talk: a.k.a. strategies white people use—consciously or not—to insulate themselves from their collective participation in racism. Another way into this idea is the term white fragility, popularized by sociologist Robin DiAngelo. When white people are put in situations that challenge their identity, “we withdraw, defend, cry, argue, minimize, ignore,” explains DiAngelo. “And in other ways push back to regain our racial position and equilibrium.” Put very simply—y’all get defensive.