White as a concept of race derives from the institution of white supremacy. An institution of power which designates certain people as “white” and others as “non-white”, and then it designates white as superior and everyone else as inferior. This is why you can’t be racist against “white” people. Because there is no institution of power based on designating people as white and then treating them as inferior; it’s just the opposite.
You can be rude to a person who is considered white. You can exclude them from things. You can even carry prejudices around about them (and if you do, it’s probably because you are dealing with them being the oppressor on a regular basis). None of those are the same thing as the oppressive experience of systemically enforced, institutional racism that “non-white” people experience on a daily basis.
Do you see the difference? One is having a bad day. The other is being gunned down by a cop because your skin was the wrong color and you get no justice for it. One is some people may not like you because of what they’ve learned to expect from dealing with you. The other is being enslaved by you and treated as subhuman. One is occasionally you may not get special treatment because of reform attempts to even the playing field for people who are treated as subhuman. The other is having to work extra hard in everything just to get seen, much less seen as anything resembling an equal.
There is no comparison. Some people who are considered white get confused somewhere in this and go “well my life was hard too!” Which is beside the point. The institution of white supremacy does not ensure that every “white” person has an ideal life. But it does ensure that a lot of non-white people live very short and traumatized lives as an exploited group of people, treated as subhuman. You can be white and still have a shit life. You can be non-white and somehow, despite everything, manage to have a relatively good life. But if you’re non-white, you are a special target for exploitation, specifically, if not a target of being murdered just for having the wrong skin color.
White as a concept of race derives from the institution of white supremacy. An institution of power which designates certain people as “white” and others as “non-white”, and then it designates white as superior and everyone else as inferior. This is why you can’t be racist against “white” people. Because there is no institution of power based on designating people as white and then treating them as inferior; it’s just the opposite.
You can be rude to a person who is considered white. You can exclude them from things. You can even carry prejudices around about them (and if you do, it’s probably because you are dealing with them being the oppressor on a regular basis). None of those are the same thing as the oppressive experience of systemically enforced, institutional racism that “non-white” people experience on a daily basis.
Do you see the difference? One is having a bad day. The other is being gunned down by a cop because your skin was the wrong color and you get no justice for it. One is some people may not like you because of what they’ve learned to expect from dealing with you. The other is being enslaved by you and treated as subhuman. One is occasionally you may not get special treatment because of reform attempts to even the playing field for people who are treated as subhuman. The other is having to work extra hard in everything just to get seen, much less seen as anything resembling an equal.
There is no comparison. Some people who are considered white get confused somewhere in this and go “well my life was hard too!” Which is beside the point. The institution of white supremacy does not ensure that every “white” person has an ideal life. But it does ensure that a lot of non-white people live very short and traumatized lives as an exploited group of people, treated as subhuman. You can be white and still have a shit life. You can be non-white and somehow, despite everything, manage to have a relatively good life. But if you’re non-white, you are a special target for exploitation, specifically, if not a target of being murdered just for having the wrong skin color.
I could go on. It’s night and day difference.