What Can White People Do

Then King asks this same audience to identify the ways in which Black racism against white people adversely impacts the lives of white people as a group. He gets silence.

Author:
Sharon Kyle
Updated:
Oct 3, 2022
Original:
Jul 9, 2020

Then King asks this same audience to identify the ways in which Black racism against white people adversely impacts the lives of white people as a group. He gets silence.

What can white people do to solve seemingly intractable issues of racial injustice? This question has been posed to me, a Black woman, more times than I can count.

Over the years, I've come to see that unresolved racial issues are framed as if they belong to the realm of people of color, especially Black people. This explains why white people ask people of color to provide them with solutions.

I've also come to see that until white people begin to see the role they play in creating and maintaining unresolved racial issues, it is unlikely the United States will heal. Racism is a national problem that affects the entire nation. It therefore warrants the attention of the entire nation -- not just people of color.

Author and anti-racist lecturer Robin DiAngelo travels the country speaking and teaching on this issue. In this nine minute interview, DiAngelo sheds light on racism and white fragility.

The list of resources included at the bottom of this post was emailed to the publisher of the LA Progressive by Kevin Brown, Director of Development and Alumni Relations for Los Angeles City College Foundation during the civil unrest that erupted after the May 25, 2020 police lynching of George Floyd in Minneapolis, MN.