Whitesplaining, Racialism, Anti Racism

There are wrong ways to fight racism

Racism is a scourge, a blight on humanity. All bigotry is harmful because it misrecognizes, stereotypes, and denigrates people. Bigotry based on the perception of race is particularly pernicious, harming lives and whole societies. And yet, racism exists all over the world.

I don't pretend to have the definitive cure for the pandemic of racism. But there are some clearly ineffective ways to combat racism.

Whitesplaining

The most perverse form of oppression and subjection is located in the very act of explaining.

- Yves Citton

“Whitesplaining” is my term for when white people try to explain racism. Not necessarily explaining away racism — they are usually acknowledging its existence and are condemning it — but they are acting as though they understand racism. Yes, it’s like mansplaining.

Here’s an example of what I mean. I won’t mention any names to protect the innocent, but I was participating in a meeting discussing a paper written by a Black philosopher. The Black philosopher’s topic was race relations and the symposium participants were all white university philosophers, mostly…