I would say that this is the biggest weakness of my general approach, and it’s very visible here on Spectrum .
That is, the way I generally interact with white people, here, is not designed to change their minds, or make them empathetic.
More, it’s a way to look at white behavior objectively. That is, more, it’s a way to get non-white people to look at white racial behavior, without becoming either defensive or sentimental. Both responses are, in my opinion, consistent dangers under the current race system.
For example, one of the questions that has come up, here, frequently, is are all white people racist?
Now, there are all kinds of ways to respond, and counter-respond, to this question. Black people tend to answer it one of two ways:
a) They say, “Hell, YEAH!!”, because an overwhelming number of their interactions with white people have been hostile, or they say
b) “No, not all of them,” because they have a significant number of friendly, white acquaintances.
My response, however, is, “I don’t know.” To me, this is the most objective answer that one can possibly give.
Now, there are all kinds of follow-up statements one can back up to this one, like a trailer to a pickup truck. However, the one that I’ve most shared, here, is this:
"But the existence of racism shows that the white people who are against racism (white supremacy) do not overrule the ones who are for racism (white supremacy)."
If true, which I hold it to be, the first thing this statement does is kill the notion that racism is something only practiced by “a small number” of ignorant or stupid people, which is what white people usually say.
“Ignorant” or “stupid” people could not keep smart people from doing anything that they wanted to do, especially if there was only “a small number” of ignorant, stupid people.
The 2nd thing my response does, though, and the more explosive thing, is that it equates racism with white supremacy, urging that this is the only functional form of racism.
These conclusions, I believe, form a more objective way of looking at the race problem. However, as I’ve found, they are not likely to win white supporters.
Indeed, my contention, made repeatedly, here on Spectrum, that racism is white supremacy and nothing else, is the proposition that has received, by far, the most blowback. To me, however, it is objectively true.