Whites are Racist

I have been thinking a lot about the Tatum article and how only white people can be racist. I had never previously thought about racism as being separate from prejudice, but separating the two has made me understand my own feelings on these issues better. I hate that there is racism in the world but defining it as only something whites can have towards another group actually made me feel better. With this definition (or at least my understanding of it) racism does not have to mean I am anti other races, it means that I was born with certain privileges that black people do not have. The article talks about how calling a white person racist is the ultimate insult and I believe that is true. I know that I have never hated any race of people but I was feeling guilty that I had an easier time than black people did with almost everything since I had unearned privileges just based on my race. This article helped me understand the guilt I have been feeling for being white and being advantaged, and it helped alleviate some of the guilt. By being able to say these privileges or racism come from the white dominated society I live in, I don’t have to feel guilty and instead I can work on attempting to change who is privileged and who isn’t.