Dear white people,
We’re not here to crush your self-esteem, paralyze you in disgrace, or make you feel disgust for your race. Let it be known that organizations and movements centered on the empowerment of oppressed races and cultures as well as a search for equality and acceptance in society do not exist to make you feel bad. So, we need to talk about white guilt.
In this article, I will be using the term “white guilt” to refer to a feeling of shame or disgrace experienced by white people due to the forceful dominance of their race throughout history and the modern oppression of other races and cultures. Essentially, feeling bad about your white privilege.
Our forefathers sinned a lot (it’s what people do) but we can’t just hang our heads and keep muttering “sorry” to the people that our great-great-great-grandparents abused and mistreated. That’s not how progress works.
Progress begins with acknowledgment... but don’t just acknowledge the guilt caused by your ancestry. Acknowledge the similar situations of persecution that are occurring in modern times and are a direct result of historical wrongdoings. Acknowledge the racism, acknowledge the violence, acknowledge the hurtful stereotypes.
Because, in all honesty, your white guilt doesn’t do much and it’s not really helping. The goal is not to make white allies feel pitiful and guilty. The goal is to ignite in them a passion, to share with them a bit of the fire that burns in the bellies of the oppressed and cast down so that we may share a common flame and common goal for our society. We are asking you to help, to stand with us without casting shadows over our efforts, to sing our songs of justice without overpowering us, to celebrate our culture without contorting it to fit your wants and whims, to ignite a passion for change but not sit back and let it fizzle out because you feel too guilty to act.
Your elevated societal status is no more your fault than unjust persecution is ours. We're not in it to make you feel guilt but, If you do, what are you going to do with it? Will you sing with us? Fight with us? Treat us as the equals that we are? Or will you sit back and continue a cycle of inaction that will cause your children to feel the same guilt?
