I find so much irony in how consistently the comments to this essay center whiteness through appeals to colorblindness (“Let’s not talk about race as though it matters, okay?”) and playing the victim (“I am very upset about being implicated in a way that challenges my presumed sense of superiority.”) because these comments prove your point that whiteness is more about tokenizing Black activists as heroes for worship on the altar of white supremacy than actually making important changes within white communities to combat racism. I used to consider white conservatives to be more antithetical to racial justice than liberals but have come to realize white liberals are just as and in many cases more problematic than conservatives because at least conservatives aren’t hiding their racism from anyone whereas liberals are typically very far away from realizing that whiteness is responsible for racism.

Thank you for this essay; I will now think so highly of you that you become a superhuman mammy substitute who assuages my white guilt and shame simply by existing. (this last sentence was sarcasm, please don’t cancel me, I promise I’m a good white liberal who has more than just one Black friend and also my partner is brown so there’s no way I’m racist I don’t even see color oh wait nevermind I do see the colors of the rainbow so trust me I am your ally I even have a few James Baldwin quotes in my head to prove it so please clap for me I need your validation and without it I will become very hurt which would therefore prove you hate me and all other white people so the stakes are high here just be sure to agree with me and we’ll all be okay I promise!!!) 🤠