The simple answer to this question is no. In reality, given the historical development of modern ‘race’ and racism (Banton, 1997; Smedley, 1998; Hudson, 1996; Stepan, 1996; Siegal, 1996; Sherman, 2016; Mills, 1997) and the efforts, though limited, of white anti-racism (Bell, 1992; Lentin, 2004; Bonnett, 2000; Mills, 2014), it isn’t even logical or rational to imagine that every single ‘white’ person on earth, out of the millions, are racists, and not even ‘one’ is nonracist or a genuine anti-racist. What about non-able minded ‘white’ persons? Does the question include them? Furthermore, since racism is individual, structural, systemic, and institutional (Rollock, 2022; Bonilla-Silva, 2001; Mills, 2009; Grosfoguel, 2011; Feagin, 2020; Bhopal, 2018; Goldberg, 2002; Alexander, 2010; Lammy 2017) – what aspect of racism are we referring to when we ask this question? Do all the forms above apply to all white people and in what ways? What does it mean to practice any of the above representations of racism? What does it mean to benefit from some forms of racism but not to practice others forms? In other words, are you racist if you practice, support, create, ignore, or take part in any of the above forms of racism?

These responses show that this question is loaded and problematic. Furthermore, the question is also limited analytically because the answer can exonerate a large segment of the ‘white’ public and vilify a small amount. This is a problem since racism is a collective phenomenon not an individual one (Bonilla-Silva,202; Mill, 1997; Gillborn, 2006). However, it can also falsely incriminate an entire group or deem individual acts of white antiracism, in support of ‘black’ people, as irrelevant. Ultimately a simple answer to the opening question ‘are all white people racist?’, in many ways, can be a dangerous proposition for ‘black’ and Asian people to ask. It can imply, to most whites, that you are practicing racism by asking the question in the first place.

However, for people classified as black, given the facts of our global egregious history of slavery, sharecropping, colonialism, forced-migration, genocide, Jim-Crow segregation (which is Apartheid), South African Apartheid system, vigilante violence (UK & US), colour-Bar systems (Fredrickson, 2002; Feagin, 2020;Alexander; 2010; Olusoga, 2016) and its legacies that create permanent racial discrimination, colour prejudice, racial violence, and racial inequalities in all white societies (Bhopal, 2018; Small,1994; Bell, 1987,1992), it seems a reasonable question that many black people might tend to ask. To be sure, not all ‘white’ people would necessarily think that the question is racist. This is so, since many are aware that historical and empirical evidence show that certain facts, that stem from black history, are incontrovertible, such as:

1. Racism is now a global systemic interconnected phenomenon (Mills,2003, 1997; Hickel, 2017; Gillborn,2006; Small, 1994; ENAR, 2022).
2. Europeans who have classified themselves as ‘white people’ dominate this entire planet. (Mills, 1997) They dominate ‘blacks’ and other non-whites, culturally, politically, economically, and hegemonically (Mills, 1997; Hickel, 2017; Hobson ,2012)
3. Many ‘white’ people can practice racism against ‘black’ and Asian people (consciously and unconsciously) at any moment, any time, most contexts, any forms, regardless of their religious or socio-economic status (Guess, 2006; Ansley, 1997; Bush, 2004; Di Angelo, 2014).
4. And that this status, is not equivalent, to say that all ‘black’ people can also practice racism against ‘whites’ at any moment, any time, any context, any forms etc. This would minimise the premise, as if the question is a strawman proposition. Black people’s racial status creates an entirely different set of outcomes and dynamics that must be properly understood and explained (Fanon, 1967; Udah, 2017; Jacques, 2003).

Given the many questions that I have posed; it is now important that I explore and develop my answer by using the ‘four points’ above, as a back-drop, to further analyse the question in relation to historical facts about ‘white’ domination in society and the globe. Also, whites’ xenophobic and racist history against people whom they have classified as black (Fredrickson, 2002; Fryer, 1989; Olusoga, 2016; Goldberg, 2012; Mills, 1997). Furthermore, how white people’s denial of their white privilege and superiority status, and subsequent defensiveness about it. Finally, the concomitant meaning of black’s subsequent racial status in relation to white racial status (Udah, 2017). Put differently, to simply say that ‘not all white people are racists’ does not tell us whether most or many ‘white’ people are racist against ‘black’ and Asian people in some fashion. And why they would or would not be so. Accordingly, it doesn’t tell us why this question is posed in the first place.

Before I continue, it might be useful to preface the rest of this article using three definitions of racism. These definitions clearly define what racism is, and what it is not. I will use them as a springboard to highlight racist practise. I will also use them to try and discuss the other complexities related to the question. They will also, if you study them carefully, answer some of the questions that I raised at the outset.

The ‘white’ anti-racist Dr Tema Okun (2010) defines racism as:

‘Race prejudice plus social and institutional power, a system of advantage based on race, a system of oppression based on race, a white supremacy system’.

A system of advantage suggests that racism is systemic and institutionalised and functions automatically regardless of what ‘whites’ may, or may not do (Bonilla-Silva, 2021, 2006). This means that ‘whites’ do not need to practice individual racism, subtle or everyday racism (Rollock, 2022; Showunmi & Tomlin, 2022) for racism to be active and playing a full part in ‘white’ societies. Looking at racism as a system of advantage is antithetical to traditional notions of British meritocracy. For whites who believe this myth, will find this definition irritating. Why? Because it is easier to think of racism as just prejudice; which it is not (Wellman, 1977). In this way, power and privilege do not have to be addressed. Finally, this definition is based on the pseudo modern concept of race that argues that some races are superior to others. This leads to the questions: who put these systems in place? If whites did, what are non-racist whites doing about it?

Next, ‘white’ Professor Frances Lee Ansley, defines racism as white domination or supremacy as:

‘[A] political, economic and cultural system in which whites overwhelmingly control power and material resources, conscious and unconscious ideas of white superiority and entitlement are widespread, and relations of white dominance and non-white subordination are daily re-enacted across a broad array of institutions and social settings…While not denying that a system of black supremacy is conceivable in the abstract, the term “white supremacy” reminds us that the institutional racism of our place and epoch (our planet?) has been a racism of white over black. To my mind, any jurisprudence or politics of racial justice that fails to recognize and incorporate this overwhelming reality has missed the boat’.

(Ansley, 1997)

Ansley argues that some ‘whites’ may be enacting racism and white superiority, and entitlement, consciously and unconsciously. Yet, this does not lead her to argue, that it is therefore not racism, ‘white’ domination or white supremacy. The second half rightly refutes ideas of ‘black supremacy’ as ahistorical in a world overview of ‘blacks’ over ‘whites’. She then suggests that racial justice need to be constructed from the perspective of historical realities. Which it seems that most ‘whites’ do not want to do, because of their whiteness (Lipsitz, 2002; Kendall; 2002; Yancy, 2012; Garner, 2007). While acknowledging that ‘blacks’ and other non-whites do have some power; Ansley immediately identifies racism as a system linked ‘overwhelmingly’ to the power and resources of ‘white’ people in the world. In this sense, the term ‘white supremacy’ is reduced not only to its often-singular meaning. What is this?

In the media, school and colleges, the term ‘white supremacy’ has been carefully directed away from the term racism. White supremacy is explained by ‘whites in general’ as: a particular type of racism, by a particular type of white people, at particular times in history, in particular countries. ‘Black’ people are told that it is normally reserved for the extreme far-right, National Front, EDL, BNP, Nazi groups, and skinheads. In the US, Far-right, slavery, Jim Crow segregation, and the Ku Klux Klan. Also, Apartheid South Africa and Nazi Germany.

What binds these various groups and individuals is their focus on the notion of the ‘white race’ as superior. They claim that they are being threatened by ‘the rising tide of ‘coloured people’ (Stoddard, 1921). ‘Blacks’ and other non-whites’ existence, supposedly represents an ongoing and future genocide for the ‘white superior race’. The narrative for these beliefs are taken from a range of ideas: socio-cultural claims (e.g. that ‘blacks’ and other non-whites are not civilised and only ‘whites’ are), religious texts (e.g. strange interpretations of common religious traditions, Christianity, Norse Paganism) and pseudo-scientific theories (e.g. eugenics, pseudo-race theories and classification, race purity, and beliefs in biologically inferior races). These self-professed racist ‘white’ groups are rightly viewed by whites in general as ‘extreme’ and ‘overt’ in the way they express racism. These white groups are an minority in white societies and do not represent most ‘whites in general; today.

Finally, Anthony Giddens, a ‘white’ sociologist, defines a racist as:

‘Someone who believes that a biological explanation can be given for characteristics of superiority or inferiority supposedly possessed by people of a given physical stock’.

(Sociology, 2009)

As mentioned in a previous article, this definition is useful because it exposes pseudo-scientific biological ‘race’ construct. To be clear: if a ‘white’, ‘black’ or Asian person thinks that their ‘race’ is ‘biologically superior’ to other ‘races’ they are practicing racism.

Put differently, this definition shows that any person who links ‘biological explanations’ to notions of ‘racial superiority’ is a racist. This is correct according to concept and meaning of modern European ‘race’. This is why, Immanuel Kant [1724-1804], Charles Darwin [1809-1882], Herbert Spencer [1820-1903], Francis Galton [1822- 1911] and Charles Murry [1943-present], are all racists. This is because they all believe in the biological superiority of the Europeans race(s) over ‘blacks’ and Asians ones (Mills, 1997, 2005; RH: Vol I, 2023).

Professor of philosophy Tommy J. Curry (2009) shows that people like Thomas Huxley [1825-1895] and Freddrick Hoffman [1865-1946] did not advocate or suppose the equality of the races. They believed only in the potential evolution of the backward races from their current degeneracy toward a type of civilisation. He explains that they were not willing to abandon their beliefs in ‘white superiority’ of the historical legacy around British and American colonialism.

Today most people classified as black, know that they are living in a ‘racist society’. This is regardless of the incremental gains of the civil rights movements (Bell, 1987, 1992, 1992b). They consider UK, US, and France, as ‘white’ racist societies. Professor Alana Lentin (2020) points out that the dominant approach to modern ‘race’ after the Jewish holocaust, particularly those states that saw themselves as anti-fascist, has been to treat ‘race’ as a taboo subject. She explains that brushing race under the carpet and failing to carefully study the way ‘race’ has been such ‘a key ordering principle of the modern era’ is largely to blame for the fact that racism is still so prevalent.

To use an analogy, all ‘white’ people are swimming in a sea of systemic and structural white racist culture. Yet, most like to think of themselves as ‘fish that do not get wet’. Of course, ‘black’ and Asian people are also swimming in it. Yet, by contrast, most people, classified as black, in Westernised cultures accept that they ‘get wet’ by internalising racism. This internalisation can show itself as ‘powerless’ colourism, black self-hate, ethnic conflict and powerless racial prejudice. Yet, most ‘whites’ in the UK and US are apparently some kind of superfish. They can be socialised into a racist culture but apparently not be racist at all. This attitude speaks strongly to their socialisation into whiteness (Lipsitz; 2002; Garner, 2012; Yancy, 2012; Wise, 2011). As Law professor Derrick Bell (1992b) stated: ‘slavery is gone… but most whites continue to expect society to recognize an unspoken but no less vested property right in their whiteness’.

For emphases then, the socio-political truth is that all people: ‘white’, ‘black’, and Asians are socialised or indoctrinated or educated into racist ideas, viewpoints, and perspectives. How we respond to them, and imbibe them, is based on our history and secondly on how we were socialised in our most informative years (Fanon, 1967; RH: Vol, I,2023). However, if we become race conscious, we can stave off racist indoctrination (Tatum, 1999; Kendall, 2002; Katz, 1982).

Black psychologist and professor, Beverly Daniel Tatum (1999) explains racial identity development this way:

I sometimes visualize the cycle of racism as a moving walkway at the airport. Active racist behaviour is equivalent to those walking fast on the conveyor belt. The person engaged in active racist behaviour has identified with the ideology of white supremacy and is moving with it. Passive racist behaviour is equivalent to standing still on the walkway. No overt effort is being made, but the conveyor belt moves the bystanders along to the same destination as those who are actively walking. Some of the bystanders may feel the motion of the conveyor belt, see the active racists ahead of them, and choose to turn around, unwilling to go to the same destination as the white supremacists. But unless they are walking actively in the opposite direction at a speed faster than the conveyor belt – unless they are actively antiracist— they will find themselves carried along with the others. So, not all whites are actively racists. Many are passively racist.’

According to black sociologist, Professor Bonilla-Silva (2001, 2006), we all participate in systems of racism in one way or another. Either consciously or unconsciously, passive, or active. However, he explains that the participation is not symmetrical. Black people spend most of their participation in a lifelong struggle and resistance against racist whites and others. They also fight racist internalised feeling of a lack of self-worth and self-hate. White people’s participation tends to be normative, habituated and almost automatic. Quoting Du Bois, he explains that ‘the conscious and unconscious’ merge (Bonilla-Silva, 2001, 2006). Why is this?

‘Whites’ grow up without their racial dominance being questioned. It is taken for granted and permeates every aspect of their lives (Feagin, 2020; Tatum, 1999; Jensen, 2005; Wise, 2011). But this does not mean they do not realise that they are ‘white’ people. Also, that their whiteness is invisible to them; or ‘unmarked’. Furthermore, that their ‘whiteness’ does not function as a racial identity. Although, it is commonly said that whiteness is ‘unmarked’ (Garner, 2007). By contrast, the handbook (RH: Vol, I,2023) argues that whiteness is evasive. The idea that ‘whites’ are unaware to see their whiteness is a major misunderstanding. It is essentially part of the denial of racism (RH: Vol, I,2023).

All ‘whites’ benefit greatly from racism or systems of racism (Feagin, 2020; Kendall, 2002; Bhopal, 2018; Tate,2019; Mills, 1997). But they do not all benefit equally. To benefit, means that their racialisation (position in racial hierarchy) is functioning as it should (Udah, 2017). This ‘knowing’, that they are in a higher racial status to ‘black’ and Asians, is achieved by ‘whites’ as early as five years of age (Ausdale & Feagin, 2011). Moreover, it constitutes a significant understanding about the fundamental nature and workings of racism and white domination. A simple analogy would be parents who teach their newly born baby the foundational structures of their language. The child, by the age of five understands language without any formal training. Also, ‘black’ and ‘white’ children, between the ages of 5-6, can express a basic understanding of racial awareness, racial preference, and skin tone, related to racial hierarchy – which is racism (Clark, K. B, 1955; Clark, K. B., & Clark, M. P, 1939; Goodman, 1952; Porter, 1971). ‘White children start to construct ideas about ‘race’ very early (Ausdale & Feagin, 2011). They construct a sense of white superiority over non-whites, racial subordination, and knowledge of racial power codes, which appear to develop as early as pre-school (Clark, 1955).

Through the reproduction of racism, ‘whites’ as they enter formal school education are taught knowledge about British, European, and American empires. They are taught about slavery, colonialism and settlerism; which increases their understanding of whiteness. Many ‘whites’ enter undergraduate programs at universities and study: race, racism, whiteness, sociology, history, empires, and cultures. Furthermore, wherever they work, they are trained and informed about racial diversity and equal opportunity policies.

All of this, along with the saturation in the media of books, magazines, films, TV series, social media, and video games, present constant subordinated and negative images of people classified as black and Asians. These therefore provide more than enough knowledge for ‘whites’, in aggregate, to understand fundamentally how anti-black and anti-Asian racism functions and their relationship to it.

As soon as ‘whites’ enter from their teens into full adulthood, it becomes very clear to them that white culture and white society, white norms, and folkways, are dominant over ‘black’ and Asians cultures and people. At this point, they know that individual racism is entirely taboo. Whatever you do, don’t talk about racism around ‘black’ and Asian people – unless of course you must.

As for their race, which is socially dominant, this also becomes taboo but in various ways. Black and Asian people, for example, will never hear ‘whites in general’ exclaim, ‘say it loud I’m white and I’m proud’. It’s a perfectly normal phrase. But, for whites, it can only be said among themselves, for fear of reprisals of old white supremacist rhetoric. Which most ‘whites’ today have nothing to do with. Conversely, it may indicate questions of white privilege. Oh no – not that again! I’m sorry. I just don’t believe it. Yes – but why are you proud? How come you’ve been in this company, for only a few months, and you’ve been promoted?

‘Blacks’ and Asians must remember that ‘whites’ have lived a considerable amount of their lives seeing ‘white people’ as dominant in society, which creates a ‘taken for granted’ attitude, a complacency – but this must not be taken for ignorance or invisibility about their whiteness (Ausdale & Feagin, 2011). Thus, some ‘whites use anti-racism as a ‘badge of protection’ from being viewed as a racist person (Lentin, 2004; Bonnett, 2001). These persons, openly say they are not racist by speaking of tolerance and respect for freedoms; then within the same breath, make politically racist comments. ‘I’m not racist but…’( Blum, 2002)

Bonnett’s (2001) quote (epigraph), at the top of this article, infers how complex the situation has now become. He argues in his book that the ‘anti-racist and the racist are very often the same person’. He continued:

‘the individual who struggles against racial intolerance and discrimination may also be someone who believes in racial order and/or social hierarchy and the superiority of the West’.

The social hierarchy in Britain, though stratified by class relations, is still very much determined by ‘race’, for ‘black’ and Asian people (Mills, 2003; Lentin, 2020; Gillborn, 2008;). As Cultural theorist, Stuart Hall (1978) explained, ‘race is the modality in which class is lived’. The racial hierarchy effects the very life chances of ‘black’ and Asian people. Black people are at the bottom of it. Asian are in the middle. The racial hierarchy is the socio-political expression of the racial order which creates racial inequality, racial discrimination, and social death for those at the lower rungs of the ladder (Jacques, 2003). Thus, whites who believe in the ‘racial order’ are without doubt racist persons. 00

‘There is a fact: white men consider themselves superior to black men’. ~ Frantz Fanon

No one is born racist. And no one is born antiracist. ‘White people are not born with racist biases. This point may be difficult for some ‘black’ and Asian people to accept, because they may have experienced a life of racial discrimination and racial violence. But the truth is, racial biases, result from the choices ‘white’ people make, after they’ve been socialised into a racist society by family and institutions. Thus, the ‘I’m not racist’ position, is totally ineffective. Rather we should all strive to be antiracist activists, in some fashion, in a society (UK, US, France) which is empirically proven to be racist. The racism we have internalised (consciously and unconsciously) have been ‘primed’ through our experiences. These are images, messages, and education we receive about who is supposedly ‘normal’, ‘desirable’ and inferior. Furthermore, who ‘belongs’ and does not belong. Note carefully that these messages are neither neutral nor random.

Although many ‘white’ people may be against racism in society, unfortunately, most deny that white privilege exists. Yet, white privilege does not mean that ‘white’ people have never struggled or experienced racism (Jacobson,1999; Robinson, 1985). However, by objecting to white privilege, as an empirical fact (Cabrera, 2018; Bhopal, 2018; Tate & Page, 2019; Garner, 2007; Lipsitz, 2002; Guess, 2006; Katz,1982; Wildman, 1996; Wise, 2011; Bush, 2004; Kendall, 2002; Harris, 1993), white people contradict their objection to racism, since white privilege is essentially an aspect of racism in action, or part of the systems of disadvantage itself (Guess, 2006; Ansley, 2014; Grosfoguel, 2011;Mills, 1997; Goldberg; 2012). They are essentially denying systemic racism (Bhopal,2018, Gillborn, 2009; Andrews, 2020; Bonilla-Silva, 2021; Alexander, 2010). Furthermore, whites also contradict their objection to racism by denying, and being offended by the fact that racism is now permanent in all white societies (Bell, 1992, Andrews, 2022). A critical first step is embracing the difficult conversations and uncomfortable truths that ‘whites’, ‘blacks’ and Asians are too accustomed to avoiding.

Being antiracist is different for ‘white’ people than it is for people classified as ‘black’ or Asian. For ‘white’ people, being antiracist develops with their racial identity development (Applebaum, 2011; Katz, 1982). The difficulty is, that ‘whites must acknowledge and understand their privilege (Kendall, 2002; Tate,2019. Jensen, 2005; Lipsitz,2002; McIintosh,1990). They must also work to change their internalised racism and call-out (even in their family) racist practise when they see it. And they will see it a lot in society.

The ‘black’ psychologist Frantz Fanon (1967), stated in the above epigraph, that ‘white’ people in colonial societies, rooted in empire, generally think, they and their culture, are somehow superior to ‘black’ and Asian people. This is because of the legacies of slavery and colonialism. Also, white identity is not comparable to black identity because ‘whites’ have not had histories of oppression ‘comparable’ to ‘blacks’. Black people’s racial status is one of subordination in relation to white racial status which is elevated (Udah, 2017; Jacques, 2003). Professor George Yancy (2012) explains that ‘white’ people (or whiteness) is ’the transcendental norm’ in white societies. This means that they are seen as the norm. Yet, this does not mean that they are unaware of how racism works.

The uncomfortable truth is to face a complex question. If all ‘white’ people are socialised into a racist society, as the dominant group, are they not racist in some fashion? Would not the basic function of socialisation suggest so? (Giddens, 2009). Antiracists politics and discourse in the United States is very different to the UK (Bonnett, 2002; Lentin, 2004; Azfari & Nagdee,2020, 2022). In the US context, among many ‘white’ Americans, antiracist writers, activists, academics, and psychologists, would say, yes (Jenson, 2005; Wildman, 1996; DiAngelo, 2011; Tatum, 1999; Wise, 2011). This point must be carefully analysed and studied, in the British context of racism and empire, in an unemotional and objective fashion, by ‘white’, ‘black’ and Asian people here in the UK. In Britain, calling all ‘white’ people racist, feels, to many ‘white’ people, like you’ve dehumanised them – a sensibility that ‘black’ and Asian people are very familiar with. It doesn’t feel good. Yet, the persistence of individual, structural, and systemic racism dehumanises ‘black’ and Asian people every single day (Bourne, 2001; Tate, 2019; Picca & Feagin, 2007). The place in society, where we would expect to see no racism against ‘black’ and Asian people, is in the British educational system, yet it is full of racial inequalities. (See; Gillborn, 2008, 1995)

I think Martin Luther King and Malcolm X highlighted the complexities of the situation quite well. Today, racism is still very much with us, and rising, as it was in their day. (Andrews, 2020). Malcolm X stated reflectively and profoundly:

‘I have made sweeping indictments of all white people. I will never be guilty of that again’. ’ In the same year of 1965, he stated, ‘we are not against people because they’re white. But are against those who practice racism (Bassey, 2003; Malcolm X, 1965).

Malcolm X is inferring that we should be fair in our humanity as ‘black’ and African people within the historical and political context of any ‘race’ and racism. Here, he does so with audacious sincerity. It is not a vague humanist approach. It still allows us to call people to account. Yet Malcolm acknowledges, that it only takes ‘one’ genuine white antiracist person to save the lives of many ‘black and African men, women, and children – which is not irrelevant. Has this ever happened in Black and Asian History?

Two years later, Dr King noted that ‘black people had made incremental steps, and ‘progress in everything, yet nothing had changed’ (Bell, 1987). Black people’s struggle had ‘changed the law of the land’, yet their lives were still plagued by racism and deep social inequalities – ‘deprived and stunted’ (Bell, 1987). He said candidly:

‘Whites, it must frankly be said, are not putting in a similar mass effort to reeducate themselves out of their racial ignorance. It is an aspect of their sense of superiority that the white people … believe they have so little to learn’ (King, 1967).

The truth is that ‘white’ people, as the dominate culture, must ask the question why ‘black’ and Asian people disproportionality are still being plagued by racial inequality and racism, at every level of society, in UK. And the answer cannot be, that there are a ‘few bad apples’ among all ‘races’. You cannot create systemic racism from a few bad apples. There wouldn’t be enough ‘bad apples’ or a few bad people to do so. The question is, do most ‘whites’ have a sense of superiority which is blocking their ability to see things as they really are? Unfortunately, within this system there is a preponderance of ‘white’ people who seem happy to not upset the apple cart. They choose not to speak out about the persistence of racism against ‘black’ and Asian people. To those, the words of Dr King (1967) might be useful here. He said:

‘We must learn that passively to accept an unjust system is to cooperate with that system, and thereby to become a participant in its evil’.

To look deeply into these problems, would without doubt, create racial tension among ‘whites’ ‘blacks’ and Asians, which nobody wants. Thus, while not indicting all ‘white’ people, a few important things must be said. First, that many ‘white’ people have a shield from racial stress (Cabrera, 2018; Tate,2019; DiAngelo, 2011; Katz, 1982). For many whites, engaging in conversation about ‘race’ and racism can often trigger a range of defence actions, such as feelings of anger, fear and silence, denial and even violence. White Fragility (2011) refers to feelings of discomfort that many ‘white’ people get when they witness discussions around racism, racial equality, and racial injustice. However, I would argue that many ‘white’ people are comfortable discussing ‘race’, racism and racial injustice, only if they oversee the discussion, with ‘black’ and Asian people listening attentively in the background.

Many ‘white’ people can very often become defensive, if ‘black’ and Asians disagree with their understanding of ‘race’, racism, racial inequity, racial injustice, and whiteness. In this context, often many ‘blacks’ and Asians may feel obligated to comfort them because we live in a white dominated society. Di Angleo (2011), the creator of the concept White Fragility says that ‘white fragility’ is not racism, but it contributes to racism. ‘Whites’, ‘blacks’ and Asians people, in UK, often maintain their own subcultures – including very different informal conversations in society with surprisingly little overlap. Also, when ‘white’ and ‘black’ people speak about ‘race’ and racism, we are often not talking about the same things (Bonilla-Silva, 2021; Tate, 2019). This is because, from a ‘black’ perspective, there are many contradictions that many ‘white’ people seen to carry.

For example, today many white people in the US and UK, supported Donald Trump who is clearly a ‘white’ supremacist (Maskovsky, 2017; Lynch, 2017). Trump is deeply invested in ‘race talk’. His race talk signals a special message to ‘whites in general’. The message is that all ‘black’ are government dependants for whom they can hold racist disdain. By contrast, many other ‘whites’ do not seem to care about any of this. Trump is not a racist, he just talks tough and is non-PC when talking about ‘race’. They seem to ignore the racist rhetoric or refuse to see any of this as a racist position (Horowitz, Brown and Cox, 2019).

Finally, I would argue that all able-minded ‘white’ people understand the central aspects of racism. The central aspect of racism includes an understanding of racial subordination. All able minded ‘whites’ know that ‘black’ and Asian people are racially subordinated persons in all ‘white’ societies. White people, as the dominant culture must seek not to divert from the full and complete meaning of this empirical fact.

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