White People Saying What They Won't Do Isn't Different

“I think of 12 Years A Slave as an offering, an antidote to the whitewashed history and Walt Disney distractions that created my former state of extreme ignorance and denial. It’s one thing to learn history. It’s another thing to feel history. 12 Years A Slave delivers both. This is not ‘black’ history or ‘slavery’ history, this is unvarnished American history, a vivid exposure of the white supremacist roots that continue to entangle all Americans in racially coded social roles today. And yes, that is hard to feel.

What I’m learning is that even the best-intentioned white people, myself included, can obstruct racial healing and justice simply by staying within the white social role, which includes choosing comfort. No one wants to deal with racism. No one alive today created it. Yet all of us inherited it. People of color are choiceless when it comes to feeling racism day in and day out. What motivates me to get in the game and stay in the game is that sharing the burden of racism is every white person’s first best step towards creating racial healing. Being willing to step outside of white comfort zones is a prerequisite."

Cue Shouting Thomas in 3, 2, 1,...