Sure, Black Folks Can Be Racist, But There’s a Catch

A nuanced, honest answer to a common, aggravating question — which will satisfy absolutely no one

Image: Asier Romero, Shutterstock, standard license, purchased by author

Of all the questions I get from audience members at speeches or in response to my online writing, the most common by far sounds something like this:

Why do you only talk about white racism against Black people and other people of color, while ignoring Black racism against whites? Do you think only whites can be racist?

While we who are anti-racist educators and activists typically offer a standard answer in response to this question — that Black and brown folks cannot be racist because racism is systemic and requires power to operationalize — my reply has long been a bit different.

Although I agree with the underlying premise of the standard answer, that answer itself, as typically articulated, is pretty messy so far as logic goes.

Furthermore, it’s an answer that isn’t necessary to make the point that those offering it hope to make — namely, that bias backed by power is the issue to which we must principally attend.

One can make that point, and should, without twisting oneself in knots arguing that racism only means prejudice+power, and thus, Black people cannot be…