White people: why are we so concerned with not being racist?

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1. it is a great way to remain tone-deaf

and shut down any conversation about racism before it can even begin. the other tried and true method is blurring the distinction between individuals and institutions, between the person and the structural. if the conservation gets hijacked by "everybody is racist," which it always does, the conversation becomes about semantics, not substance. as i am fond of saying: the chief privilege of privilege is denial. the second is obfuscation. and that often devolves into personal experience, e.g., i am not privileged, and i take offense at the suggestion. and, i totally understand that, truly i do. because i AM privileged, in many ways. i was never poor, and i haven't had to struggle the way many white people have, and still do. yet...i can get shot down in the street, like a dog, by police, and too many white americans would cheer and support that action...even if i was unarmed. even if i was armed with skittles, tea, and a sidewalk even if i had a cell phone or a wallet or an ID that police "mistook" for a gun. and there is something especial about ME as a black person, that too large a segment of the american population thinks KILLING, for whatever bullshit reason, is perfectly fine. and there is something especial about me, that the media would go out of its way, in a crazed frenzy, to find something...ANYTHING...to justify my slaughter as reasonable, normal, acceptable, and justified. and there is something about me that is not truly a citizen of america, even though my family has been here longer than many white families. katrina really solidified that for me...we are not really considered citizens.