6 Ways Well-Intentioned People Whitesplain Racism (And Why They Need to Stop)
And unfortunately, just as frequently, I’ve had white people try to explain racism to me, a woman of color. There’s a word for this phenomenon, too –whitesplaining. It’s incredibly frustrating to share my experiences with racism, only to have a white person try to speak over me about it – and often by belittling how racism hurts me.
If you’re white, you may have whitesplained without realizing it.
Usually, signs of whitesplaining include a condescending tone and a paternalistic assumption that a person of color doesn’t know enough to accurately articulate their own experience.
The term doesn’t apply to every instance when a white person talks about racism.
But whitesplaining is a result of the power white people hold as part of the dominant culture in the US. So recognizing when it’s happening is one of the everyday ways you can help dismantle the oppressive system of white supremacy.
Like with other forms of privileged explaining, including mansplaining, people who whitesplain have been conditioned to believe that they’re somehow more qualified to speak about a marginalized group than a person who belongs to that group.
That’s why there’s no equivalent like “blacksplaining.” When a Black person talks about race with a white person, they don’t have the same institutional power as a white person who belongs to the dominant culture.
And that’s the problem with whitesplaining. It’s not just harmlessly discussing racism, but implicitly acting on racist ideas that say that people of color are ignorant and wrong, even about their own experiences.
If you don’t believe whitesplaining is wrong, then you’re missing how the motivation behind whitesplaining is influenced by white supremacy. So let’s unpack the most common reasons why whitesplaining happens, to examine why it’s so misguided.
1. You Think I’ve Got a Fact Wrong (‘Actually…’)
For many people, it’s tempting to speak up when you encounter a fact you believe is wrong. Correcting someone seems pretty straight forward – so does it really relate to racism?
In certain cases, it does. And if you’re a white person talking with a person of color about racism, it’s best to keep this possibility in mind.
Because of white supremacy, many white people – especially white men, who are also influenced by patriarchy – have been conditioned to speak over other people and dominate spaces.
And then you might do one of the most irritating forms of whitesplaining – assuming a person of color just doesn’t understand what’s going on.
I’ve experienced this too many times when white folks believe they know more about what I’ve been through than I do – through secondhand information or just their own wild guesses.
3. You’re Concerned About My Approach (‘I Think What You Mean Is…’)
Whitesplainers are supposedly full of concern when they say I’d be better off, or a better advocate for racial justice, if I just said or did things differently.
For instance, have you ever felt the need to point out that a person of color was “generalizing” white people when they talked about racism?
Except there’s actually a problem with rushing to say that “not all white people” are part of the problem of white supremacy.
If I focused on reassuring every white person that they’re not personally responsible, then nobody would get the chance to examine how they might contribute – whether it’s by interrupting people of color, paying more attention to white folks who speak, or internalizing and benefiting from society’s messages that white people have more important things to say.
4. You Think You or Someone Else Is Being Falsely Accused (‘But I’m Not a Racist!’)
Speaking of derailments – when I’m talking about a racist act, I don’t have much interest in whether or not the person responsible is “a racist.”
If that sounds counterintuitive, then you could really use this clarification about addressing white supremacy: It’s not about identifying people as racists.
It’s also not about “bashing” white people – but you may interpret it that way if you’re feeling uncomfortable. And then you might whitesplain that people of color are “attacking” you for no reason.
When it comes to things like holding implicit biases and benefiting from white privilege, the question of whether or not someone is intentionally bigoted is completely irrelevant.
If you’re called out for racism and you take it as a personal attack on your character, you’re making the situation all about you – not the bigger picture of how all of us can take responsibility for our own role in white supremacy.
Your belief that someone “doesn’t have a racist bone in their body” can lead you to overlook the impact of what they’ve done and focus instead on their intentions.
Unfortunately, good people contribute to white supremacy every day – and if you can’t face the ways white supremacy influences your life, you’ll never be able to change it. That means you’ve got to stop focusing on your good nature and intentions, which has you prioritizing your feelings over people of color’s pain.
So rather than whitesplaining the why of insensitive actions, try stepping back and listening to what only a person of color could tell you – how the actual impact of racist actions affect them.
5. You Heard Another Person of Color Say Something Different (‘That’s Not What I Heard…’)
Listening to people of color is a great way to learn about racism.
But please don’t just carry our quotes around like weapons to use against other marginalized folks.
Too many white people use this tactic to tell us that we’re wrong about racism – citing the Native friend who doesn’t mind cultural appropriation, or the Black celebrity who disagrees with Black Lives Matter protesters.
For instance, during Baltimore protests of the death of Freddie Gray, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer told activist DeRay McKesson, “I just want to hear you say there should be peaceful protests, not violent protests, in the tradition of Martin Luther King.”
Blitzer’s not the only one to take King’s words out of context to criticize police brutality protesters. This common trend shows exactly what’s wrong with using people of color’s words this way.
For one thing, Black people are not a monolith. We’re allowed to disagree. And your whiteness doesn’t grant you the authority to determine which one of us is right.
Because he advocated non-violent action, many people point to church-going, suit-wearing Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as a symbol of how Black folks “should” behave –
conveniently forgetting that King was assassinated for his beliefs and leadership.
He actually says: “As long as America postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again. Social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention.”
And if you actually listen to people of color instead of exploiting our words to confirm your own biases, you can learn a lot more about our diverse experiences.
6. You Want Me to Stop Talking About Racism (‘You’re Being So Divisive’)
Let’s face it – there are several excuses for whitesplaining, from hurt feelings to so-called “concern,”
but many people who whitesplain do it simply because they don’t want me to talk about race.
“You’re being divisive.” “We should be uniting.” “There’s no such thing as race – we’re all human!”
Whitesplaining is particularly dangerous when it’s used to shut down conversation and action against racism.
Here’s the Key to Avoiding Whitesplaining
There’s one strategy that will help you figure it all out: Approach racial justice conversations with humility.
Because regardless of your intentions, whitesplaining has a damaging impact – silencing people of color, shutting down vital racial justice conversations, and often spreading misinformation.
So rather than upholding an oppressive lie that says people of color need white saviors in order to have reasonable conversations, have some humility. Recognize that you don’t have all the answers, and people of color deserve space to be heard without white people talking over us.
6 Ways Well-Intentioned People Whitesplain Racism (And Why They Need to Stop)
