All white people are racists...or "white fragility" ??

[TheRocketSurgeon]

Yes, that's why I recommended the new books to you. I grew up with no TV and so learned to be a reader. I like readers. Just be prepared for both Diamond and Loewen to blow your freakin' mind. They know some stuff, and it's Not Good™. What upset me wasn't just what I learned, but that I didn't know it, and I can't figure out why it's not common knowledge and part of the standard curricula.

You have an excellent point about the feeling of ambush, but I also think there's a huge degree of blindness (when people say "I am color blind", I think, "no, you're just blind") going on, as well, which on some level the average Joe Whitey is aware exists, and it terrifies him to think today might be the day he's called out and can no longer think of himself as a Good Person via the colorblindness self-delusion.

The good news is that the reason Average Joe Whitey gets so nervous about it is that he associates "racist" with "really bad person", and he doesn't want to be that. That's the fundamental difference between him and his father/grandfather's generation, and it's actually a massive sign of progress, even if it does hamper efforts to repair the damage that the grandparents' generation (and those before it) did through systematic white supremacy. What I try to emphasize for them is that if they're unwilling to discuss the lingering effects of the legacy of white supremacist policies that drove this nation (and especially the state gov'ts), then they're part of the problem, no matter how they feel about other races personally.

I will start on the first Diamond book tonight. From what you say, I should probably be sitting down, make sure my bladder is empty and there are no sharp objects within my immediate vicinity.

What you’re saying is so on point. I’ve often wondered why Whites deny being racist by claiming they treat other Whites just as bady as they treat Blacks. “Oh, I’m not racist. I do that to everyone.” It’s like it’s better to be an  equal opportunity asshole than a racist.   You pinpoint an answer to the question of why it has become such a horrible thing to be seen as a racist.

I’ve also been told that every generation of White people fears that it will be the generation on which god visits the sins or their fathers. Yet they can’t stop because they’re sitting on the tiger’s back and they know the tiger is not just going to let them get down and walk peacefully away.  

And you are right, color-blindness is not helping repair the damage. But, as a species,  we are making progress.  

You love to read? Well, I am a writer and I love readers, too. I’ve Witten 3 books (2 novels and an autobiography).

Normally, I would inquire into your authored books for the purpose of reading, but I just spent 9 years of my life doing little but reading, so I'm kind of on a book vacation for at least the next several months.