Assholes in the news

[Rev. Rye]

That's why it's so sad that we can seem so far apart on the issues when we're really not. I just don't want to see "white" used as a slur, because it wouldn't be acceptable to do that with any other group of people. And it's not even regular people having resentment towards whites that I care that much about. I understand why blacks might look at whites negatively and have hard feelings. That's one thing. But for the media and the mainstream and companies like Coca-Cola to start embracing this bigoted language towards a certain group of people, whether it's meant that way or not, is really messed up.

If that is the part that's messed up, maybe you should realize that that is the part that's in your head?

Stop.

For the record, it’s not so much a slur as a sociological term that probably isn’t being given enough explanation. If I’m interpreting your reply accurately, I think my spiel about Katherine Johnson gave you some idea what DiAngelo means by whiteness. You might think it unfair to associate white people with oppression, but, to be honest, given that the idea of “white people” as opposed to, for instance, Englishmen or Spaniards or Germans originated as part of a power structure that placed themselves as “white people” on the top and “black people” on the bottom, and for the longest time, most white people have actively supported that power structure, it’s a fitting term, although it does require a lot of explanation to keep it from sounding like essentialist bullshit.