THE NEW THREAT: RACISM WITHOUT RACISTS

A CNN article from November 27, 2014 by John Blake speaks about the problem of racism without racists. This concern has been around for years as people who are not overtly racist unintentionally support racist institutions that promote ongoing exploitation of African Americans. It is only more recently that more Americans have become aware of institutional racism and it's ongoing impact as it perpetuates exploitation of African Americans. So, you can be against different ways that African American's are mistreated [police brutality, unfairly imprisoned; blocked from access to home loans and neighborhoods] and still miss the point of how wide spread the influence of white supremacy is. Blake quotes Eduardo Bonilla-Silva who has written a book entitled: Racism Without Racists. Mr. Bonilla-Silva goes on to say that three phrases frequently come up in discussions between whites and blacks.  These phrases have to do with: being "color blind"; having black friends; and defending yourself by stating that you don't act in a racist manner. Responding to being color blind, this is only possible because you are white and do not need to live with the exploitation that all African Americans experience. This also relates to the response to black lives matter stating that all lives matter. Again, whites can pretend that all lives matter because they don't have to worry about being shot jogging in their neighborhood or automatically being treated as inferior or even dangerous. All lives can matter when black lives actually matter and not before. Finally, white people can feel that they are not racist as they have black friends. Having black friends really has nothing to do with institutional racism and other indications of white supremacy [priviledge]. Finally, protesting your innocence regarding racist behaviors misses the point of tolerating institutional racism.

I believe that to become non-racists we, as whites, need to begin the process of dismantling institutional racism. 

What do you think?