“There is a difference between loving white people and loving whiteness.”
This is something I often say when I begin social justice conversations around topics related to race. For some, the concept is easy to process and we begin a conversation around what it means to be white and a person of privilege. For others, the concept seems to be extremely hard to process.
Since hearing about what transpired in Charlottesville, Va., I have struggled with this notion of knowing that the person who shares so much of my life is, in fact, a cisgender white man. I also struggle with watching him process what is happening in our country and never having the right words to make me feel safe in times where I feel like all elements of my intersectional existence are under attack.
A question I know most black people struggle with is, how do you continue loving white people when whiteness hates you?