9 Questions I Want to Ask Whites Who Don't Believe in Institutional Racism

Today I got into a discussion about racism with a white woman on Facebook. She followed the predictable script: She asserted that Dr. King would abhor protests (she called them riots) against police brutality, and when I pointed her to literature indicating otherwise, she became incensed, insisted she was being bullied, and refused to engage any further. White skin sure can be thin skin.

This woman's reaction isn't anomalous. Instead, I find many of my white friends repeating the same tropes about racism over and over--"I'm not racist! I have black friends!" "I understand racism because someone was mean to me once!" "Black culture is the problem, not racism!" The common theme here is that racism is either nonexistent, no big deal, or pales in comparison to the "oppression" the white speaker faces.

I think a few simple questions make it clear how ridiculous some of the claims white people make about racism really are. I see no better time to share them than at a moment when white people are claiming that they are better equipped to interpret Dr. King's legacy than black people. Next time you hear a white person insist that racism is dead, that whites are the new oppressed group, that black culture is the problem or that it is impossible for a white person with black friends to be racist, ask them these questions:

• On what date did racism end? What caused it to end? 
• What specific acts constitute anti-white racism? How frequently do you experience them? 
• What specific acts would constitute anti-black racism? Do you use the  same standard for racism against whites as you do for racism against blacks?
• If having black friends means you're not racist, then is it similarly impossible for black people who have white friends to be racist against white people?
• If you think that looting means police should be able to shoot or attack protesters, then do you also believe that killing innocent and unarmed black people means protesters should be allowed to attack and kill police?
• Most black people assert that racism is an ongoing problem. Why do you think you're more qualified to analyze their experiences than they are? How is dismissing the views of the majority of black people not racist? 
• Why do you think black people are protesting/rioting in Baltimore and across the country against police violence? If you think the problem is "black culture" or "race baiting," do you believe that systematically discounting the claims of millions of blacks is racist? What about the claim that "black culture" is inherently flawed?
• If racism no longer exists, why do you think black drug offenders are disproportionately represented in jails and prisons, even though whites are more likely to use drugs and to sell them?
• How is it possible that 500 years of slavery, generations of Jim Crow and lynchings, and centuries of employment and housing discrimination have had no effect on black people? Because, after all, that's what you're claiming when you claim racism is no longer a big deal. Since black people are so superhumanly equipped to deal with centuries of oppression, should we worship them as gods?