I came across a post on LinkedIn where someone stated “Not all white people are racists.”

To my white friends, acquaintances or anyone that sees this, here is my response to that statement:
(1/?)

We know not all white people are racist. Just how not all Mexican folks are criminals and rapists. Just how not all Black people are criminals. Just how not all Muslims are terrorists. (2/?)

But something White people need to keep in mind is that we (the marginalized groups) never know how you’re going to respond to us.

We literally ask ourselves:
Are they gonna accept me?
Am I going to be treated respectfully?
Am I putting myself in danger? (3/?)

Even by me posting this thread I know I risk a lot of things because guess what? Our lives are literally in your hands. Look who are our presidential candidates. Two white men are in the running of determining what happens in our lives. (4/?)

So although we know not ALL of you are racists, you can’t expect us to just trust you when there are YEARS of oppression towards us. Or do we need to review our history in this country? (5/?)

Our existence is still up to debate. Laws are barely being placed to protect us and even those are being pushed back by ACTUAL racist folks that come from every community. So can you blame us when we don’t automatically lower our guards when we are around you? (6/?)

We need to hold ourselves accountable. ALL of us because racism can come from any group. Not just from White people, but what we’re not gonna do is create false oppressions. Yt folks aren’t oppressed because they’re generalized as racists (7/?)

We have a lot of work to do, but please keep this in mind. And to the person that engaged with this post (you know who you are) I will be holding you accountable too. Thank you. (8/8)