A white friend asked me today: "How can I speak against institutional racism without talking over the experiences of Black and South Asian Tory MPs who say it isn't a problem? What do I say to people who use that as evidence against a need to tackle racism?" Here are some ideas:

1) Compare numbers. Sure, there are some people of colour who believe that institutional racism doesn't exist; they are vastly outnumbered by the people of colour, including sociologists and historians and theorists of rac, who do acknowledge its existence.

2) You don't have to invalidate the experiences of a POC who hasn't experienced racism: you can accept this as true, but it doesn't disprove other experiences. CRT & antiracism activists are very clear that there are people who can avoid racism because of wealth or other reasons.

2b) When Elizabeth I became queen of England, did sexism and misogyny and the need for feminist activism disappear? No - and similarly, a few wealthy POC government ministers or CEOs (or even a president of the USA) aren't enough to make racism disappear.

3) Resist the idea that historical figures were "of their time". If the era made it impossible for slavers (& those who backed slavery while it was profitable) to understand the humanity of enslaved peoples, why was it possible for those people to understand their own humanity?

3b) For pretty much every figure whose historical legacy is now being questioned, you can find contempories who took other approaches, and often contemporaries who criticised those actions at the time. Criticism of atrocities is not as anachronistic as people like to claim.

4) Identify areas of clear institutional racism in the UK (or whichever country you're in) and ask for an explanation which isn't based on CRT. Don't pretend that social class or gender don't play roles - but ask why, for instance, POCs have less wealth or white-collar work.

4b) A lot of the answers you get will be explicitly white supremacist, so make sure you have counter examples. Stories of Black excellence and commitment to work and education; statistics about health (and COVID) in countries where POCs aren't dying at disproportionate rates.

4c) You also need to be aware of international exploitation and neocolonialism. People will argue that some countries are impoverished & torn apart by civil war; you need to explain divide & rule imperialism and how international debt keeps countries in poverty after liberation.

5) Finally, I think you can concede that the British empire and the trans-Atlantic slave trade did bring wealth to Britain and improved the lives of some people. But ask: what of the POCs whose lives were destroyed? Why are their lives and stories less important & valuable?

5b) Also ask - how much benefit did empire really bring to the person you're talking to? Point out that the glorification of British imperial history is already a partial, political account. What's political about adding depth & nuance to this? Isn't that the point of education?

As a coda: You will inevitably be asked, "what about other atrocities?" In the UK, that often means "what about the US?", but it can also manifest as "what about war and slavery in Africa before colonisation?" Remember that the US & Australia were founded by the English...

... but more importantly, we're not talking about world history here. We're talking about how the British education system presents British history to students in Britain. We're not comparing which country is worst: we're explaining the need for us to be better than the past.

Oh, as a postscript: this list of "what you can say & do" is specific to the question in the first tweet. There's a lot more involved in being a white ally against racism - including advocacy, calling out racism, and putting money / time into supporting Black and POC activists.