Yes, all white people are racists, in the sense that we all have biases from being raised in a white supremacist society.

That doesn't mean we're bad persons. It simply means that we're products of our society.

To any white people reading this and getting all prickly, please settle down and read on:

When we get upset over the idea that we may be racist, that's because we get bogged down in thinking that racist = bad person. Many of us react by denial, and a few of us even go whole hog and become committed conscious white supremacists. That's when we become bad people. Before that, we're someone who walked through mud and got dirty feet.

So let's wipe those feet through self-reflection and listening, instead of tracking that mud all over our Black neighbor's faces by denying that we got mud. Even if we think we got our act together , we should never assume that we know and have counteracted all our biases. There's always another one lurking in the woodwork. When it comes out and a Black friend calls us on it, they're doing us a favor. And when we see an article that touches a nerve, let's look at that nerve and see where it leads to.

Let's do better. It's not about our feelings. It's about our Black neighbor's lives. Thanks for reading this and thinking it over.

-- Just an old hippie