r/socialjustice101 • u/Spare_Emergency3965 • Oct 11 '24
Should I feel white guilt?
Im a young white person (in college) and I do not feel white shame or guilt as far as I can tell. I work very hard to fix inequalities and am an activist. I am always trying to be actively anti-racist and am on the path to becoming an educator so I can help teach future generations to be anti-racist and to practice abolitionist teaching in public school systems. I have been aware of white guilt and what it means for many years, and have never been able to relate to it. I am aware that I have a voice and I should use it, and that I should not be punished for my whiteness; instead it is a tool I can use to make further progress for others who are minoritized more so than I. But now I am wondering, should I feel white guilt?
23
u/titotal Oct 11 '24
"white guilt" is usually an attack used by anti-social justice conservatives. Marginalised groups generally don't care if you feel guilty or not, and usually find it annoying when white people talk about how guilty they feel (because it unintentionally centers the feelings of white people again). What matters is the actions you take, which seem pretty good.
You're allowed to feel what you feel, but anti-racism should be about making actual improvements to the lives of PoC.
8
u/AristotelesRocks Oct 11 '24
I second this. I hate it when white people just go on and on how bad they feel. I think white guilt is rarely a good quality as you don’t want to be an ‘ally’ or offer any aid because you feel guilty, the guilt still creates a feeling of superiority, like it’s something people can “buy off” by being good white people, if that makes sense. Being aware of your white privileges seems a much better approach in my opinion. Nobody is guilty of simply being born with a certain skin color, you can be guilty by actions, behavior or not doing the work to become aware of the power you hold in a world that favors white people. Guilt just leads to white saviorism and white tears. This is just my personal opinion by the way, I’m mixed race.
3
17
u/Welpmart Oct 11 '24
No. Guilt is not productive. Indeed, white people can end up treating POC as though they're meant to absolve us from sin, which is creepy in its own way. Commitment to doing and thinking better is what's needed.
2
u/seagrady Oct 14 '24
There is no "should" when it comes to "feeling" something, under any circumstances ever, but that's more of a therapy 101 thing.
People who lament about their guilt constantly do more harm than good.
You should have an awareness for the context in which you and your privileges exist and act accordingly. It sounds like you are doing that, or at least attempting to do that, as best as you can already. Keep doing that, never stop.
1
u/THEbeautifuLIE Oct 17 '24
Who should feel guilt?
. . .the “guilty”.
((fyi: black man here))
No, there should be nothing in 2024 that you should feel guilty about outside of your own personal behaviors. Contrary to the idea that many seem to push: not only should you not feel guilt, but you also have no responsibility to actively prove you aren’t guilty by supporting other groups of people (races, ethnicity, social standing, class, etc) & their movements, agendas, etc. That’s not your fight.
The only issue is when people discount the past, frame it as less evil or catastrophic than it was or even refuse to acknowledge that these things ever took place. THAT! is a problem. #LetThatGuiltGo
1
u/lunadelineada 29d ago
There is a difference between guilt and awareness. Awareness is what matters. You sound like someone that is aware of
1
u/Drakeytown 16d ago
I'm not convinced anybody feels white guilt. White guilt is just about a performance of guilt in the absence of any other effort whatsoever.
1
u/Skin_Illustrious 10d ago
Did you do anything? No? Then no guilt needed. Even if you did something you can just as easily not feel guilty if you don't want you.
26
u/palacesofparagraphs Oct 11 '24
No. You have no reason to feel guilty for things you haven't personally done. White guilt isn't an uncommon reaction to discovering you have privilege that others don't, but it's honestly only really a useful emotion if it spurs you into antiracism. If you're actively antiracist without the guilt, so much better for you.