Thirty-Six Assumptions (Microaggressions) Not To Make About White People

Please note by white people we mean white people who care. Regardless of the color you are, microaggressions are truly only damaging to those individuals who give a shit or feel entitled to give a shit.

Assuming that all whites are born racist

I actually had a college professor tell the class that all white people were born racist because they are predisposed to prefer the look of the individual who raised them (this is socialization not an instance of someone being born racist!). He believed white people were completely incapable of being fair and impartial. If this is true, that people are incapable of treating other races fairly, why give up any privilege if you know your going to be treated like absolute shit?

Assuming that all white people have the same culture.

Not all white people are American and culture differs greatly from one White area to the next. Just like many Cubans don't like being called Mexican (or yellowish), many white people don't like being called American (or white). You may think you are just letting white people know that they share cultural traits which people of color have to learn, and this makes it difficult for you to function in white environments, but in doing so, you are assuming that all white people are the same and all whites just know how to get along with each other. That's not true.

Assuming all whites have business culture

Don't say "white people have the advantage of being able to get along immediately in business cultures because business culture is white culture." Sorry to say but not all white folks feel comfortable having to moderate their speech and dress to accommodate office professionalism. Being from abroad myself, I find American work- places incredibly uncomfortable. They talk too fast, it's hard to know what they are saying, they think my ideas are goofy, middle and upper-class executives who are black call me privileged every five minutes and they are the freaking BOSS making twice my salary, I have to avoid a list of microaggressions five miles long but they are completely unwilling to consider any microaggressions I may think are unreasonable. It seems like a backward racist place to me.

Assuming whites were never enslaved in the same way as blacks (or they weren't enslaved by people of color).

It is ignorant to assume that white people have never been enslaved. Do you know about the colonization of Ireland by the English, the Roman and Holy Roman Empires (962-1806) which took over the European tribes, or the Barbary slave trade out of North Africa? Roman invaders out of Italy (962-1806) were basically Greek with dark olive skin and Barbary slavers out of northern Africa (1450-1800) were black. They raided White European and UK coastal villages killing men and taking about 1.5 million women and children for slavery in Africa. Some people say that slavery in the Americas was worse because it was intergenerational. That's crap. These people were worked, raped and beaten like any other slave.

Saying people of color can’t be racist, only white people can

Many people of color are now defining 'racism' as 'structural racism' and ignoring that 'interpersonal racism' exists. They claim, that only white people can be racist because whites have structural power to control people of color and people of color do not have access to power structures. While that tends on the whole to be true, this does not mean that people of color cannot be in power positions or exhibit racist prejudice. They can and do at times assume that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race and or that all members of a race are good or bad. When people of color change the lingo without telling anyone what they are doing it sounds like they are saying people of color can not make assumptions about white people as a group or attribute characteristics to whites as a whole. This is not true and there is a lot of generalized hatred toward white people regardless of their individual power, class or threat to people of color.

Assuming that people of color have not committed any atrocities, only white people have

As noted above Egyptians, Ottomans, North Africans have all enslaved other people. There have also been a number of mass killings by people of color:

1949-1976 Chinese Genocide, the Mao government killed 45-75 million citizens

1937-1945 Hirohito Genocide, the Japanese killed 10 million Asians

1945-1950 Eastern European Genocide, killed 3 million ethnic Germans and Allied Slavs when expelled after WWII (many living legally)

1914-1923 Ismail Enver's Genocide, Ottoman Turks killed, 3 mill (1.2 mill Armenians, 1.4-1.7 Greeks and 5-750 000 Assyrians)

1980-1990 Iraq Kurdish Genocide, Saddam Hussein killed 1.8-2 million Kurds

1948-1994 N. Korean Genocide, Kim Ill Sung killed 1.6 mill, concentration camps

1975-1978 Ethiopian Genocide, Menghistu killed 1.5 mill citizens

1864-1867 Circassian Genocide wiped out 1.5 million

1967-1970 Nigerian Genocide, Yakubu Gowon killed 1-3 million citizens

1975-1979 Cambodian Genocide, Pol Pot wiped out 1-3 million citizens

1994 Rwandan Genocide, Jean Kambanda killed 800, 000- 1 mill Tutsi

1755-1758 Dzungar Genocide, Qing dynasty killed 600, 000-800, 000 Chinese

2003 Congo Genocide, Les Effaceurs killed 250-600, 000 Pygmies (cannibals)

1965-1966 Indonesian Genocide, Suharto/Soeharto killed 500, 000

See also: Fumimaro Konoe, Japan; Jonas Savimbi, Angola; Mullah Omar, Afghanistan; Idi Amin, Uganda; Yahya Khan, Pakistan; Mobutu Sese Seko, Zair; Foday Sankoh, Sierra Leone; Suharto, Aceh, East Timor, New Guinea; Ho Chi Min, Vietnam; Michel Micombero, Burundi; Hassan Turabi, Sudan; Syngman Rhee, South Korea; Efrain Rios Montt, Guatemala; Papa Doc Duvalier, Haiti; Rafael Trujillo, Dominican Republic; Bashir Assad, Syri; Francisco Macias Nguema, Equatorial Guinea; Hissene Habre, Chad; Chiang Kai-shek, Taiwan; Fidel Castro, Cuba; Maximiliano Hernandez Martinez; El Salvador; Hafez Al-Assad, Syria; Khomeini, Iran; Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe; Rafael Videla, Argentina; Sikh/Hindu Genocide, India; Augusto Pinochet, Chile; Osama Bin Laden, Amalekites and Midianites, Israel; Maori Moriori Genocide

Assuming white people taught people of color how to be racist and or slavers (so anything your people do is on them)

Don't tell me white people taught your people how to enslave and that your people had no slavery until whites came along. That's BS. I keep hearing how it all started with the spread of Christianity. Yes, Christians began proselytizing way back in the 1st century but they were Egyptians! Christianity was not originally white! People have also been taking over each others lands and assimilating the captives into their own cultures FOREVER. Some native tribes SURVIVED off raiding other native groups. White people did not invent slavery but they did try to end it!

Assuming that whiteness breeds terrorists

Assuming that whiteness breeds terror because some dumb shit kid went on a mass killing spree is the same as thinking that Muslims breed terror because of 9/11 or Christians do because of the crusades. To say that people of a demographic all have the same culture is a stereotype. If you don't want people to stereotype your race or your religion, don't do it to others. If someone from another race does, it doesn't mean that everyone of their demographic feels that way.

Assuming white GENOCIDE is the answer to your problems

No explanation needed as to why this is scary or what it leads to. Put quite simply, if you don't want people to do eradicate your race, don't do it to other races.

Assuming that white CULTURAL GENOCIDE is the answer to your problems

Because white people have done more than their fair share of spreading the dominant culture around, many people say things to the degree that 'white culture' needs to go, that we have to make room for other cultures. While that is correct, not all white people have the dominant culture. Telling someone who is white, who comes from a poor background or is unfortunate that you want to wipe out their culture, because it's white, is horrendous. If power and privilege are the real problem and poor whites have neither, why are they being included in this cultural genocide? Becuase they are white? If that is the only reason they are being included, that's just racist.

Assuming there's an epidemic of whites killing people of color in America

Just because there are cops killing unarmed people (and more unarmed black people than white), doesn't mean your average white person out there is hunting black people. When people of color get the message that average white people may attack them, it raises hostility and exacerbates existing hatred toward whites. I have heard that this accusation is an attempt to show whites what it feels like when people make assumptions that they are violent, but this myth targets all white people, not only those who have made false allegations or assumptions about black people.

Assuming that people of color can’t culturally appropriate from White people because Whites are their oppressors (or they can't appropriate from anyone because people of color are oppressed)

We keep hearing how white people culturally appropriate everyone else's culture and hurt their feelings but you have to understand that some white people get their feelings hurt when people of other cultures use their symbols too. I've heard people say they can wear crosses and religious paraphernalia because Christians were colonizers and spread their shit around and now "the oppressed" need to use it to gain privilege and have the same benefits. That's BS. You don't have to insult religious people (even white ones) by wearing their sacred symbols, it's not required and you'll probably do yourself more harm than good. People will hate you for it.

Assuming that white people can’t be as offended as people of color by racism (original definition)

The argument goes that people of color take more offense at racist comments and microaggressions because they have more on their plate than white people. Except when they don't! Sometimes white people are struggling with things you don't see and your racism can be a real bitch to them just as racism can be a real bitch to you. Even those not struggling with anything major likely find your assumptions off putting and will likely have a subconscious tick against you. My advice is don't be racist if you don't want others to be racist to you. Being racist to someone you think has more power than you likely isn't a good thing for you in the long run.

Assuming people of color cannot silence white people

When you interrupt someone and say 'check your privilege' or state 'micro-aggression, micro-aggression' without truly trying to understand what they are saying, you are shutting them up. It's ok to bring up issues which you feel are truly offensive, but please don't use such terminology as a way to silence people's opinions to compensate for a weak argument. It's an attack on an individuals characteristics instead of the validity of what they are saying. It's like saying you're white therefore your understanding is completely invalid because you don't have knowledge of my experiences. If you really think someone has their head in the clouds say it, but don't use these terms to silence.

Assuming you should report people for every little slight and bully them into giving up any right to free speech and opinion

There is a point where social justice moves away from equaling the playing field for people who have historically been marginalized. When individuals use the language of social justice as a power trip it loses it's power and eventually people will stop listening to it. Reporting every little offense and creating microaggression tracking databases which stigmatize people for everything (whether or not it truly falls into the category of microaggression) will just start a feud. We all know how well feuds work out historically, we're just signing up the next generation to clean up after our mess.

Assuming white people do not see they have a perspective if they don’t use an ‘I statement’

People of color (and a lot of other white folks too) often assume that I am ignorant of my perspective or do not understand that I could be wrong. Sometimes they will say "I statement, I statement" as if I have forgotten it when in reality I have just not felt motivated to monitor my speech to that extent. On numerous occasions people have asked me if I think I am always right, as if not saying "I think" before everything is proof that I haven not considered alternative perspectives. People have also asked me why I wouldn't use an I statement if I were truly aware that I may be wrong. Well, quite honestly people state things when they think they are right and it is not a bad thing to think you are right. You would not be questioning me and badgering me to consider your perspective if you did not think you were right. Just consider that.

Assuming that nothing can ever imact a white person as negativly as race impacts people of color

Like any other person, white people are a combination of their different experiences. This phenomenon is called intersectionality. A disabled white woman for instance may face more hardships in life than an able-bodied black male for instance. We can not know another person's barriers in life and it is often difficult to hear people judge you based solely on your skin color or assume that because you are white you are more privileged. While it is true that a person of color in the same situation as a white person is likely less advantaged, and that white people in general have higher levels of employment and pay, one cannot assume this to be true when comparing two individuals. Just because someone is white does not mean they have had an easy life or that they are more prosperous than you.

Assuming that white guilt causes white offense

I've heard on more than one occasion that white people are offended by people of color because they don't want to recognize their privilege and are repressing white guilt. While there are people who feel bad that they have ended up through no fault of our own in a more privileged position, I am offended by white shaming and not white guilt. I do not feel guilty that I was born white because I didn't cause that to happen, but I think a lot of people of color want white people to feel shame because of it. Instead of calling it white shame they call it white guilt because it sounds like the white person has a psychological issue. It's unfortunate that races have been treated so poorly that large numbers of people have psychological repercussions but shaming people for their genetics is racism and dismissing people's offense as white guilt is invalidation. I understand that the abused often continue the cycle of abuse and it's understandable that it happens, but someone has to point it out if it's ever going to stop. We can't just think its offensive to point that shit out, we need to say something.

Assuming that white people taking offense to precieved racism is a psychological disorder and your offense to racism is not.

Some people see a difference between the feelings of white people and the feelings of people of color. White people who take offense are psychologically sick and people of color are not. If someone is assuming offense where none is intended they have a psychological issue. Is it justified? Yes, offense on both sides is justified, neither group knows when the other is making racist assumptions but there is a social dialogue which leads them to believe it is a possibility. Does this mean that either group should just sit there and assume the worst of each other and ignore one another all the time? No, you’ll miss out on life and avoid interactions which could be of benefit to you. This doesn’t mean you have to buddy up with the racist next door, but you may want to get yourself examined if you see racism (or sexism or ableism or agism etc.) all the time everywhere or if you're constantly taking offense. This goes for both white people and people of color.

Assuming that all white people make up tales of sorrow to diminish their privilege over you

White people have tales of sorrow like anyone else. Some people have disabilities, some are refugees, some are poor as fuck. Again, you don't know their story so stop pretending like you do. Yes, people of color can have sorrows and experience racism based on their skin color. No one is denying that. We are just wondering how some people actually believe all people of color are always less privileged than a white person. A white person may have a number of barriers to success which cumulatively have had a greater impact on their life than color alone. I'm tired sitting there listening to people talk about white privilege when my white neighbour is a refugee with nothing, while my other neighbor, a man of color, with a nice house and job complains about being so incredibly underprivileged all the time.

Assuming that people of color can't have privilege

Assuming that only white people have privilege is problematic. The reality is, that your rich black guy has much more privilege than your poor white kid. While you can make the case, and likely should, that a white person in the same position as the rich black guy would be even richer, the poor white is not in the same boat. When people ignore this and black people who are well off keep telling poor white folks how privileged they are because of their skin color, those poor whities not only feel like shit because they are poor but also because they supposedly squandered their white advantage. They leave the conversation feeling like it's all their fault they're poor. Unfortunately, the economy is slanted in favor of the rich.

Assuming you are qualified to judge a white individual's privilege based on what you can see

Enough said. You don't know what an individual is dealing with. If you don't want others to make assumptions about your privilege then please don't make assumptions about theirs. We do want people to start thinking that because someone is black they had free education or that they obtained their job through affirmative action. If we keep it up with these assumptions I can see a world where people may assume that black people cannot have privilege and are, therefore, always at a deficit of education and unqualified for whatever they are applying for. While this sentiment does undoubtedly exist already among some populations, the notion that black people cannot hold privilege is damaging. The assumptions culture has got to stop.

Assuming whites should never be insulted when called racist

Calling a person racist, even if you think it's a subconscious thing they are doing which simply needs to be recognized, sends a message that you think they are a racist of the KKK variety. Traditionally this word has been reserved for confederates, clan members and Nazi's etc. Of course white people are going to think you mean that kind of racist! If they aren't doing anything crazy like that, they'll think you're being unfair or intentionally rude. The term 'racist' is a hot button like the word 'monkey' which was used to suggest black people were stupid like monkeys. If a white person called a black person a 'monkey' you'd think they were referring to them as stupid and they'd take offense, why wouldn't a white person take offense to the term racist. They'll take even more offense when the term 'racist' is applied indiscriminately to all white people simply because they are white. If you don't want people using rude terms for all people of your demographic I'd suggest not using rude terms to describe people of another demographic.

Assuming that all white people need to identify as racist in order to curtail social racism

When people say that all white people must recognize that they are racists in order to reduce racism in society, you put them in a very bad place. They think you mean that if they don't call themselves racist you will regard them as bad as the people killing black people. If you regard them as killers will you come after them and try to punish them like you would a killer? Labeling someone as bad as a killer can impact a person's life quite negatively and may result in retaliation of some sort. This kind of insulting can fuel race feuds for generations.

Assuming that people of color cannot culturally appropriate from other cultures becuase they do not have power over them

On one hand whit epeople hear constantly how everything they do is cultural appropriation (even if they were raised with it as their own culture), ont he other they hear how people of color can't commit cultural appropriation becuase it requires privilege. This just seems racist because it suggests that white people with privilege are appropriators while people of colro with privilege are not. It seems like color is the main thing differentinating an appropriator froma non-appropriator when the real difference is the persons privilege and ability to make money off a group with nothing. A black sports player playing for a eam with an "indian head" on their clothing is culturally appripriating as hard as a white dude doing the same thing....and don't you dare say that a black sports player is poor and has to play for them, maybe at first but I don't see them transferring off that tesm after they've gotten rich as fuck.

Assuming that white Americans are the only ones who have privilege when all Americans are privileged in comparison to most of the world

I have heard a million times from people of color (mainly black people) that they don't think they have any privilege but all Americans are privileged in comparison to most of the world. Yes there are wealth and power disparities in the US between white people and people of color that need to be fixed but it doesn't mean people of color are completely destitute and have nothing. I canvassed for a holiday food drive for people in Africa and these black people in nice houses ($500, 000+ in Virginia), about 500 or so in my district, refused to give anything saying they thought it was ridiculous that they were being asked to share when they had barely anything to give. Not all black people think like this but some do and it's hard to hear how they think I, as a white person, owe everything I have to atone for the existence of slavery, when I live in a $700 a month apartment.

Assuming that being pro-black or pro-anything precldes one from being racist

There seem to be few people of color who will recognize that there are indeed people out there who are anti-white. Anytime you say a black person looks anti-white, people say, that just because someone is pro-black doesn't mean they are anti-white and you shouldn't even wonder if they are. Take Beyonce for example, her Black Liberation Army dance with bullet belts suggested that perhaps she believed in killing white cops like the BLA did. It's not an unreasonable question to pop into one's head or to look into Beyonce's motives. When people of color say that looking into her motives is proof someone is racist, this suggests that one thinks people of color can't be anti-white. There are people who are anti-white and it is unrealistic to deny it, when you do deny it, this stigmatizes white people who question it by labeling them a racist.

Assuming that only white riots against people of color kill people when riots by people of color have also killed

When people of color state that only white on black riots kill and black on white riots don't, this ignores the facts and suggests that impressing your opinions is more important than reality. When people deny real countable numbers it suggests that you cannot have a realistic conversation. When people deny the numbers of unarmed black guys being killed by cops they just look biased and unreasonable. This is the same thing.

Assuming white people should automatically know all your triggers (and have the ability to learn them just be educting themselves)

When someone assumes that another person should know their triggers (or microaggressions), because they should be educating themselves or be culturally competant, they ignore the fact that some things are just not able to be learned. This is especially true when people within one demographic have radically diffeerent preferneces. Professor Murphy, above, for instance, thinks white men should know black women don't want them to sit next to them on a bus. Many people though out history have been upset with white men for being racist and not wanting to sit next to black people on busses. There is no way that a man would know which preference to catter to without having a conversation.

Assuming there is no such thing as white shaming

I have heard over and over how there is no such thing as white shaming, that white people just naturally feel guilty for their color because white people have oppressed so many people. When a person of color makes statements like this above, it very much seems as if this is an attempt to shame white people. Suggesting that white people should feel bad about their racial identity is basically like saying 'hey white people, we want you to have a mental problem because someone with the same skin color as you did bad shit and or you or someone of your color has benefited because of it.'

Assuming that all white people, by virtue of their skin color, are not entitled to exhibit diverse cultural traits

When you say that white people can never have black or Asian or whatever culture, you are saying that people born and raised in another culture cannot express themselves in the metaphorical language of that culture. It is a birthright to use the culture you were raised with even if someone else considers it a microaggression. A white kid raised in Toyko who learned Japanese and eats sushi is not culturally appropriating to use them. Likewise, Eminem, who was raised int he projects with a lot of black people is entitled to express himself in the way that he was learned growing up. To say otherwise is to strip that individual of their native language and paralyze their ability to express themselves in a way that makes sense to them.

Assuming that all words and definitions in existence came from white people and it's time for language reflect your preferences

When you assume it's time to rewrite all terminology because it came from white people you ignore the fact that many words have translations in many other languages and there has been a general consensus on many terms. The word racism for instance, is generally defined in the same way in Poland, Kazakhstan, Egypt, Nigeria, Iceland, Brazil and the UK. If each marginalized group rewrote terms they did not like no one in the world would be able to understand each other. It's like math, you need a common denominator or else nothing is understandable.

Assuming your preferences are universal to all members of your race and you should be commended

When you assume your preferences are universal to your entire demographic and berate people who do not respect your preferences as micro-aggressors, you put the perceived micro-aggressor in an awkward position. On one hand they try to appease you by never saying the stigmatized terminology but what happens when this terminology is embraced by others withing your demographic. Eg: Saying chivalry is a microaggression toward women when half of the like it and would be offended if it just stopped one day. The microaggressor will always be a microaggressor to someone. They are always offensive and worthy of berating.

Assuming that a microaggression should be met with full blown aggression

When people punish microaggressions with severe retaliation, they are saying that the microaggressions are essentially aggressive behaviors (not micro). When you report people and put their names in a database which records their socials, you are inflicting a whole new level of stigmatization. You are essentially imposing social sanctions paramount to criminalization and opening individuals up to judgment without giving them the chance to defend themselves. When people mob, swarm, yell and scream at people, threaten their lives or beat them for microaggressions can also make individuals much less (not more) likely to rethink their language.

Assuming whitepeople are racist when they do not want to talk about social justice 24/7

It is really difficult for some people to hear social justice dialogue 24/7 and when a white person points this out the common answer is 'white people don't experience oppression 24/7 and so they cannot understand why it's necessary to talk about it all the time.' There are several assumptions here, first that one's cumulative experiences will never be as oppressing as one's race and also that an oppressed person must feel the need to engage in the dialogue non-stop, as if they have a mental health OCD compulsion and some people even if oppressed have healthy ways of dealing with their oppression which don't include a daily and hourly rehash.

Assuming that all people who say “All Lives Matter” mean to ignore the plight of black people

There have been politicians who've said 'All Lives Matter' and are generally dismissive of the problems black people face, but some people who say 'All Lives Matter' are upset that the movement is not looking at police killings as a larger problem or that the largest number of deaths come from the indigenous population. Right now there is a major police violence problem and they are killing people. Yes, black lives matter, but we have to look at all three issues and the slogan 'Black Lives Matter', just doesn't cut it. While Black Lives Matter has expressed discontent with people for co-opting the slogan, it is difficult to respect this discontent when BLM has been crashing political speeches and Memorial Day, a day for the remembrance of all.