In the early 70s, we were pushing a national ethos of “the great American melting pot” - I mean, it was literally one of the Schoolhouse Rock bits. That SHOULD be our national ethos. For fuck’s sake, it’s even on our coinage (e pluribus unum). Even though we were far from perfect, and still had much work to do, our national multi-racial/ethnic identity was moving in the right direction. It sure as shit isn’t anymore. Not until recent years have I ever had anyone question whether I was TRULY a loyal American because of my last name (my family has most likely been here longer than theirs, but whatever). Second issue: the “demonization of white people” when discussing historical actions/injustices. No, it is not demonization of white people qua white people BUT, intellectually lazy people who really don’t want to take ANY ownership of where we are like to say it is. Because it IS distinct from telling a story of one bad thing one white person did. It’s not. Take Tulsa as an example. Tulsa was not am example of “some renegade bad people, who just happened to be white, did some bad stuff to people who just happened to be black.” Nope. 1. Functionally the entirety of Tulsa society took part in the violence. 2. That included the apparatus of the government and law enforcement, which is literally the embodiment of society as a whole. 3. The action was against ALL blacks people in Greenwood, BECAUSE THEY WERE BLACK. “A bad guy” didn’t attack Greenwood. White Tulsa - functionally ALL of White Tulsa - did. Look at the photos of lynchings. It’s not a picture of the town’s there embarrassing retrograde racists smiling next to the dead body. It’s huge swaths of the town. Look at the mob savaging black students at Little Rock High. Look at the crowd harassing black students at the lunch counter. These were not isolated bad actors. They were a system and society as a whole attacking black people, perpetuating racism, etc. Jim Crow laws weren’t passed by one bad guy; they were passed with broad local support. Were there white people who did right? Of course. Off the top of my head, two of the most revered pieces of American literature are about white people who did right by black people (To Kill a Mockingbird and Huck Finn). Interestingly, they have historically been books that white America has wanted to ban. Or on a personal note, I’ve told the story of the Koy family (Longhorn legends). My great uncle was one of the first Hispanic lettermen in the SWC, nearly 100 years ago now (sheesh). He told stories of being harassed for his ethnicity by opposing fans, merchants, etc. But he also spoke reverently about Ernie Koy Sr, a white guy from Bellville, who had his back. He proudly spoke of the time they had to keep Ernie from going up into the stands to whoop the ass of a fan who’d been spewing racist bullshit all game. So, yeah…be an Ernie Koy (also, no Koy will ever pay for his drinks while I’m in the room - that family is what honor and decency look like). TLDR; no, not all individual white people were racist. But white society as a whole sure as shit was, and it wasn’t a quirk, it was a core function (Jim Crow). We need to stop being pussies and running away from that truth. It doesn’t mean that you and I are racist, but it DOES mean that we inherited racist institutions. If we want credit for doing the right thing, then maybe…we should do it.