If white people can only learn antiracism in siloed experiences, centered in whiteness, that ignore the contributions and ongoing work of people of color and women, we are doomed.
When it comes to systemic injustice, we must deconstruct, defund, demolish, dismantle now and with courage. But when it comes to people? We can’t destroy the wheat for the weeds before the harvest.
But while that history helps to explain how our racial hierarchy arose, it doesn’t explain why it endures well into the 21st century—much less why we’re not trying very hard to get rid of it.