What does it mean to act like white people?

A black friend recently wrote a piece arguing that one of the white and long-dead darlings of American history be reviled, not celebrated.  She was surprised, she said, that so many white readers were attacking her for it. She hadn't said anything that wasn't fully supported by facts. So why were they so mad?

 

It's been my observation, I told her, that many white individuals feel duty bound to defend whiteness.  And they'll rise up in its defense no matter how much a particular white figure deserves to be criticized. There is also a similar rush to defend a criminal justice system that - despite being officially colorblind -- treats nonwhite people more harshly.

 

...I will say, though, that the statement I made to my friend last week isn't all that different from a statement recently made by the Rev. Jim Wallis.

 

Wallis, a white preacher who is the founder and president of Sojourners magazine, was arrested last week in Ferguson, Mo., as part of the ongoing protests following the Aug. 9 shooting death of black, unarmed teenager Michael Brown. Soon after Wallis was arrested, he appeared on HuffPost Live and criticized the "racialized police system" and the general refusal of white Christians to speak against it.

 

"We say we're Christians," Wallis said, "but you know, white Christians, we act more like white people than Christians. If we acted more Christian, black parents wouldn't be so afraid for their kids."