TROLLING through the archives, I found a 2015 post about Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Dubois — food for thought this Black History Month. But I was especially drawn to the remarks of  commenter Renée from View from the Right:

I am a (mostly) black woman who has white relatives and grew up in a predominately white Midwestern town. I went east to a very liberal college. Nothing prepared me for white liberal students’ need to verify that I was a victim of racism at every turn, and that I felt blacks were being kept out. There were very few blacks at this school, most of them slightly conservative, and we all agreed on one thing: the reason there were so few blacks there was that a school practically in the wilderness with no business program could not attract a lot of blacks. The lack of blacks was not due to racism. No white liberal would believe me on this point. I was constantly asked what it was like to be a black at this school and whether I felt uncomfortable around so many whites. I quickly learned to avoid white people obsessed with the black experience. They were only interested in being entertained by me (they would compare the black students to each other and favor those who were the most ‘hood) or in finding in me an object for their paternalism. Many blacks did not see through this.

Here’s another example of white liberals’ attitudes toward blacks. I have an African friend married to a white man. We are often at events mixed with white Americans, Africans and a few American blacks. One man who is the typical successful angry black man came regularly to some of these events. He would wait until most, but not all, of the whites had left, and then start yelling about racism and how he would kill a white man, and other violent things. I decided to tell this guy he was out of line and he had no right to talk that way. I asked him for the specific experiences he had that made him feel as if all whites were out to get him, and that he could treat all whites as if they are guilty racists. He could give me none. He merely called me a sell-out and other nasty things.

Afterwards, my African friend’s white husband told me that I needed to be more understanding and that I just didn’t understand what this guy had gone through. I asked him to be specific about what he meant by “what this guy had gone through.” He did not give me a clear answer. He made it clear he believed this guy had every right to say what he did and that I was out of line! He—the white man—thinks by taking this position he will get respect from the black man. He doesn’t understand that this guy will only tolerate his presence, but never respect him.

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