‘I’m not interested in negotiating with racists,’ an Ivy League historian told me.

Does white privilege exist? Sure. If you’re white and you excel at academic or other cognitively demanding endeavors, for example, the light of your success is never dimmed by speculation about whether you benefited from affirmative action.

White privilege has become the target of many initiatives in higher education. The goal, advocates say, is to fight racism and promote justice. Yet the practice often doesn’t seem constructive. In my college career, I’ve spoken to many peers and professors who insist adamantly that any conversation about race in America should begin and end with the accusation of white privilege. The aim seems to be to establish guilt, not build understanding. As I see it, the main goal of discussing white privilege should be to promote a more complex and nuanced view of the world so that, for example.

Often that’s not how activists approach it. “I’m not interested in talking to white people who aren’t woke,” one student told me. When I asked him to clarify, he said: “Ain’t no white person earning my trust unless they admit to being racist and apologize on behalf of their ancestors.” Although I strongly disagree with this view, I have some sympathy for it. For many African-Americans, focusing on white privilege allows them to assuage a damaged self-image that is the legacy of centuries of racial subjugation. That feeling should be taken seriously, not dismissed. But the way to bring people of different races and viewpoints to the table is not by belaboring the unconscionable demand that white people confess their guilt for social problems that no individual could have created. To build understanding around issues of race, we instead should try to engage others in good faith, especially when doing so can be difficult.

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