The following are some of the most dishonest comments people make about race today. You may click on the author's name above to visit her blog.    

“I have transcended my blackness.” (I have proved myself to white people – aren’t I wonderful?!! By glorifying myself for transcending blackness, and implicitly pathologizing those who don’t transcend blackness, I am showing my allegiance to the white supremacist system);   

I just “love people” (I can deflect attention away from the fact that I ingratiate myself with white people by declaring that I just love people);

“Race is an artificial construct” (I will state the obvious to distract readers from the real issues; if I can make it seem that you are saying race is biological, I can hide my racism by presenting you as the “real racist”;

 “You have a chip on your shoulder” (If I can make the black person believe there is something wrong with them and not the racist system, I can avert attention away from my personal racism);

 I “don’t see color”; “people are people;”we’re not of the black race, we’re of the human race* (You analyze race too much and that makes me uncomfortable because you draw attention to my color conscious choices – I would like for us to PRETEND NOT TO SEE RACE because then I can be as racist as I like [if I’m white] or I can practice as much black-on-black racism as I like [if I’m black] and you won’t be able to prove it because “I don’t see color”);

"The real problem is not race, it’s a class problem." (I can deflect attention from race to class and I can also use black people as pawns to promote socialism rather than to help their own group. Other races can have a cultural identity and unity but blacks can’t – blacks are the only ethnic group that MUST blend in and lose their blackness);

"I don’t own slaves and nobody I know owns slaves." (I can sidetrack everyone from the way I oppress blacks today by saying it’s a historical issue)*;

"Some of my best friends are black." (Normally declared by the person who says I don’t see color)….hmm so how do you know your best friends are black if you don’t see color? Lol*;

"I live next door to a black person, I have a black friend, I am dating a black person, I’m sleeping with a black person, I’m married to a black person, I have biracial children, I have transracially adopted children." (Therefore I am a lovely, good, kind white person and CAN NEVER be racist; I am beyond racism).  These types can often be the most aggressive racists of the lot lol;

"I don’t care if you are black, purple, blue, green." (Meaning I’m comparing blacks to purple, blue, and green aliens).

* Clare’s acknowledgements go to Michael Brown for his help with these suggestions.