Thanks for another helpful way to look at ourselves with both clarity and compassion. Perhaps it is easier to accept our worst side if we understand how we inadvertently feed it by denying it.

And, of course, you are spot on with the admonishment to listen to the experiences of others without trying to inhabit them. We may have compassion and empathy for the experiences of others without appropriating those experiences. In fact, as your article shows us, we have quite enough work to do on appropriating and understanding our own experiences.

Ultimately, when white people imagine they share the pain of racism, it’s just another way to focus their attention on their own selves, and not on the actions that need to be taken to actually remedy that pain.