African American

they are in reality denying the existence of what was being said. If someone says "white people are racist" and you say "not me...I don't do any of that racist stuff" you are making it about "me" and you are changing the conversation from what the person wanted to talk about. There is a very apt saying: "if they aren't talking about you then they aren't talking about you." If you don't believe that you are a racist, then clearly they are talking about someone else. For effective communication, you have to accept the conversation that they want to have and not change it to be about something else.

150 years of the powers that be and the mass of white people changing the conversation to something that they are more comfortable with hasn't solved the problems. Maybe it is time that we had the conversation that black people want and need us to have.

And imo, any white person who states categorically that they are not a racist is in denial. Much racism (and sexism and bigotry) is subtle. I don't accept that we white people are capable of identifying and eliminating every single trace of it. If we would stop the defensive "but not all white people" and not shut our minds to what follows, we would all learn something. Further, it would be respectful, something too often lacking.