Phil Christman, with his concluding paragraph on the problems with “whiteness”:

So, I am not downplaying the fiendishness or the embeddedness of racism, the necessity of antiracist struggle, the need for whitened people to lose some sleep and some comfort, when I say that I think whiteness as a concept is useless except as a name for a powerful and ubiquitous misdescription. Racism is a labyrinth. Some of the sections have skylights and granite countertops. Most of them are dungeons. The minotaur has his habits, his favorite hunting grounds, but ultimately, he reserves the right to eat you in any of his rooms. What we must realize is that, whatever our different names, we are all in it. And we are all responsible for ensuring that every single person gets out.