I will start this entry with a story but this entry has nothing to do with the story, except in how it is received by white people.
L has been having difficulty organising Black History Month with a group of African Carribean people. They have told her it has nothing to do with her - though she is black, and born in Africa. They have told her that Somalia is not African, and that she is not black.
When I have made the mistake of relaying this story to other white people, their response has been, Well see - black people are just as racist as white people. I don't answer that of course they are, they are human and we are all capable of racism... but I think about that kind of an answer...
Somehow this story or any other instance of prejudice that comes from black people seems to 'let white people off the hook'. They seem to respond that somehow it's ok for them to be racist because black people are. Somehow they haven't understood - or acknowledged - that racism diminishes both the victim and the perpetrator's lives and that trying to address racism isn't like paying your taxes, something you know should be doing for the good of the country but actually you rather try to avoid it...