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As the country grapples with its racist past and present, and protests against racial violence continue, many white people are making misinformed comments—from "Racism is in the past/I'm not racist" and "Everyone's having a hard time right now," to "My feelings matter and I must share them right now!" and even "All lives matter." While
some of these comments might be well-meaning, more often than not, they can be extremely harmful. Questions about systemic racism are not bad or forbidden, and honest, open-minded dialogues about the resulting movements are encouraged, but only
after you've done the legwork and research to learn about both.