Can white people in the USA be victims of racism?

Anti-black racism starts global movements, while anti-white racism is socially acceptable

Question: Can white people in the USA be victims of racism?
Position‹2 of 2: Yes, white people can be victims of racism
Argument‹4 of 8›: Anti-black racism starts global movements, while anti-white racism is socially acceptable

White victimisation is on the rise, and yet barely registers in the news cycle. Many point to President Trump's presidency and the backlash against his perceived racism against ethnic minorities. In the aftermath of controversial laws, such as the travel ban, videos surfaced of blacks attacking whites on the basis of their colour. That footage was never investigated. Nor did it spark any kind of meaningful social movement, like those seen in Ferguson or in the wake of George Floyd's murder. There can only be one takeaway here: society places greater value on black lives. The ongoing violent protests around the world by Black Lives Matter activists typify this attitude, and how it has now become engrained in the social psyche. Proponents include white supremacists and the alt-right.

The argument

Mainstream culture’s position on racism displays a disturbing double-standard. Anti-white racism is tolerated and accepted while anti-black racism is condemned and seen as morally reprehensible. The names of George Floyd, Breonna Tayler, and many other black victims of racial injustice are known to almost every American citizen. Their deaths caused public outrage and led to massive protests around the nation, but when the 5 Dallas police officers, Brent Thompson, Michael Krohl, Michael Smith, Patrick Zamarripa and Lorne Ahrens were gunned down in July during a Black Lives Matter protest, their names were quickly forgotten. Anti-white sentiment has recently resulted in both violent actions as well as rhetoric, most notably by member of The New York Times editorial board Sarah Jeong. Jeong has publicly made racist statements such as, “The world could get by just fine with zero white people”, and It’s “kind of sick how much joy I get out of being cruel to old white men”. The Times explained her behavior as a response to the racist tweets that she had been receiving online, but there was no public outcry at her inflammatory tweets.. If it had been the opposite, and a member of the Times editorial board had posted an anti-black racist comment, they would be publicly fired automatically. As anti-black racism is rightfully viewed as deplorable by mainstream culture, anti-white racism has become an accepted position in society.

Premises

[P1]Anti-black racism in the USA is publicly condemned, sparking widespread outrage and protest movements. [P2] Anti-white racism, by contrast, is tolerated in mainstream culture, as shown by ignored killings of white officers and unpunished racist rhetoric from public figures like Sarah Jeong. [P3] This double standard demonstrates that white people are subjected to racial hostility that society refuses to recognize as racism. [C] Therefore, white people in the USA can be, and are, victims of racism.

Counter-arguments

Many social justice advocates would argue that the reason that global movements haven't erupted from anti-white violence isn't because there is currently less value placed on white lives. The reason is because white people suffer individual cases of violence against them, not the systematic violence that African American's must suffer through. While it is possible for people to be prejudice against white people, it is impossible for them to be racist to white people because they do not have the support of the systems of power.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] The premise makes public condemnation the measure of what counts as racism. The outrage it points to followed sustained organising around a documented pattern of deaths in police custody, rather than a judgement that some lives are worth more than others. [Rejecting P2] The examples do not carry the generalisation. The killing of the Dallas officers was condemned across the political spectrum and prosecuted as mass murder, and a single columnist's posts — widely criticised at the time — are a thin basis for a claim about mainstream culture as a whole. [Rejecting P3] On the definition the opposing position uses, hostility directed at white Americans is prejudice rather than racism, because it is not backed by the institutional power that converts private bias into differential treatment by police, courts, employers and lenders. The premise assumes a definition its opponents reject rather than defending it.