I don't believe that black people are making up racism - but it's hard to be totally objective. I mean, it's hard for anyone to put themselves in the perspective of how their life would be if they weren't who they were. As a white, heterosexual male, society basically tells me that I've been handed everything in my life on a silver platter, and there is absolutely no sympathy to any and all struggles that I may have to deal with. I think a lot of white people deal with this and feel bitter because it feels as if they're not entitled to express any issues at all, or that they're not worthy of being addressed simply because they may be "less oppressed".

It's not that I don't think racism exists - but it does feel like a prevailing view that white people can't be victims of racism. I've grown up in big cities in the south where either white people were only slightly the highest representative race, or black people were actually the largest representative race, and the opposite exists, too.

As I've grown older, I HAVE started to notice it more and more - and I think part of that reason is that while I grew up poor/lower middle class, I'm now upper middle class. I've noticed that despite the city where I live being 40% black, in the upper middle class neighborhood that I live in, black people are a rarity - but they always seem to be working at the shops I frequent. They're also a rarity where I work, though I work in a different city that is 30% black.

so far most people acknowledge that racism exists. But it seems like most white people here seem to believe that Black people exaggerate the effects of racism. I cannot understand how anyone could believe that.

The reason that white people in general feel this way is, I think, because of what I highlighted above. Many white people see black people as blaming any and all failings/shortcomings they may have on racism/institutionalized racism - and they themselves garner absolutely no sympathy for any failings that they may have because they are white and clearly have had everything handed to them on a silver platter. I think this builds resentment in white people who feel as if the world is just inherently more sympathetic to the struggles of non-white people, even if they are not race related, which can cause the feeling of unfairness.

And for white people, it's very hard to realize and understand the benefits that you may get for being white. It's hard for me to see, at a personal level, that I am treated better purely because of my race. I have to rely on outside influences telling me this, and it sends the message that I don't deserve what I have, because I have it simply because I'm white. This feels like it marginalizes any and all effort and difficulties I've had to deal with in my life.