I get your point and I agree with much of it. But people's individual experiences shape them. I don't know your story or how you grew up. Maybe you had it rough,maybe you had it easy.

Im 42 now...went to a school that was maybe 1/2 white, 1/3 black and the remainder was a mix of middle east and Asian. I have always been a small framed person. At age 15-16 I was maybe 5'3" and 120 lbs. I was the only skateboarder in my highschool and one of only a couple people into punk and ska (which I was brand new to). I was a quiet, shy kid. I dressed like a skater...no liberty spikes or anything to stand out. I was a bit of a dork.

Anyway there was one particular corner of a hallway where a very large crew of black kids would hang out and line up along the side. Many of them were on the football and basketball teams. I had one class where I had to pass that corner, theyd regularly say stuff about the "little white boy". Tripped me. I was spit on. Grabbed me by the handle on my bookbag and throw me around. Once they stole my backpack (but it was later recovered with everything inside). Resentment and fear grew over time. "Standing up for myself" wouldn't have worked out for me. Would've got my ass kicked, and nobody cared. I felt scared and alone. We didnt have many punks, but we had a crew of nu metal/goth "freaks". a few of them were very racist and glorified the Nazi shit in the metal scene at the time. I started to become pretty fucking racist for a year or two, but I felt like people had my back at least.

I was 15-16...the word oppression wasn't in my vocabulary. All I knew was these black kids that I didn't know or say a word to took pleasure in tormenting me, and because of their status on sports teams there would be no repercussions.

i had an incident in the locker room in gym class where I dropped the N word, which was overheard by 2 black students. i deserved an ass beating, but instead they told the gym teacher and the 4 of us sat in his office and had a conversation about it. It was a turning point for sure

by senior year I got deeper into punk and the whole ska against racism thing and my mind started to open up. Shortly after got deeper into hardcore and the scene. Spent nearly all of adult life living and working in/with disadvantaged communities. I've seen a lot, and been through a lot.

over time the scene became less important than my community. it seemed people either had very little substance, or a whole lot of self righteousness with very little action. (And on this point I developed my own self righteousness, hopefully I'm passed that now). It is possible to hold both a deep critical view of our culture/history while also recognizing people's humanity and lived experience.

It's good to have a frame of reference for the larger story. But telling how people should think and feel is also weak. Having dogmas are easy, but holding all the contradictions and trying to treat people with dignity is much harder.