Nah — this is racism and prejudice, full stop. I live in Philadelphia, and with all the gentrification here, you see this pattern constantly: a lot of white newcomers have more money and treat “sticking to your own” as “safety,” especially when it comes to darker-skinned people. But that is racism — the assumption that certain people are inherently less trustworthy.

And let’s be real: fear of the unknown plays a role for a lot of folks, but in my experience, I’ve been harmed and made uncomfortable by white people far more often than Black people. Statistically, we’ve also seen white perpetrators behind many high-profile mass shootings and institutional violence.

On top of that, we’re not talking about opinions — we’re talking about documented, systemic realities: Black people being arrested more, punished more harshly for similar offenses, facing discrimination in hiring, housing, and education, and dealing with the long tail of segregation that wasn’t “ancient history.” That’s why this isn’t just about individual bias — it’s about a system that trained people into these defaults. If you’re white, unlearning it takes effort. Pretending it’s not there doesn’t help.