The best one I've seen by far is Stuff Black People Hate. Just catch the entries on Diabetes and Europe.

But as far as starting out the racism conversation... it has a lot to do with showing by example, depending on the classes and people you're trying to reach. The further down you get on the totem pole, the more demonstrative work you need to show that the discussions you want to raise aren't luxuries or intellectual exercises -- they're crucial and they affect the dreams and hopes of everyone stuck in this system beyond the superficial ideas of "Crying Racism" and "Race Cards." The media have entrenched so many soundbytes about what racism is not that you'd need an arsenal of media and contact to show people how it doesn't square up with what they live.

Easier said than done, you know?

As for Mr. WM... he may be right. Stuff White People Like just might be racist; it's certainly classist and imperialist and a few other pretty -isms. But what are his reasons for pointing it out? He couldn't make it evident except for snide comparisons. You wouldn't like it if it were your people. Well... racism has never been about people liking anything; what real world implications has this site created that works against white people? Less Mos Def at the record store? A book deal for the site's founder? People tearing around to figure out what is and what isn't like them, and why? Only the latter could lead to something problematic for the white folk that site doesn't describe, and why that is. Whiteness won't be a sacred cow forever.

(Sorry, I said I wouldn't blog anymore for a set period of time at my place, and I've been rambling everywhere since that point.)

See I guess I'm the opposite. I never took critical race theory and haven't had too many discussions about race in an academic setting (being a college dropout) and I often feel like I'm not armed with the language to engage in critical debates about race, even though I have spoken and dealt with the race issues on a grassroots/activist level.

I think that part of the huge problem is that white people deny whiteness. They'd rather give out that old I'm colorblind line when it denies the very real impact that the created race structure has caused.

It's my understanding that the person who created that site is white. Now I guess it might be offensive to white some white people but doesn't that change the equation with regards to whether or not it's racist?

Hmmm, as a white person who finds myself getting into lots of discussions about racism with other white folks (mostly when they've said something I can't let slide in my presence, but also, occasionally, with people who see the world through a similar lens to my own), I don't think there are really any magic words that can make someone "get it." No one (or very few people, anyway) likes to think of themselves as racist, and I think, for the most part, most white folks of a certain age group aren't actually racist - which isn't the same thing as saying that we don't harbor a lot of f#cked up ideas, informed by white privilege and isolation from people of other races and ethnicities. It takes a rare person to actually respond with an open mind when someone challenges any of their deeply-held perspectives. Most people are more prone to be defensive - "I'm not a racist. How dare you say I'm a racist!" (Even if you didn't actually call them a racist, but just challenged a specific thing they said). This is why change happens so slowly. I think the only thing that has any real impact over the long haul is for folks to continue speaking out, getting their perspective out there to fall on receptive ears. And friendship. Over the years, I've found that people who I would never expect to be open and accepting to my (genderqueer lesbian) sexual identity have been willing to shift their perspective because of their desire to remain a part of my life. Sure, some of them continue to think screwed up things ("Just because you like girls doesn't mean you can't wear makeup and buy some prettier clothes, does it?" etc. ...), but it's a work in process. If I wrote them off because they weren't "there" yet, I'd derive them of the opportunity for growth.

I'm a current undergrad in a state that just eliminated affirmative action (and I'm a minority female) so I find myself talking about race A LOT.
I find that most people of color I know work under the assumption that everyone (themselves included) are at least a little racist. We see it as inevitable and not really a big deal (and when I say not a big deal, I mean that we don't think having racist thoughts makes a person the devil.) I've found that if you explain this way of looking at things first then white people and/or non-allies react with less defensiveness. When I started teaching a women's studies class, the first thing I told my students was that I know that I am sexist and racist and that I considered all of them to be a little bit sexist and and racist because it would be stupid to think that our sexist and racist culture had/has absolutely no influence on the way we think. Once I get rid of the fantasy that it's possible to grow up in an oppression-free vacuum, people are at least slightly more open about criticism and race discussion in general.

The hard part is getting people to understand that oppressed groups can show hatred and bias against oppressors, but they can never OPPRESS them. That's the hard part, explaining the implications of power dynamics.

True that, Shelby!

I have some serious problems with SWPL that I wrote about here:
http://www.elainevigneault.com/overpaid-white-man.html

As far as how to have a discussion with this particular white man, I'm not sure. Clearly he is in the wrong to assume SWPL is in the same category as something like Stuff Mexicans Like, but SWPL has elements of racism, classism, etc. Maybe the discussion can begin with finding common agreements and expand from there? Or maybe it can begin with a discussion about privilege?

I think wherever it begins, it has to start from an understanding that he feels hurt by the website and that his feelings are acceptable. It's OK to be hurt, the words ARE hurtful. Just because some people find them funny, doesn't make it OK and it doesn't invalidate his feelings. But then he's got to get from there to where he realizes that there's a big power differential between people like himself and people not like him. Like Shelby says, "oppressed groups can show hatred and bias against oppressors, but they can never OPPRESS them."