Personal discrimination against white people exists. But racism is systemic and white supremacy makes for a skewed power imbalance in which white people do not face institutionalized oppression based on their race.
Whenever I see a question like this on the Internet, I tend to see the “racism is systemic” explanation go over people’s heads. I would like to offer an extension of this explanation. I, like many people, was taught in school that racism is either believing your own race to be superior or hating individuals of other races. Using these definitions and not considering historical (or present) context, one can certainly argue that racism goes both ways.
However, context is everything, so let’s consider it. It is true that more and more people have friendships or otherwise positive relationships with people of different races. For this reason, I think that, when many white people hear someone accuse their actions as being racist, they think, “That’s ridiculous, how can I hate my friends?” Further, compared to earlier times, it is becoming rarer for people to publicly announce that they hate someone of a particular race or that they think their own race is superior. If you were to consider this and only this, you might come to the conclusion that there’s no more racism or that it’s on its way out.
But if there’s no racism, why are people with whose names imply that they are white (e.g. Steve Jones) more likely to be called back for job interviews than people whose names imply that they are POC (e.g. Tahani Tompkins), even when they have similar credentials? x x
Why are white people less likely to see films where the majority of the cast consists of black people or other POC? x
Why are all-white juries more likely to convict black defendants to jail time than to convict white defendants, even when they’ve committed similar crimes? x
Why are black people twice as likely as white people to be born prematurely or with a low birthrate, even when controlling for education and socioeconomic class? x
Why are any of the phenomena described in these charts taking place? x
These are just a few examples of modern-day racism. If racism against white people existed, that would mean that people of color would have sufficient control of institutions like the media, the school and university systems, the medical systems, and the government to oppress white people. We do not have that power. White people do. Even if they truly don’t hate or see themselves as superior to POCs, white people as a group have benefits that POCs as a group do not have.