white guilt

American  

[hwahyt gilt, wahyt] / ˈʰwaɪt ˌgɪlt, ˈwaɪt /

noun

1. the feelings of shame and remorse some white people experience when they recognize the legacy of racism and racial injustice and perceive the ways they have benefited from it.

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Etymology

Origin of white guilt

First recorded in 1965–70

Example Sentences

It has been almost 20 years since Shelby Steele published the best-known of his five books on race, “White Guilt: How Blacks and Whites Together Destroyed the Promise of the Civil Rights Era.”

From The Wall Street Journal

Eli and Shelby began working together on their film—also titled “White Guilt”—three years ago.

From The Wall Street Journal

But beneath her white guilt she’s ultimately just as attached to the creature comforts of American wealth as the rest of her family.

From Los Angeles Times

I think many of them would be blown away because they’ve been fed a distorted caricature of feminism and racial justice as based in man-hating and white guilt.

From Salon

“It’s about the West and the East and this idea of wealth disparity and white guilt in connection to Georgia,” he says.

From Los Angeles Times