This paper examines the problem of white liberal guilt from a Kleinian perspective, considering both the reparative potential of guilt in the depressive position, as well as the ways in which racial guilt can become diverted to an internal experience focused more on the self than on the harmed other, inspiring ways of thinking and acting that have little to do with repair. Drawing especially from the Kleinian concept of persecutory guilt, which describes the form guilt can take “when reparation is felt to be impossible”, I examine the consequences of white liberal guilt as expressed in the United States today. In particular, I argue that white liberal self-idealization and self-reproach – positions summarized as “this is not who we are” and “this is all that we are” – can function as two sides of a coin, grounded in splitting and in divergent yet related forms of exceptionalism. As an alternative, I propose thinking about reparation within the realm of the ordinary, and consider what this might entail.

本文从克莱因主义的角度考察了白人自由内的问题，同时考虑了内in在抑郁状态下的修复潜力，以及种族内can如何转移到更侧重于自身而非内在的内部体验的方式。伤害了与修复无关的其他启发性思维和行动方式。特别是从克莱因的迫害罪概念中汲取灵感我描述了今天在美国表达的白人自由犯罪的后果。特别是，我认为白人自由主义的自我理想化和自我谴责（被概括为“这不是我们是谁”和“这就是我们是所有人”的立场）可以充当硬币的两个方面，以分裂和分裂为基础。以不同但相关的例外形式。作为替代方案，我建议在普通人的范围内考虑赔偿问题，并考虑这可能带来什么。