My general rule is if I don’t feel like I could hand them a gun if something popped off then the question really answers itself.

Your experiences and opinions are completely justified. I'm white, and white people have a shit ton of unlearning to do by default, as others have mentioned. I'd like to believe that a lot of white leftists genuinely support and believe in progressive, socialist, or communist beliefs/movements, but it takes a lot of work to shift from always viewing everything from a white lens.

I'll admit that I was a bit of a shithead until about 7 years ago when I got introduced to new ideas and began to truly listen to other people's experiences. When you're growing up in a primarily white suburban bubble, that kind of curbs social development if there isn't a lot of exposure to other peoples' and cultures experiences.

Granted, it is a very common phenomenon that white leftists put on the air of revolutionary thought & rhetoric, but they're still more white than leftist. A lot of these folks never grow beyond just saying the right things, and the mask can slip off and they'll show their ass. That does make it difficult to sus out whether a white person is genuine or not, and I've run into it plenty of times myself.

I don't think it's so weird or unusual to be at least a bit distrustful of the people that benefit the most from a country built off racism and colonialism. Fwiw I'm white, so I don't think it's my place to say more than that, but I have similar feelings to cishet allies who have shown their ass over the years. Of course it's not 1:1, but I feel like you can only be let down so many times before there's an asterisk next to ally* that doesn't go away for a while.

optimal strategy

I don't know how else to say this but if this is real you sound like such a weird person, do you actually get anything done in the organization where you practice this or do you only organize (and talk) with people who don't pass as white?

When I first met my housemate she called herself a communist and has been doing everything to prove that she is just an awful radlib since then

Idk I try not to view people so suspiciously unless they've given me reason to. It's worked out alright so far.

i mean it doesn't make them less trustworthy than the average white person

That's fair, talk is cheap

That’s how I feel with self-proclaimed leftists in NATO countries. It’s almost always a radlib who wants to be politically daring. Online they’re mostly cool though. Most of the saner Marxist-Leninists from those countries are mostly found online.

The only white people i trust are David Gilbert, Judy Clark, and the United Freedom Front people.

I’ve also met plenty of opportunistic and full of shit non-white activists. Just FYI. don’t get conned.

But your instincts are correct. Most white people are not to be trusted to varying degrees.

I've congregated with white self proclaimed leftist/socialists who are aware of their "privilege" but still have weird views about "bad" neighbors that borderlines into fear. How white people talk about crime or "bad" areas is my litmus test.

Because you damn well should distrust fucking crackers