White guilt as a nonsensical and harmful excuse for complacency/silence

I have a lot of disorganized thoughts and sentiments about this issue which I will attempt to organize later if I ever get a good night's sleep....but I thought I'd throw a few starting questions out there for now:

I've noticed a lot of white people express a feeling of not being "allowed" to participate in these discussions because their whiteness would do more harm than good. I think this is fucking bullshit and also discounts that sitting the fuck down, listening, and learning is just as much an act of participation as speaking up is.

However, when is the right time to start talking? How can one use their position of white privilege and the powers it grants them in a tangibly productive way? In a way that positively affects the discourse without contributing to the erasure of marginalized voices?

The "how" of this is something I've felt stuck on. Would love to hear some thoughts.