Most protest that false convictions, societal deprivations or other circumstances caused their incarceration. This is not to deny that the criminal justice system is racist. But self-proclaimed assertions of innocence are the least convincing form of evidence. Consider now mainstream white Americans who protest they are innocent of maintaining a racially structured society that privileges white people and holds people of color at a disadvantage. Like fellow inmates who support each others' claims, they convince only themselves.
Prisons contain society's outcasts and prisoners' views have little impact on the rest of society.
But mainstream white Americans, by virtue of our power and numbers, shape the very nature of our country. The best defense is a good offense, and mainstream white Americans who lobby for their innocence take this to heart. To those people of color who protest the dominance of whiteness, the charge is made that they are seeking privilege, indeed have obtained it, at the cost of innocent white people. These claims have all the earmarks of male masturbation. They may feel good while doing it, but in the end they're nowhere near the target.