Senate "Race" Relations (was "U.S. Society and Black Men")

I'd love some of that white privilege. Can someone point me in the direction of where to get some?

 

Are you white? You already have it, you just didn't know it.

 

Hmm - I actually don't think that's a very good explanation , because it just equates being white with the 'easy' setting , but it doesn't really explain in what ways whites have it easier .

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Have you ever been pulled over for a broken taillight, failure to signal, some other tiny traffic infraction, or no reason at all?

 

That wasn't a rhetorical question, by the way. Your answer might be yes, and if it is, that's worth noting too.

 

But that's in the game analogy . What I'm saying is that they don't really give any RL examples of this .

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...huh ?

 

gezvader28 Have you ever seen this list before? It might help you, if you are sincerely curious: https://www.deanza.edu/faculty/lewisjulie/White Priviledge Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.pdf

 

Being white means that you've got a far greater chance of being born in a developed country and not in a third world country like I was, and I'm far luckier than most who were born in third world countries. By definition that's a far better start for whites.

 

Whites are less likely to experience institutional discrimination on a economic, social, political and justice level. The system is designed to benefit and protect us (whites), not alienate or persecute.

 

Reading through this checklist is very interesting. Partly because of course as a white person most of those privileges apply to me...

But also because I found myself occasionally switching out "my race" for "my gender" in some cases. And then some definitely don't apply.

I think as a generalization, there's a reason many of the white people in this thread supporting POCs are women; we tend to understand the notion of being at a disadvantage because of something totally out of our control.

I have never, ever been pulled over by the cops. But I've been slapped on the ass by strangers, told to smile by random dudes passing on the sidewalk, and stalked by a middle-aged man at a mall. I certainly know what it's like to not feel safe when going out on my own.

I think this is something that even white men are kind of aware of, the fact that women they know need to be more careful on their own than men.

So it makes me wonder why, if most people acknowledge that at least to some degree as a terrible reality of being female, why many of the same people can't seem to accept that the same thing applies to all POC, especially those of darker skin tones.

Like if white suburban dads get that their teenage daughters need to be aware of creeps at the mall, why don't they get that all black people have to worry about similar things while out and about or while driving... But that instead of coming from random creeps, it comes from the cops. Which makes it so much worse.

Honestly, if you understand the need for self-defense classes for women, why can't you grasp that black parents have to teach their kids how to deal with cops carefully? And that this reflects a terrible disadvantage that they're at compared to white people?

The notion of White Privilege really is that simple.

 

Hear, hear.

In other anger making news... Mississippi school district pulls "To Kill A Mockingbird" from school curriculum because it makes people 'uncomfortable' (read: Racists)

 

If we go around saying "white men are playing life on the easy" then of course white males are going to reject that. That's a funny idea, but it isn't really true. It's not like all white males have the easiest life.

If someone doesn't understand white privilage, particularly a white male, the goal shouldn't be to make them feel guilty.

 

I agree with you Anakinfan, but I don't think that is how white privilage is taught. I had a diversity class in college where I was just there to he berated for being a white male. I felt like I was the target in a passive aggressive slugfest. I recognize that white folks statistically have it better off than others. But I also don't blame people for rejecting the idea of white privilage because it is so often misrepresented.

 

No , again that's^ a conclusion , it just equates 'white' with the easy , it doesn't give examples or explanations of how it happens .
The article you linked was an attempt to explain to people who don't really believe it that white privilege is a real thing , but it doesn't work because it doesn't give any RL examples or explain how it happens . It's like an explanation for people who already agree with the concept .

Don't patronise me , I've been civil to you I expect the same in return .

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The class I took featured a guest speaker each week from a different minority. Some were better than others. Most of the speakers really didn't have many insights though. It really just amounted to them complaining about how much harder their lives were because of their minority status. There was a great effort to dramatize every story to have the maximum effect. The class then delved into the term "white privilage" attempting to prove how white people and white males in particular have it so much easier in nearly every aspect of life. This was disheartening, because I had white classmates in that very class who'd experienced great tragedy in their lives, and they were then being told they should be grateful for how much easier life is for them. The whole class felt like an attempt to make white people feel bad. It offered no solutions on how to fix problems, it was really an awful class.

I understand that white people 'statistically' have easier lives. I get that, and I feel I might have even benefited from it. But in reality, everybody's life is so varied. Some white people really do have a difficult life for many reasons, and then they're told "You're playing life on easy."

For the record, one of the speakers was a black man who spoke about his achievements and failures in life so far. He didn't seem to be blaming anyone, but he was honest about the times in which his skin color made an extra hurdle for him. This is the only speaker I really feel like I learned from. I didn't feel personally guilty when he stopped talking.

I think 'white privilege' is misrepresented because it is used by some as an attack on white people. To me it is a statistic, and I can respect that each individual has their own story and hardships. But if the term 'white privilege' is used to make white people feel bad... what good is it doing? And why are people surprised when the label of 'white privilege' becomes undesirable?

The goal shouldn't be to spread the blame, but instead to identify solutions.