- Moderator
- #141
So you feel guilty about your white privilege? And, no, it is nothing like using a racial epithet. Again, because I am a liberal helper...That's not what far leftists mean when they hit you with that term. It is a term made to foist guilt on someone for being white. The very phrase "white privilege" is demeaning and derogatory. It is tantamount to calling a black person a ni**er. And yes, I would have every bit the same right to be offended by the usage of such a term to define people of my racial background.Because I'm a liberal helper
How to Explain White Privilege in Terms Simple Enough for a Child
The term white privilege is often misunderstood. But experts explain why it's important to teach your children what it means and how to do that based on their age.www.parents.com
It Doesn't Mean That All White People Have Had an Easy LifeThe common misperception about white privilege is that it implies that being white inherently makes for a life of smooth sailing and that successes aren't hard-earned. People might associate the phrase with financial wealth or other types of privilege that they don't/didn't have, explains Dr. Garrett-Akinsanya."Some white people deny that advantages are unearned," notes Erin Pahlke, Ph.D., an associate professor of psychology at Whitman College, whose research centers on how children form their views about race. "Often, these people see their own successes as entirely a result of their own hard work and others' struggles as a result of not working hard enough. And some folks mistakenly believe that they can't be privileged because they themselves have suffered personal life hardships."Denial of white privilege might also stem from another belief: that the U.S. operates as a meritocracy, or a system in which you're rewarded exclusively for ability and effort, as opposed to wealth and social class. "There's some research that suggests that white parents are more likely than Black parents to teach their children that the U.S. is a meritocracy," explains Dr. Pahlke. "And, for people who strongly believe that the U.S. is a meritocracy, white privilege can be a hard concept to accept."The misinterpretation of the term is fairly widespread. According to 2017 findings from the Pew Research Center, 46 percent of white Americans say they believe they benefit because of their race, compared to 92 percent of Black Americans and 65 percent of Hispanic Americans who believe that white people benefit."Because the advantages are so structurally ingrained, privileges are often unconscious and perceived as being unremarkable," explains Dr. Garrett-Akinsanya. "White privilege has a legacy of racism and is a cause of it, too."
It is meant to minimize any and all suffering and hardship endured by someone of the Caucasian race.
I'm not falling for that garbage doublespeak you just cited.
Thanks in advance.
Understanding white privilege: 20 everyday examples
A lesson in how white people benefit from and contribute to structural racismwww.harpersbazaar.com
- I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time.
- If I should need to move, I can be pretty sure of renting or purchasing housing in an area which I can afford and in which I would want to live.
- I can be pretty sure that my neighbours in such a location will be neutral or pleasant to me.
- I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed.
- I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented.
- When I am told about our national heritage or about “civilisation,” I am shown that people of my colour made it what it is.
- I can be sure that my children will be given curricular materials that testify to the existence of their race.
- If I want to, I can be pretty sure of finding a publisher for this piece on white privilege.
- I can go into a music shop and count on finding the music of my race represented, into a supermarket and find the staple foods that fit with my cultural traditions, into a hairdresser’s shop and find someone who can cut my hair.
- Whether I use checks, credit cards or cash, I can count on my skin colour not to work against the appearance of financial reliability.
- I can arrange to protect my children most of the time from people who might not like them.
- I can swear, or dress in second-hand clothes, or not answer letters, without having people attribute these choices to the bad morals, the poverty, or the illiteracy of my race.
- I can speak in public to a powerful male group without putting my race on trial.
- I can do well in a challenging situation without being called a credit to my race.
- I am never asked to speak for all the people of my racial group.
- I can remain oblivious of the language and customs of persons of colour who constitute the world’s majority without feeling in my culture any penalty for such oblivion.
- I can criticise our government and talk about how much I fear its policies and behaviour without being seen as a cultural outsider.
- I can be pretty sure that if I ask to talk to “the person in charge,” I will be facing a person of my race.
- If a traffic cop pulls me over or if the IRS audits my tax return, I can be sure I haven’t been singled out because of my race.
- I can easily buy posters, postcards, picture books, greeting cards, dolls, toys, and children’s magazines featuring people of my race.
I'll just address the title of the link you cited.
I don't contribute to or benefit from structural racism.
And I'll tell you something else: the structure is being re-tooled to be racist against white people. You can laugh and scoff at that assertion all you want, but you know it to be truth. White people are being villainized for the deeds of their ancestors while blacks are being propped up for the suffering of theirs.
That is an interesting statement...because I would agree, it does sometimes feel that way.
I'm on the fence in how I feel about those things...in part, because of some exploration and discussion with another member here on religion, and her religion (I am expressing this poorly but I'll try) feels a people is collectively responsible for the actions of their people, and have a duty to try to atone and make things right. That doesn't mean going around in sack cloth and ashes...it means you do what you can to understand and stand in some way atone and make better. Whether it's acknowledgement and apology that there was past wrong doing or something else. Whether it's for how the Americans treated the native tribes, or slavery, or Germany's reconciliation of the Holocaust. It's complicated, because I also have a situation going on now, at work, where I have to watch what I say all the time lest it be construed as somehow racist by a particularly volatile and angry individual in the workplace, and that is an uncomfortable situation. IMO, some people are LOOKING for racism...even when it's not there.