Yes. To add to those black luminaries, President Obama’s two terms in office are wonderful (to me, anyway), and symbolize progress, but the individual achievements of specific black superstars don’t disprove white privilege as a systemic ill. It would be reductive to say “the exceptions prove the rule,” but when you breathlessly point out exceptions in the form of rich black entertainers and athletes, you are agreeing that they are remarkable and literally exceptional.
And what are you doing when you describe the entirety of white America as privileged, irrespective of the fact that the number of rich, successful, powerful whites is still a miniscule fraction of white America overall?
Why does one tiny percentage of black people not justify making generalisations about white people, but a slightly larger (but still tiny) percentage of white people does?
As a white person in America today, you may not have personally ever done anything “wrong.” You’ve certainly never owned slaves, and if you’re reading this, you’re likely not a member of an extremist white supremacist group. Yet you can be complicit in a system that is much larger than you without ever even knowing it, and your lack of initial awareness doesn’t excuse continued denial once it’s been pointed out.
Kafkatrapping duly noted. Denial is not relevant, it's proof of your guilt.
Even “innocent” and well-intentioned white allies do themselves and the notion of racial equality a disservice if they persist in resisting the concept of privilege, but I can understand those who never even considered it. To be able to carry on day to day and not have your race impact your life to the point of reflection or critical examination is the very essence of the thing. Your privilege blinds you to your privilege in a sort of Russian nesting doll setup of exponential denial. Until you accept it.
Gotta love those scare quotes around innocent - "innocent" like Michael Brown was "innocent", I'm sure.
Amazingly, many of us have considered what you're saying, and still think it's a load of crap.
Our brains are not hardwired to accept absence before presence, potentiality before actuality, or theory over tangible evidence. This is why it’s difficult for many to understand that their white privilege manifests most often as what they don’t have, rather than what they do. It’s much easier to react to the word and say “but I’m poor!” than it is to imagine that you were born into a world where you’re the norm, the standard of perceived humanity from which others deviate.
How is this an argument against white America, but not against the notion of white privilege? Maybe the author is one who is ignoring evidence or at least not considering that there may be a better, alternative way of framing the issue than her dogmatism.
But neither are you! Not literally, anyway. So why must you be made to feel bad for things you had no control over, just because of the skin you were born in?
No reasonable person is asking that.
That's exactly what you are doing. You are demanding that white people take account as a race for a system they did not set up, and in doing so imply that not one of them is innocent.
Unless the author is simply admitting here that she is unreasonable.
White Guilt and White Tears are pejorative phrases because they do nothing to help the problems at hand, and you just feeling bad does nothing to help society. The message has been muddled by those who don’t truly understand it, but acknowledging white privilege is not about pointing the finger or making white people as a whole feel bad. C’mon. We consistently fight for the right to not be seen as a monolith. Why would we turn around and do it to you?
Plenty of cases of trying to get people to privilege check is finger pointing, and denying or dismissing this isn't helping overcome the problem.
As for that last sentiment - seriously? People who decry racism against black people are still at risk of treating whites as a monolith because
people will very willingly rationalise hypocrisy if they think it will suit their goals. It's entirely possible for a group that claims to be about equality to be little more than "(expletive) you, got mine" in practice.
It is undeniable, however, that if you are a sensible person with empathy, accepting white privilege is going to make you feel bad, and no rational adult wants to feel bad. Furthermore, if you really look at it, you may feel powerless, adding to your reasons for wanting to deny it.
I get it. The exhaustion of hopelessness or feeling like you don’t know what you can do is a common emotional response to a negative shock. And it’s terrifying. I can only imagine the fear of having been living your life, probably thinking that you’re one of the “good ones,” not being racist, possibly not even thinking about race, only to be told one day that you’re actually a part of this system of oppression.
How in the world someone can say this isn't manipulative is beyond me. This is like scientology brainwashing. You're an awful person - but it's ok - we have the cure, and all you have to do is support us and do what we say.
You could absolutely still have empathy for Sandra Bland’s death, but you have a far lesser chance of seeing yourself reflected in pictures of her face, and you don’t have the experience of logging on to social media to see that police brutality and systemic racism have claimed the life of yet another person who looks like your family, who could be you.
Why shouldn't I see myself in her? See, the people who go around insisting that every group has its own experience unknowable by members of other groups are
people like the author.
I have no interest in addressing the racially charged violence, death, or injustice of the day when so many persist in dismissing these near-daily occurrences as isolated incidents, magically unique to each day and not at all tethered to a larger power structure in America at play.
Well, no, while some people do dismiss this, other people accept this but dismiss your version of white privilege as a framing device as unhelpful and bigoted. It is entirely possible to be for racial, gender, whatever equality you desire and still think the loudmouth movements that make the news aren't actually helping achieve those goals.
