What is "White Privilege" in american politics and law?

[RDKirk]

If you're given breaks that others are not given because you are white, the cumulative effect of that is that you'll be in a better social and economic state than the people who aren't given similar breaks.

But you have to stop there "...given breaks that others are not given because you are white" and go no further. You can't get into the "...better social and economic state..." as part of the definition of white privilege.

If you go that far into the definition of white privilege, then there is the very valid objection from many whites of "I don't have all that, so I don't have white privilege."

"White privilege" is nothing more than the positive "benefit of the doubt" a person is given in certain situations based solely on his or her white skin. It doesn't mean he's going to be richer or actually get the job or the nice home or the nice car. It only means that in a given moment he got judgment points merely for being white.

I'm a military retiree, and that gives me a certain amount of "military privilege" that civilians don't have. Sometimes it even works as well as white privilege, for instance, when I've been stopped by police and they notice my "Retired Air Force" license plate and stickers.

There is also "pretty girl privilege" and "tall man privilege," as well as "celebrity privilege." Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie walking into an exclusive restaurant without a reservation...think they don't have the necessary collection of privileges to get in?

White privilege is simply the extent to which a white person is given a benefit of the doubt in a particular situation purely because he is white. Sometimes it might get you a job, sometimes it just means you're not followed around by security in a department store.

 

[Crowns&Laurels]

Yet I expect if you belong to one of these groups you want White Privilege to continue and harken back to the glory days of the KKK:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:White_supremacist_groups_in_the_United_States

http://people.missouristate.edu/michaelcarlie/storage/white_supremacist_groups.htm

This is a pretty good eye opener:
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Black_supremacy

Racism and supremacy is not just existent among groups of white people. You just don't hear about it on the news because it's white people (or more specifically, white men) which have become a standard to scrutinize.

 

[Reep]

I'm from Generation X. Not the Boomers. But my generation was raised by the Boomers.

You're comment seems to be made out of total ignorance. The generation(s) before mine were all living, operating, and adapted into a racial caste system. There was no "few" to it. The only "few" were those that were the exception to the rule, the outliers. And for those white outliers the social consequences could be pretty harsh--at times physically so even to the point of being murder.

Then perhaps we should just have every boomer walk around like this from now on...

Or just white guilt liberals of any age?
Buy hey, lets continue to believe that every boomer should feel guilty...So glad I know the boomers I do who can be against racism (both then and now) and still have not the single ounce of white guilt.

 

[SuperCloud]

Then perhaps we should just have every boomer walk around like this from now on...

Or just white guilt liberals of any age?
Buy hey, lets continue to believe that every boomer should feel guilty...So glad I know the boomers I do who can be against racism (both then and now) and still have not the single ounce of white guilt.

What country do you live in? Most Boomers don't have guilt or if they do it may be born out of past sins of things done or things they failed to do. Kind of like that prayer recited in every Catholic Mass. A concept akin to a "Mea Culpa."

But even that guilt--if it exists--among Boomers is only carried at a certain level. It's not like American white people are walking around practicing Catholic self mortification, wearing hair shirts, or whipping themselves across the back.

But some acknowledge that certain (not all) aspects of "the old days" weren't fair and that in terms of social and emotional health it wasn't even good for the white people either. And in acknowledging that they simply try to live in away that is not going back towards those racial animosities.

That different than acting as if they lived in a totally different world in "the old days" and as if they were utterly immune to the racial biases and antagonisms.

 

[dzheremi]

But you have to stop there "...given breaks that others are not given because you are white" and go no further. You can't get into the "...better social and economic state..." as part of the definition of white privilege.

If you go that far into the definition of white privilege, then there is the very valid objection from many whites of "I don't have all that, so I don't have white privilege."

Okay. I'm not talking about that being the definition of white privilege. I'm already agreeing with you that white privilege does not encompass all the inequality that can be found between the races, only that it can help explain why things are the way they are (namely by what you are already saying: white people being judged positively purely on the basis of being white). I'm talking about the cumulative effect of things, not saying that the inequality that exists is white privilege itself. A white person driving around in a fancy car isn't an example of white privilege, in the sense that white privilege did not buy him that car. White privilege is not legal tender. He may have been given an edge over a non-white shopper due to stereotypes on the part of the dealership's owner or salespeople about which races are more or less likely to be able to make payments in a timely fashion on the car, however. Like you said, it's about the benefit of the doubt and being prejudged in a positive fashion simply because you're white.

"White privilege" is nothing more than the positive "benefit of the doubt" a person is given in certain situations based solely on his or her white skin. It doesn't mean he's going to be richer or actually get the job or the nice home or the nice car. It only means that in a given moment he got judgment points merely for being white.

I agree.

There is also "pretty girl privilege" and "tall man privilege," as well as "celebrity privilege." Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie walking into an exclusive restaurant without a reservation...think they don't have the necessary collection of privileges to get in?

Nope.

White privilege is simply the extent to which a white person is given a benefit of the doubt in a particular situation purely because he is white. Sometimes it might get you a job, sometimes it just means you're not followed around by security in a department store.

Again, I agree.

I think we're in agreement, and I'm not sure what you think I'm saying, but I'm pretty sure it's not what I think I'm saying. I'm sorry we're having this problem communicating. I will try to be clearer in the future.

 

[RDKirk]

No, we don't know. It's yet again assuming that black people would simply want to be white.

As I've said more than once, this is an old, old discussion among black people in America. It's older than I am, and I've participated in that discussion with other black people all my life. Almost all blacks even today go through that period when we realize we're in a different world.

I've related on another thread when I was a kid back in the 50s in Oklahoma watching a town parade with my mother. My youngest aunt was still in high school, and I knew she played clarinet in the school marching band. What I didn't understand at the time, though, that she went to Booker T Washington High School, not the main city high school, which was segregated white. I saw the one school band and strained to see my aunt. When I asked my mother, "Where was Aunt Faith," she answered simply, "We can't be in their parade."

For every black person in America--at least through the Boomer generation--there comes a point of realizing, "They don't want me in their parade." Different blacks have responded to that realization in different ways, some positive, some positive, some negative. It's expressed by the old phrase, "You have to run twice as fast just to stay in the same place."

I mean if we're all suppose to believe that being white is the best thing since sliced bread, then why (according to you) do so many black people want to be saddled with living with such constant guilt?

You seem to have the hangup about "guilt" in this conversation.

I do recall reading some controversies over how it was done. Whether that applies to the ones you post idk. Either way this isn't a scientific study and isn't a white privilege or guilt issue.

The specific sidebar discussion was about whether blacks would prefer to be whites, given the world as it is. I have a black daughter. I was raised by a black mother and have black aunts and cousins. There is no controversy.

I'm saying that (white) milennials once in the real world will discover they don't actually have any extra privilege granted to them, nor should they feel guilty for being white. Are you also suggesting that all boomers were in favour of racial segregation, or that there aren't milennials who support it now?

I think you're just arguing for the sake of arguing. I've said over and over that Millennials were not raised the same race-centric way as Boomers and will not shape the same race-centric world as Boomers.

Honestly, WOW! I'll be honest I have no idea what it's like to have the mindset that you must feel guilty for past actions you had no role in. I'll never understand this guilt ridden way of thinking.

I had said: "Anyone and everyone ought to feel bad that the past was what it was, and if they had a personal part in it--which many Boomer whites living today had--then they ought to feel guilty about it."

As I said, you're clearly just arguing for the sake of arguing and simply not even responding to what I'm actually writing.

 

[Jwe17fe]

The general consensus on this thread seemingly and overwhelmingly conclude that "White Privilege" does not exist, and by that virtue it is a figment of many American's imaginations.

I am going to introduce a novel idea onto this thread, one that I believe will be very controversial and equally as hard to refute...... Racism/discrimination necessitates a privileged group in society; the relationship between the discriminated group and the privileged group are inextricably bound and you cannot have one without the other. For comprehension purposes, take the relationship between air pressure and temperature. Notice that the relationship between the two is a direct correlation. What does this mean? This means that as temperature rises, as a function of their relationship, air pressure also rises. Similarly, as air pressure decreases the temperature will decrease as well. In summation, you can't have one without the other, if one is present the other is sure to be there in equal proportions; likewise, you cannot have racism from the ruling majority absent of privilege. More concretely, America's major institutions such as the Judicial system have been deemed discriminatory towards people of color, this is a fact proven by empirical data........ With that said, discrimination/racism is proven to be a factor and by that virtue proven to still exist.

Truly I do not believe that the argument of whether or not white privilege exists is up for discussion. Why? I believe to say that white privilege does not exist is just as foolish as saying that racism is nonexistent. No one with two eyes and a logical mind absolved of hate would ever make such a statement. If you agree that to say racism has been completely eradicated in America is utterly ridiculous, then I submit to you that to say white privilege does not exist is just as ridiculous.... Why? Because wherever you find discrimination/racism, there the privileged will be also---they are inextricably bound! So to say that racism exists, one must conclude that the privileged exist; it is impossible to get around this if the initial statement is conceded.

 

[drjean]

This is the best hat I have right now ... rather than read "personal" please edit your posts that have ANY video or link in it that contains cursing. Thank you.

 

[jsimms615]

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