It’s not just the South and Fox News: Liberals have a white privilege problem too
Joseph Heathcott writes:
But each time I tried to write about Ferguson, I could only stare into the blank screen, dumbfounded. It wasn’t the killing of Michael Brown that left me speechless: tragically, the murder of black men by police is common. It wasn’t the riots that stumped me: Ferguson residents are rightfully fed up with being treated as second-class citizens. It wasn’t even the ludicrous spectacle of a hyper-militarized police response. I’ve been following that story for years.
No, what dumbfounded me was the outpouring of white anger and resentment. As police, pundits, politicians and their supporters sought control over the narrative of events in Ferguson, they drew from the deep well of moral panic and race hatred that in many ways define our contemporary political landscape. I am not talking about the moronic counter-protests by the Klan, or the impending race war hallucinated by capital-R Racists. I am talking about the insidious language of white privilege — the civil, polite, unconscious adoption by white people of racially normative viewpoints that give us comfort and help explain the world on our terms.
For those of us born with white skin, white privilege is the air we breathe; we don’t even have to think about it. It is like the fish that never notices the water in which it swims. It is a glorious gift we have given to ourselves through the social order we have constructed, from top to bottom and bottom to top. It is the pillage of continents, the enslavement of people, the hatred of dark-skinned “others,” all somehow magically laundered by our commitments to democracy, self-reliance, individualism and the “post-racial, color-blind society.” It is our abject unwillingness to confront our history, to correct the deficits of our memory, to lean against the amnesia of a white story told.
Meanwhile, white privilege is a grand protection racket. It has always paid substantial dividends, both in the short term and over generations, by restricting access to a valuable commodity — white skin. The wage we extract from racial difference keeps us committed to its perpetuation, even if we don’t know (or refuse to believe) that we are so committed. White privilege is a legacy, an inheritance, an account on which we can draw over and over and over again for any advantage, however small. It is the accumulation of racially protected, white-defended land, property, education, goods, institutions, mobility, rights and freedom. It is the ultimate head start. Rarely do we even know that we are drawing on these protected accounts, so ubiquitous and profound is the fund. Wave after wave of immigrants has had to learn this lesson, adopting white privilege and anti-black racism to fit properly into their new country.
http://www.salon.com/2014/08/27/its_not_just_the_south_and_fox_news_liberals_have_a_white_privilege_problem_too/
Oh yes, that designation White is the brass ring in this country, when you stop to think about it. I'm Irish-American, and I know others of my tribe who don't consider Greek-Americans, Jewish-Americans, or even Italian-Americans to be "white." I make it a special point to remind them that, less than 200 years ago, there were signs at the docks of New York and Boston reading, "No Dogs or Irish Allowed!"
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Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)
Louisiana1976
(3,962 posts)that it's going on.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)But to do so, would make me "make DU suck."
LloydS of New London
(355 posts)And all of them have struck me as reasoned. If you've a problem with my op, I really would like to read it.
Lloyd
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)I have not a single problem with your post or the OP ... I've just learned that DU has a problem accepting/believing that white liberals have a white privilege problem.
LloydS of New London
(355 posts)Scenario: You and I meet in a city. Any city in America. You're carrying a briefcase.
"Lloyd," you say, "I've got a proposition for you."
"What kind?" I nquire.
"A potentially lucrative financial one," you reply.
My interest piqued, I follow you to a basketball court. Local. Outdoors. Concrete, not wood, as the surface. Standing on the court are ten men who look to be in their early 30s. They are devided into two teams of five each. (You can already see where I'm going with this.)
One 5-man team is comprised entirely of black men, the other team entirely white.
At this point, you open the briefcase. There's $100,000 CASH inside. And you say to me, "Lloyd, I'll make it real simple for you: These two teams are going to play a game of basketball. If you can tell me, right now, before the game starts, which team is gonna win, I will give the this briefcase and its contents."
1SBM, I could use a hundred grand, okay? I'm picking the black team!
But why? I've never seen any of these men before. They're not former NBA stars. Shit, for all I know, the five black guys are accountants who've never picked up a basketball in their entire lives, while the five white guys could be the 2002 State Basketball Champions of North Dakota!
But, having no knowledge of either team, I'm picking the African-Americans.
No white American has clean hands on racism.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)That reminds me of something I experienced my Freshman Year of College. It was 1st semester and every dorm floor was forming intermural teams. My cross the hall neighbor, announced in the floor meeting that he wanted me to be on the floor basketball team. (I was the only "minority" in my dorm.)
While it is true, I was a football and track man, I have few skills that lend themselves to Basketball. I love the game and understand what is supposed to happen, I was never able to make my body do what my mind knew I should do. So I spoke up and said, "Yo man ... Basketball is not my game."
Everyone in the meeting laughed, like I was being modest because everyone knows Black people can all dance and all Black men can play ball.
It took my showing up for the 1st game in my street clothes, for them to realize that I was serious.