How To Use White Privilege To Defend Black Bodies
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How To Use White Privilege To Defend Black Bodies
White privilege doesn’t mean you’re rich. White privilege doesn’t mean you engage in overt racism. White privilege is a status granted to those who inherit physical traits that don’t appear threatening to other white people. If you’re a white person, or a person who’s often identified as being white based on outward appearances, you immediately qualify as one who benefits from this particular privilege. Recognize it. Admit it.
Now, this isn’t to shame you about your privilege. You had no choice in the matter of what body you were born into. Black and brown people have that in common with you; none of us had a say about what body we’d be born into, yet we all inherited the histories of our ancestors anyway.
In America, history tells black and brown people that their bodies are always in danger. From slavery, to lynchings, to medical mistreatment, to police brutality, to being shot for walking or jogging in a certain neighborhood, violence against black bodies by white hands has become normalized. Educate yourself on the history of the African-American experience.
While white parents have the privilege of expecting police officers to protect their kids, black parents harness constant anxiety about how law enforcement may perceive their children. Too many parents of color have to remind their school-aged children not to speak, dress, or move in a way that may threaten white people, including the police.
For instance, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where George Floyd was killed in May by a cop who kneeled on his neck for almost nine minutes, the New York Times reported that police are seven times more likely to use force on black people in that city than they are on white people. On the subject of law enforcement, if you’re one to quickly argue that there’s potential for danger “on both sides,” check your biases. All lives can't matter until Black Lives Matter just as much as yours does.
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https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/lifestyle-buzz/how-to-use-white-privilege-to-defend-black-bodies/ar-BB15mu4r?ocid=msedgntp
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