It's time to talk about 'black privilege'

[sheshe2]

(CNN) — Here's some good news for all you black folks complaining about racism in America.

You don't know how good you have it.


At least that's the message I heard during one of the strangest conversations I've ever had about race. I was talking about the concept of white privilege -- the belief that being white comes with unearned advantages and everyday perks that its recipients are often unaware of. I asked a white retiree if he believed in the existence of white privilege. He said no, but there was another type of privilege he wanted to talk about:

"Black privilege."

Confused by his answer, I asked him to give me an example of a perk that I enjoyed as a black man that he couldn't. His answer: "Black History Month."


"In America you can't even talk about whiteness," said Drew Domalick, who lives in Green Bay, Wisconsin. "If you try to embrace being white, you are portrayed as being a racist. If we had a White History Month, that would be viewed as a racist holiday."

Domalick isn't the only one who believes in black privilege. The term is being deployed in conservative circles as a rhetorical counterattack to the growing use of the term "white privilege." It's part of a larger transformation: White is becoming the new black.

Google the phrase "black privilege," and one steps into a universe where whites struggle daily against the indignities heaped upon them because of their skin color. In books and articles such as "Black Skin Privilege and the American Dream," and "It's Past Time to Acknowledge Black Privilege," white commentators describe how blackness has become such a "tremendous asset" that some whites are now trying to "pass" as black.

So much more here: http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/30/us/black-privilege/?iid=ob_homepage_deskrecommended_pool&iref=obnetwork

This is a great article, what I posted doesn't touch the content by half.

[SusanCalvin]

1. OMG

These people don't understand what it means to be the default.

[Xipe Totec]

2. Black Angels

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017229303

[mcar]

3. ...

[Number23]

4. Black privilege is why Hillary Clinton is winning! Us Negroes are the very fucking HEIGHT of

American privilege, you know??! We wrote the book on being entitled, being rewarded for nothing beyond having the right skin tone and living the American dream!!!1

[rbrnmw]

5. right?

and bravenak started it all

[sheshe2]

9. It is all bravenaks fault.

I her~

[lovemydog]

15. I just stubbed my toe.

Thanks bravenak.

Haha!

I love her too.

[sheshe2]

17. Ha!

We are getting snow tonight! Thanks bravenak.
Hahahahahaha.

Black Women Warriors.

This is Bravenak.



Loves~

[Ghost Dog]

26. That is a beautiful painting, of a beautiful subject.

Who is it by?

[sheshe2]

32. Sorry don't know the artist.

I just googled 'Black women warriors' and found this, Ghost.

[Ghost Dog]

34. Well, many thanks and, you know, sincerity, sheshe2.

Copy taken.

[sheshe2]

35. Good for you. It is beautiful.

[sheshe2]

8. According to the article.

You are so entitled, whites are now passing as black.

"We wrote the book on being entitled, being rewarded for nothing beyond having the right skin tone and living the American dream!!!1"

Snort~

Good to see ya 23.

[rbrnmw]

6. Here is some fucked up logic

Last edited Sat Apr 2, 2016, 10:17 PM - Edit history (1)

"tremendous asset" that some whites are now trying to "pass" as black.

I hope they like getting harassed by the police, sometimes to the point of being murdered, among other privileges black folks enjoy.

[sheshe2]

10. This one breaks my heart, rbrnmw.

Tears~

[rbrnmw]

14. ....

[delrem]

7. That's insane.

All I ever learned as I grew up was about the intrinsic superiority of eurocentric "whiteness". It just wasn't called "white".
I assume that Canada is similar to the US in that respect in terms of dominant culture.
When I was a child I sang "God save the Queen" along with the Canadian anthem every morning at school, and I was taught as part of an established parochial school system that was integrated with a gov't endorsed total cultural domination of First Nations people, a system which included the notorious residential schools. I shifted back and forth between catholic/public schools and there wasn't much difference.

I'm still only beginning my re-education.

[steve2470]

11. black privilege is an insane concept, only voiced by racists nt

[FrenchieCat]

12. Ooh Boy!

I can only say.....

Ahhh Black privilege benefits;

of having no inheritance because your parents or grandparents were redlined, and excluded from the GI bill
and Social Security for years,

of getting a higher interest on your bank loan for no apparent reason, although you have the same income as your "underprivileged" White peer,

of your auto insurance being higher than other folks with the same driving record because of your zip code,

of having a dilapidated school for your privileged children, because of where you live,

of showing up with your Black privilege, only to find out the apartment you called about and set up a meeting to see was mysteriously rented by the the time you arrived...

of being followed around in the store because you're just looking,

of "underprivileged" White folks assuming if you're in a top college, you must have gotten there via Affirmative Action or a sports scholarship,

of having a name that isn't quite what "underprivileged" White folks have in mind as acceptable, so your resume ends up in the trash unread,

of simply not being able to get a cab to stop for you due to all of that Black Privilege oozing out of your every pore as you stand on the sidewalk

of being shot by the police for being a 12 year old boy with a toy gun, 2 seconds after a patrol car comes to find out what's going on due to a call from a "worried" "underprivileged" White person who does warn that they believe it may be a toy gun

of being found hung in our jail cell, because you got arrested due to failing to signal as you pulled over to allow the patrol car to pass you, but who instead stopped behind you,

of having your entire race called all kinds of names because they aren't voting the way they "should" per what "underprivileged" White folks who knows best what is good for your privileged self!

of being told that you miss your privileged welfare checks from 20 years ago, and this should be an issue for you as a voter,

of being told that the only reason you voted for the Black President is because you're Black and he's Black,

of being the Privileged first Black President of the United States while White "underprivileged" politicians insist that your term is only worth 3/4 of the terms of prior "underprivileged"White Presidents

of having one month for your privileged history that's barely mentioned in "underprivileged" history books, while the poor White "underprivileged" folks only get 11 months, and your month too...if they want it!

But to sum it up per the article,

A black guy in a time machine is like, hey, any time before 1980, no thank you.

[sheshe2]

13. I am so sorry Frenchie.

I am so very sorry.

Black Privilege.



That child is so young. He is so privileged. Not.

Tears.

[lovemydog]

16. Another brilliant post here.

Thank you.

[OneGrassRoot]

18. Brilliant indeed. Thank you so much. n/t

[Kind of Blue]

20. Just brilliant and utterly depressing.

But I thank you, of course, for breaking it down as usual.

We got a long way to go because supremacy will morph however it can to maintain itself. Posts like yours lays bare the disease we're all subjected to.

[brer cat]

23. Absolutely nailed it, FrenchieCat!

Reading that insane drivel left me quite speechless, but you pulled it together perfectly.

What kept going through my mind was that they never get enough, they want it all. Blow up even the very minuscule programs that benefit minorities lest their special snowflake miss her "birthright" opportunity, which is not white privilege but earned of course. No Black History Month unless there is a White History Month...what in the f$%^ would that even be?? Tributes to the atrocities against Native Americans and the glory days of slavery, the KKK, Birchers, and Jim Crow??? Wow, weren't we white people special!! God, these people make me sick.

[Recursion]

29. You just dropped that mic so hard it shattered

Exactly right

[JustAnotherGen]

31. Just . . .

[Starry Messenger]

36. How did I miss this entire thread?

Great op & great response, FrenchieCat.

[OneGrassRoot]

19. Jane Elliott's question stopped these white people in their tracks:

&feature=youtu.be

[brer cat]

25. Sometimes a very simple question

makes a very significant point. If you don't want it for yourself, why are you willing to allow it for others?

This was the first thread I read this morning, and my first thought was "what a depressing way to start the day." My second thought was "what a perfect example of white privilege...I am simply reading it, I didn't wake up living it."

[Jackie Wilson Said]

30. The you know who's out there (that new wing of the GOP) would stand when she asked

that, thinking they are making a point that their lives are not privileged but black's are.

The folks who need this lesson the most, are not hearing it.

[uponit7771]

42. +1

[betsuni]

21. Not understanding white privilege and angrily lashing out at the mention of it

reminds me of this (for some reason), from the novel "Slaves of New York":

"There was a joke that my cousin told my brother Roland when he was five years old. The joke went, 'Fat and Fat Fat and Pinch Me were in a boat. Fat and Fat Fat fell out. Who was left?' And my brother said, 'Pinch Me,' and my cousin pinched him. So when my brother got home he told my mother he was going to tell her a joke, and he said, 'Fat and Fat Fat were in a boat. Fat and Fat Fat fell out. Who was left?' My mother said, 'Nobody.' My brother repeated the joke, and when my mother said, 'Nobody' a second time, my brother kicked her."

[Stellar]

22. White privilege?

I wonder if they've always wanted to be 'Strange Fruit' also in their white privilege...

[ismnotwasm]

24. Holy God.

Not that I'm surprised. White America has certainly shown its ass from a number of directions lately.

[Recursion]

28. Srsly

This is a weird, weird fucking place white America is going, and I do not want to be on that train...

[Recursion]

27. Holy fuck.

I'm pretty damn proud of my Irish-Italian heritage. I'm not sure who these white people who feel like they can't feel the same way are, but it's scary as shit to hear them talk.

[wildeyed]

33. Articles like this remind me that

half of the people in this country have IQs below average You know what? White people need to step up to the fact that their own racism and stupid voting habits are causing their pain, stop trying to put that off on other people. Talk about a group that refuses to take responsibility for their own choices and actions....

I just read this article in NYT about how Obama and his Democratic policies single handedly saved the Indiana economy from total ruin and they paid him back by voting out Dems in the next few cycles. Same people who want to whine about "black privilege" and feel SO aggrieved that they do not get their fair share. And I am like, We are KILLING ourselves trying to GIVE you your share but you refuse to take it. My mother called this "Cutting off you nose despite your face". I call it "Some people can't be helped and also, You can't fix stupid".

Here is a link to the article if anyone is interested. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/03/us/politics/obama-donald-trump-economy-indiana.html?_r=0

[MADem]

37. Black History Month?

Jan/Mar/Apr/May/Jun/Jul/Aug/Sep/Oct/Nov/Dec are the White History Months, aren't they?

[sheshe2]

38. I guess they must want them all.

Whine!

[MADem]

39. Yea--even the short one! nt

[sheshe2]

40. Lol!!!!

Seems they want all 52 states as well. They are contesting many of the results. Hey, they want MA. I say no, HELL NO!

They can't have our dirty water~

?

[MADem]

41. I am reminded of the Boy Who Cried Wolf.

That's what they're starting to sound like. Everyone is a cheater except Berrrrnie.

[forjusticethunders]

43. was held at gunpoint by a cop just for subletting a room in the wrong house

turned down from how many interviews during the recession despite being the most qualified person there
people assuming that my educational or work positions/achievements are due to "affirmative action" (had someone say this to my face)

lol so privileged