Can We Have An Open Honest Discussion About Progressives, Civil Rights, And Income Inequality ???

[lumberjack_jeff]

124. Privilege, as a framework to action, is pointless.

People in poor communities also suffer from systemic and institutional discrimination. The difference is that no one cares, because it's their own damn fault for being born in Appalachia.

If every person enjoying the benefits of a privilege were to stand up simultaneously and acknowledge their privilege, through whatever vector, the net result would be... what? What's the next step? What concrete actions could this acknowledgement catalyze?

I don't think any serious person could look at the social landscape in the united states and say that economic inequality isn't the most serious problem. If Russell Wilson and I were to arrive at a hospital each needing an organ transplant (of which there is only one), that healthcare choice won't be rationed by race or merit. It will be rationed by ability to pay.

Yes, systemic discrimination is a serious problem. Wealth inequality is the most immediate root cause of that discrimination - and the only immediately soluble one.

And the Lily Ledbetter act didn't benefit Lily at all, except to the extent that she now is a celebrity and can get paid to speak to audiences.