Weird claim to make. Dont you guys have your “race” printed on you ID?
Colorado doesn’t. Do others?
France doesn’t collect that kind of demographic data, do they?
ALLEGED BENEFITS OF BEING WHITE:
**
#1- “I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time.”
#2. I can avoid spending time with people whom I was trained to mistrust and who have learned to mistrust my kind or me**
In my experience, almost ANYBODY who lives in a large city can do this. Black people can and do live and work in all-black communities. Mexican-Americans can and do live and work in nearly all-Mexican neighborhoods. Chinese immigrants can live and work among other Chinese immigrants, and rarely or never interact with anyone who isn’t Chinese or doesn’t speak Chinese.
If they’re so inclined, gay men can live and work in neighborhoods and careers that are nearly all-gay, Jews can and do live/work in nearly all-Jewish settings. There’s NOTHING uniquely “white” about this.
#10. I can be pretty sure of having my voice heard in a group in which I am the only member of my race.
Are you kidding? You think I can automatically command attention and respect from a nonwhite audience? I can’t be sure of ANYTHING like that.
#14. I can arrange to protect my children most of the time from people who might not like them.***
WHAT??? I’m a white nerd, which means I was an object of mockery and harrassment in the schoolyard on a regular basis. The idea that white kids are automatically safe from bullying is ludicrous.
I agree, “white privilege” and racism sound very similar to me, just a different label to use instead, “white power” would seem to be the implied intent almost.
Are you sure this isn’t just a vibe you’re getting that’s not there? I don’t mean to belittle your experiences, but you should know that in most if not all situations I’ve been in, people of all colors and even those that have difficulty with English have been accepted with open arms. There’s only been one instance I can think of where someone I knew whispered a comment to me, more as a joke, but I didn’t like it and told them to knock it off, needless to say they did and said person is no longer an acquaintance of mine (racist bastard :D).
Nope. I’ve got name, address, DOB, sex, eye color, hair color, height, and weight on mine.
I have straight hair, and I’ve never had trouble getting a haircut in a black barbershop (I’m Indian). Compare that to what Lamar Mundane mentioned, or the Green Bay Packers, who couldn’t get black free agents who had other options to sign with them because there were no barbers in Green Bay who could cut their hair. Reggie White had to drive to Milwaukee every time he wanted a haircut.
You’re right, it seems to be a Census thing. Anyway, hard to claim to be the least racist country on the planet when races are officially recognized in it.
(Not trying to turn this thread into another pissing contest, but when you claim excellence, it shouldnt be that easy to shoot it down).
There are many reasons it may be included on the census which I’m not going to discuss/speculate on. I don’t know if it’s really claiming excellence, but the fact is that we have such a diverse population that everyone, everywhere is used to seeing and interacting with people of various races, so despite whatever private feelings we may be harboring, it would be impossible for our society to function if open displays of racism were tolerated. Whereas in a much more isolated and homogenous society (i.e. pretty much everywhere else when compared to the U.S.), that simply isn’t the case.
Still not true. When I was in the Army (in the '90s), I met quite a few people from bumfuck towns (Arkansas for some reason seemed to be especially well-represented) who remarked that they’d never seen a black person “in real life” before. Maybe things have changed drastically in the decade + since then, but there are still isolated areas in our country.
It isn’t the concept of white privilege that bothers me, it’s the way people treat you when you acknowledge that privilege.
Say a white, suburban teenager says school is ‘gay’.
I could come in and say, “Well, this is from the POV of someone with privilege, but I’m pretty sure that teen was using it in a generic ‘it’s stupid’ fashion, so I wouldn’t tell the principal he was committing a hate crime, I would tell the principal he was being disrespectful and he shouldn’t use that term” and I would get the proverbial shit kicked out of me, online.
People say they just want others to acknowledge their privilege, but then they get angry at you for doing so. I try to stay out of these discussions now, because if you deviate from the script, the hivemind swarms you.
I have big issues with that comment. Do you have any way at all to back that up? And who are you referring to when you say least racist? Towards mexicans, towards muslims, towards black people?
Honestly I HIGHLY doubt it is the case that the US is the least racist country in the world. Maybe specific cities are accepting, for example places similar to Miami, but to say that of the whole country is pretty ridiculous to me.
Whether that *particular *list of white privileges has merit or not (I haven’t read it, don’t plan to, and don’t care), white privilege is real. White people denying their white privilege is like rich people denying that being rich makes them privileged. Everyone who’s NOT rich is all :rolleyes:, listening to these stupid rich fucks pointing out, “Hey, we don’t have wonderful lives. Having all this money causes lots of problems, too. I have to pay an accountant to do my taxes, and people pretend to like me because they think I’ll buy them stuff. I have to wear super-nice outfits and do my hair and makeup if I ever want to leave my house, because if I don’t, they’ll post pictures of me in tabloids. I have all these enormous expectations on me from my family, and it’s really a lot of pressure. Being rich isn’t all that great, so get off my back already!” Meanwhile they’re sipping a $50 mixed drink, eating a $450 dinner, and haven’t had to worry about paying bills ever, in their entire lives.
The point isn’t that having money automagically gives you a wonderful life, or that people with money can’t have problems. They can, and they do. The point is that having money removes lower-level obstacles that others have to face. A rich person will never have to choose between medical care and food. They’ll never have that sinking feeling in their stomach when they realize that their family won’t have enough to eat this week, unless they can successfully steal some food. They’ll never have to worry about taking a day off work (that they can’t afford) going to court because they couldn’t afford to pay a parking ticket, or the registration on their car… etc.
To extend the metaphor and apply it here, it isn’t that being a white person in America automagically gives you a wonderful life. It isn’t that white people can’t have problems. They can and do. It’s that being white removes lower-level obstacles that non-white people face in America. You won’t ever be considered an ambassador for your race by your actions (or lack thereof). If you’re being loud or rude in a movie theatre, people won’t blame it on your race. They’ll just blame it on you. If you want to eat fried chicken and watermelon and drink grape kool-aid at a picnic, you don’t have to worry about possibly validating a negative stereotype about your race. You’ve never had to worry about a generic Hair Cuttery (or whatever) salon being unable to cut your hair properly. Up until a few years ago, you were the *only *race that had ever been represented in the Presidency of this country. Before Obama became President, teachers weren’t telling classrooms full of black kids that they could be the President someday, because there was no reason to think they could.
Refusing to acknowledge that you have these privileges, as a white American, is being wilfully blind to it. Like it or not, you and I were born with white privilege. The least you can do is refrain from lying about it to yourself. And like **even sven **said, it’s not that privilege is overt or something that has a huge effect. It’s more like erosion over time. But you still can’t pretend it doesn’t exist without being disingenuous.
I know my view on this subject is *highly *unpopular here. Oh well.
I don’t think any serious person denies that white people have it better in most measurable ways. What is debatable is whether this phenomenon should be called “white privilege”.
I don’t think so; I think all people should be treated the way the majority is, not that the majority should have it shittier.
Call it “minority underprivilege” instead.
So what? What percentage of the Chinese population do you think has seen a black person “in real life” before?
ETA: and also, I said people are used to seeing and interacting with those of other races. Assuming the person you were talking to was white, do you think they’d seen a non-white (not just black) person before?
“White privilege” and discussion thereof is pretty specific to the US. People in different countries have their own unique history, which this discussion may or may not apply to.
I mean we can sit around making qualifiers and distinctions all night, to accommodate the idea that white people can be othered by non-whites. I would question how that is relevant to the thread.
So what? So you can’t claim “everyone, everywhere is used to seeing and interacting with people of various races”. From what I gathered, they came from backwoods towns that were predominately (perhaps fully, in some cases) white - maybe there were Asians or hispanics or something around, I don’t know. There were all kinds of races in the Army, but the black guys were the ones they commented on (they found them the most mythical, I guess).
That’s interesting. I’ve never thought of white privilege as an implication that white people ought to have it shittier - more that they should be taking a more active role in addressing the real effects of discrimination. However, I do think that it requires white people to lose power. Sometimes white individuals get really upset when they start losing this power because they think it means they are being unfairly discriminated against, when in fact, it just means the playing field is becoming more level for everyone. To me that is the very definition of white privilege - when you are so accustomed to your privilege that real equality begins to feel like discrimination.
I agree with rachelellogram, with bonus points awarded for the fun new word ‘‘automagically.’’
Up until Barack Obama, all presidents have been relatively well to do straight white Christian men that (typically) come from Ivy League colleges or had great millitary careers. That is a lot of culture not being represented there. But I would** hope **that teachers have been telling classrooms full of black kids they could be President someday.
Anywho, I agree that there’s a minority underprivledge. If you put a white person in an all-black community, there’s going to be some issues and adjustment.
Some of the observations appear out of date because this is a (partial) list published 23 years ago, in 1988.
One could probably insert obese, female, Native American, Hispanic, extremely homely and acne-ridden, disabled, <just about any other nationality or ethnic group>, albino, gay, <just about any religion>, Roma, etc and etc and find similar “evidence” of majority privilege. To lay it all on some sort of definition of monolitic white hegemony seems a bit disingenuous. Isn’t it human nature - being tribal pack animals - to favor the majority demographic?
Sure I can - I didn’t say everyone has seen or interacted with someone from each identifiable racial group, but we’re really just hashing semantics here. Even if I revised my statement to say “just about everyone” is used to it, the point stands.