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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBill O’Reilly: I’m exempt from white privilege because I worked and can’t tan
By Arturo Garcia
Wednesday, May 14, 2014 23:05 EDT
Fox News host Bill OReilly expressed skepticism on Wednesday over the idea of white privilege, saying his upbringing and his inability to tan disqualified him from having it.
Im a really white guy, OReilly told contributor Rev. Jacques DeGraffe. When I was in Hawaii last week, I couldnt go in the sun. If I was in the sun for 3 minutes, my ears would fall off. Im from Levittown, as you know, out in Long Island, and my parents didnt have a lot of money. Do I have white privilege? Am I privileged in any way under this banner?
Yes, DeGraffe quickly responded. Because none of the things that youve indicated speak to the issue of white privilege. White privilege isnt whether your skin pigmentation is strong or weak. It isnt how much money you have in the bank. You are the beneficiary of years of whites having the advantage in this country.
But I didnt experience that when I painted houses, cut lawns, OReilly interjected.
But others experienced it, DeGraffe replied. Its not a question of whether youre a good person or work hard.
Im gonna have to exempt myself under that white privilege banner, OReilly insisted.
OReilly brought the topic up in relation to Harvard Universitys Kennedy School of Government adding a section called Checking Your Privilege 101? to the orientation program for incoming students, but he mistakenly referred to it as a class.
You cant have a course based on skin color, white privilege, OReilly told DeGraffe. That in itself is inherently racist, and itd be foolish to do it, right?
Orientation is not for credit thats an important dimension, DeGraffe said, correcting him. All students who are gonna be dealing in public policy will get an understanding of what those who have gone before them have experienced.
The only way I would accept that is if I taught the course, OReilly said.
OReillys colleague, Stuart Varney, disagreed with him slightly, saying white privilege was a factor in American life, but only in the past, saying that teaching students about it now would only be divisive.
I have a Black grandson. Ive got a multiracial family, Varney said. And Im supposed to teach that young man great kid am I supposed to teach him that his granddad exists because of white privilege, or is successful because of it?
Watch the discussion, as posted online on Wednesday, below.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/05/14/bill-oreilly-im-exempt-from-white-privilege-because-i-worked-and-cant-tan/
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Posted with permission
winter is coming
(11,785 posts)'Cause that man sure as hell will never get a brain tan, but even my descended-from-redheads-pasty-white skin can tan.
Archae
(46,343 posts)That is, he's a blithering idiot yet he makes tons of money spouting his stupidity on Faux "news."
adirondacker
(2,921 posts)nomorenomore08
(13,324 posts)Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)nomorenomore08
(13,324 posts)Starry Messenger
(32,342 posts)I'm starting a list.
MADem
(135,425 posts)him ready for the TV camera--otherwise his face would look like a Rand-McNally map of the US highway system.
GeorgeGist
(25,322 posts)seveneyes
(4,631 posts)But he's got nothing on this Golden Boy...