Hi there everyone, I'm white...

[kpete]

posting especially for: Ms. Mary Ann Twitty
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/fired-ferguson-clerk-fired-emails-shes-racist-30163212











From:
http://everydayfeminism.com/2014/09/white-privilege-explained/

[ananda]

1. More often than not ..

.. young white people just take their privilege for granted.

I like it when someone starts to really examine this
privilege.

But I don't think that is a very common occurrence.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

48. If you don't know what a peacock looks like, you'll never see one...

It's not necessarily that they are ignorant, evil, or blind, but until someone points it out to you and explains it well, chances are you won't totally pick up on the magnitude of the White Privilege. And speaking of white folks of course. Non-white people understand the concept very well. Actually, it's unfair to call it a concept, because it is real and factual.

And white people that want to wallow in their privilege, need to be taken down a few notches.

[Romeo.lima333]

2. another day another white privilege post

[el_bryanto]

3. Yes - well I'm sure you acknowledge and accept white privilege

But many don't so it's helpful to keep reminding people, particularly in the wake of that poor guy who was shot in the back. Plus this is a pretty entertaining take on a very serious subject, so I'm grateful to have seen it.

Bryant

[Buzz Clik]

12. +1

[Romeo.lima333]

24. let's say everyone now agrees white people have privilege then what. what do you do with that

acknowledgement?

as for "- well I'm sure you acknowledge and accept white privilege" i do, but to say that all white people benefit all the time in all situations from it is broad brushing

[el_bryanto]

25. Yes that would be broad brushing

But nobody is actually making that argument; what they are saying is that white people all receive some benefits from white privilege - that's not in all situations, of course.

As for what you do with that acknowledgement you examine your own experiences and look for situations where white people are getting additional benefits or where black people are devalued and do your best to correct those situations. Acknowledging White Privilege should be a bit uncomfortable as you become more sensitive to the world in which we live; but by being more sensitive, by being aware of those issues, you can take steps to correct them.

Bryant

[Romeo.lima333]

161. here is duer making that statement

jobycom (48,988 posts)
146. In what situations do you think white people aren't benefiting from white privilege.

I'll say that at all times, in all situations, white people benefit from white privilege. Give me an example of when that's not true.

[el_bryanto]

165. Ah - well that proves your point I guess. nt

[Romeo.lima333]

173. no it doesnt since that is not my point. my point is that, in mho, w.p. (white privilege) is a

distraction from the larger issue from which w.p. comes. but i give up

[el_bryanto]

176. I think the refusal to grapple with the problem of White Privilege

is unlikely to solve the problem of White Privilege.

[Romeo.lima333]

189. and i think fix the underlying problem that allows w.p. and it will end

[7962]

170. Ever heard of whites being questioned for being in a black neighborhood?

They even show that on "cops" it happens so often. Its happened to me and 3 others in my family many times. Its the so-called "drug war". Because if you're white and moving thru a mostly black neighborhood, it MUST be because you're looking for drugs, right? Stopped for NO reason other than to ask "whats your business in this area?" Dont know what would be the outcome if we hadnt had a rental home there and an "excuse". Especially the way cops are; probably would've been asked for a search everytime. Which did happen to my ex-wife; with the dogs and everything.
More than once I've been asked why I was at a certain store because "white people dont shop here". And they were civilians.
Do i think whites get a benefit of the doubt? Yes, I do. But sorry, there's no blanket privilege everywhere, all the time. White privilege is a lot broader by far, but every race has its own privilege to a certain extent

[ieoeja]

180. Actually, yes. I was stopped for driving while White in a Black neighborhood.

I pointed to my light skinned Black wife sitting in the passenger seat and told them we were visiting her family.

But 99% of the United States is considered a White neighborhood. So my chances of it happening are much smaller.

[whathehell]

186. No, but I've gotten quite a few dirty looks, and some rude remarks,

same as when I've worked in some, if not all, predominantly Black workplaces.

[jobycom]

201. In what kind of neighborhood? Oh, black. That's more proof of white privilege.

Because cops assume the black neighborhood must be full of drug dealers and prostitutes and that no white person would want to be around a black neighborhood unless they were looking for such. The operative issue there isn't the whiteness of the people being stopped, but the blackness of the people who live there. Cops might find your behavior suspicious because you are white while visiting a part of town they assume you would only visit for illegal reasons, but it isn't because you are white that you are being stopped. It is the assumptions about the black neighborhood that is the reason you are being stopped.

That's why white privilege needs to be posted about every day. Even people who think they understand what is being talked about don't understand what is being talked about. White Privilege doesn't mean you never are at a disadvantage for being white. It means you get to choose that disadvantage, though. Yeah, you'd probably not fit in at certain clubs or concerts. But going to those is your choice. It is your privilege to be able to make a choice of whether to put yourself in that situation or not.

That is a privilege, and until everyone understands what we mean when we say White Privilege, the damn topic needs to be brought up every day. We need to take out billboards, even. Because as several people who to be good and wonderful liberal people on this thread have demonstrated, even the most beautiful souls with the best of intentions don't fully see the issue.

[7962]

208. No, it is assumed that YOU are up to no good.

Its just as unfair if a black person is stopped in a "white" neighborhood. Either way, its WRONG. In both cases, it is assumed that YOU are up to no good. You ARE being stopped because you're white, just like the reverse is also true. You're being stopped in a white area BECAUSE you're black. Unless you have actually broken the law. But wait, there's the tried-and-true "you went over the yellow line" that can never be proven or disproven!
"Yeah, you'd probably not fit in at certain clubs or concerts. But going to those is your choice. It is your privilege to be able to make a choice of whether to put yourself in that situation or not." Thats absolutely ridiculous. So if a white guy gets jumped in a black neighborhood, its his own fault because he CHOSE to go there? What would it sound like if you said that exact same statement about blacks? "Well, he shouldn't have gone into that neighborhood; he chose to go there"
Wrong.

[jobycom]

215. As I started out saying, we need a lot more threads on white privilege. nt

[bettyellen]

190. And also there were some radical statements made by feminists over the years so feminism is worthy..

Of only your dismissal as well too, right?
Seen this nonsense before, yawn.

[Call Me Wesley]

219. Reverse feminism!

Oh noes! There goes my white male privaledgey!

I'm just astonished that some here still can post and up post count ...

[jobycom]

203. That DUer asked a question you didn't answer. Do you have an answer?

The thing you are fighting against that says that sometimes white people have to face bias, too, isn't what White Privilege is about. That's why this topic needs to be discussed every day. Because even wonderful, caring, compassionate, liberal people like you, who really care about the subject and want to find a solution, don't understand what people are talking about when they talk about White Privilege.

It's a complicated subject, and sadly people are starting to close their minds to it, just as they do to words like racism, white supremacy, and probably soon to "unarmed black man." Some have started using the term "white fragility" to explain why white people can't handle these terms. White people (and I'm white, as I'm sure you know, so I'm included in this) have a reflexive series of reactions which goes something like "Wow, it's hard being a person of color, but it's also hard being white, and I'm a good person and earn my way, and at some point people of color need to stop whining and work as hard as me, and then their problems will go away."

No one is saying white people don't work hard for what we have and accomplish. No one is saying being white means everything is easy--obviously we have our own hells. No one is saying that being white means we never face bias. No one is saying that any individual white person is to blame, or that anyone alive now is to blame, for creating this system. No one is saying white people should feel guilty for being white or having this privilege (although, actually, that's not completely true--some individuals do try to say exactly that, but that's not what the message of White Privilege is supposed to be). No one is saying that there aren't white people who fail, or there aren't people of color who succeed, or there aren't people of color who get lucky breaks over white people, or there aren't cases where a black man working hard succeed better than a white man with the same qualifications working equally hard.

All White Privilege says is that people of color aren't lazier, stupider, or more inclined to crime than white people. They are at the bottom of the pile, in general, statistically, in most quality of life measurements not because they are inferior to whites, but because White Privilege makes it easier for white people than for people of color to succeed, and that this privilege is built into the hardware and operating system of this society, and while that's no one's fault, it has to be recognized and changed or we will ALL continue to live in a condition of virtual Apartheid in this nation.

[calimary]

42. Well, you know how that old time-tested saying goes...

"First you have to admit you have a problem."

[NaturalHigh]

119. So being white is like having a drug or alcohol problem?

[Call Me Wesley]

123. I don't know what you're smoking, but ...

No, that's not what the poster said. Besides, if you're white, you probably get along fine with a drug or alcohol problem.

Again, thanks for standing up for us Whiteys, because we're so slammed in this thread in here on DU it makes me shiver it makes me cry.

[NaturalHigh]

125. I've smoked several Marlboro lights today.

I'm also considering a double Chivas tonight when Smackdown comes on.

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

129. Not what the poster said, not even close. But.........YES, some white people

are such assholes about their privilege that they have a problem.

[whathehell]

140. Lots of men of all colors are "assholes" about their privilege

How come so few "male privilege" threads? May be it's PART of male privilege -- getting to blame everything on Women.

[BlueCaliDem]

177. Exactly. And that's what the OP is all about.

Spot on, calimary. As always.

[wendylaroux]

79. Keep on drumming it in

to people heads that don't know,or don't care.
Kinda like a fox news channel does.

[jobycom]

146. In what situations do you think white people aren't benefiting from white privilege.

I'll say that at all times, in all situations, white people benefit from white privilege. Give me an example of when that's not true.

And understand, I'm not saying that white people don't earn what they, we, make, or don't work hard, or don't deserve our stuff. But I am saying that everything we have, everything we've done, and everything we are has been easier for us than it would be for a person of color (or if you want to extend it, it's easier for a man than a woman, or a non-gay than a gay person, or a cis-gender over a transgender).

Just one example--there's a famous study done in several countries that took identical resumes, and changed only the names on those resumes, and the resumes with white Anglo-sounding names got twice as many callbacks as resumes with Latino, Black, or Asian names.

So if you have a job, then I'm assuming you've earned the job, work hard at the job, and earn the money you make. Not trying to imply white people are inferior. But as that study shows, white privilege played a role in your getting the job. It was easier to get an interview just for being white. There are also stats that show that you are more likely to keep your job during layoffs, more likely to get a raise, less likely to get fired for the same infractions, more likely to get a promotion... in fact, at every aspect of the job it is easier for a white person than a black person of equal qualifications.

That's privilege. And white people do benefit from it 100% of the time. That's why it needs to be pointed out every day. So we can open dialogues with people who don't get it, and make them see it.

Because, quite frankly, not seeing it is racist. If you don't understand that white people have such an edge in this country in everything, then you are implicitly saying that black people are inferior in some way, because there's no other reason to explain the different statuses across the board. Either people of color are discriminated against constantly, or people of color aren't as good as white people at doing stuff. The latter belief is called racism.

[shaayecanaan]

163. That's tantamount to saying that white privilege is a cosmological constant

Obviously it isn't. Essentially what you are trying to argue is that there could never be an advantage in being a race other than white.

I am Arab (as I've made clear here before). This is not an advantage at airports, I can assure you. It is however an advantage in some aspects of business in certain parts of the world, particularly in those areas where Arab diaspora have established a foothold - certain parts of Latin America, West Africa, places like that.

Some of this boils down to language proficiency. However some of it is not. A white guy with perfect Arabic is still probably not going to do as well in certain business circles as I will.

Of course, that white guy is probably still going to have plenty of opportunities elsewhere. I think that is what the other poster was getting at - white people may have a better net position overall but obviously being white is not going to confer an advantage in every given situation.

[gollygee]

166. Did you read through the post

If you don't understand that white people have such an edge in this country in everything, then you are implicitly saying that black people are inferior in some way, because there's no other reason to explain the different statuses across the board.

[shaayecanaan]

216. Likewise

there are advantages to being Chinese or Indian in certain business contexts in the US.

Certainly there is systemic racism, and certainly white people benefit from it. The problem is that it is not only white people that benefit from it.

White people might benefit from black people being unable to go to university, but Asian people benefit even more, as their rate of college attendance outstrips even whites, and by some distance.

I disdain the term "people of colour" as if all the experiences of non-white people could be shoehorned into one category. In the comic, for instance, it talks about the incarceration for "people of color" being higher than for whites. It would be more accurate to note that the incarceration rate for Asians is miniscule, low for people of Middle Eastern extraction, somewhat higher for whites and highest for Latinos and African Americans.

[7962]

172. See my post 170

No way is it all the time in every situation.

[jobycom]

202. See my response in Post 201. This is why we need constant discussion of White Privilege.

What you describe as an uncomfortable situation for some white people may be true, and it may suck, but it is not what we are talking about when we talk about White Privilege. White privilege is the underlying structure of this nation which makes the cops in your example believe that the black neighborhood is a bad neighborhood, or that no white person would choose to go there except for illicit reasons. It's the fact that white people can avoid that situation by not going into that neighborhood, whereas black people cannot avoid the lack of privilege no matter what they do. Trayvon Martin was murdered in a mixed neighborhood near his own home by a guy who thought a black kid there looked suspicious. Michael Brown was murdered in a black neighborhood near his own home. Unarmed black men in recent months have been murdered by cops with impunity inside their own apartment complex stairwells, and inside their own apartments. I know you know this. I assume if you are on DU that you feel this and hate this and want to see it changed.

What White Privilege means is that if you're white, you have to worry a little about these things, but you don't have to worry that you will be killed by a cop in your own home for being white. You don't have to worry when you get turned down for a job that it was because you were white, and although sometimes that happens, you can be sure it's not going to happen multiple times in a row. I could go on, easily, but I'm sure you can add your own examples to this list, since I'm sure you wouldn't be hanging around DU unless you already understood this.

Read the whole think before responding. I'm not trying to say you are doing or thinking or saying or believing anything wrong. Not at all. On the contrary, you are participating in this discussion, and that means you are a beautiful person trying to understand, as, I hope, I am too. What I'm saying is that the concept of White Privilege that some are attacking on this board isn't what the multitude of scholars and activists who talk about White Privilege are talking about. It is much bigger, much deeper, and much worse than a case of simple bias in individual circumstances. It's about full equality, and assumptions of inferiority, and the fact that even the best intentioned people don't always see the heart of the issue.

[babylonsister]

5. Why are you so snarky?

You don't agree there's white privilege out there?

[Buzz Clik]

13. Nicely understated, sister. +1!!!

[840high]

8. Try being a white Christian. We

get slammed daily.

[Buzz Clik]

14. Sounds like a total heartache. I cannot imagine ... oh wait.

I am a white Christian ... and male!

Woe is me! My life is so hard when people accurately point out my higher income, the ease with which I get a job, getting warnings for traffic violations instead of being shaken down, etc etc etc.

[snort]

17. Sounds rough.

Perhaps some inspiring acapela would help whilst toiling:

Swing low, sweet chariot
Coming for to carry me home...

[cyberswede]

36. ...not a capella...with this accompaniment instead

[Cirque du So-What]

19. Perhaps you should keep a diary

in order that future generations can learn from all your suffering.

[Capt. Obvious]

31. Are you there God? It's me 840high.

It's tough participating in an interfaith messageboard. But I totally pwn3d some atheists today and I know you wouldn't have missed it for anything.

[wendylaroux]

87. omg lol!!!!

thank you.

[840high]

151. Well - aren't you sooooo funny.

[2naSalit]

22. ...

[LiberalAndProud]

35. Right.

Surely you are oppressed and persecuted. I feel your pain.

[Romeo.lima333]

38. well i am a white guy who believes im just not radical about it. any trespasses are between

you and god and not me

[wryter2000]

43. I'm white and Christian

I've never been slammed for being either.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

51. Just identify more as a white human being. Religion is a completely manmade construct.

[jobycom]

54. Wow, that's a lot of drinking. No wonder you are high!

AY? AY? Come on, it was a little funny!

Don't worry, though. I predict that the time of white Christians is fast approaching. It will be a glorious time, when presidents have to be white and Christian to get elected, and the majority of the Supreme Court, Congress, governors, state legislators, city and locaal governments, judicial benches, major corporations, television, and movies will be filled with white Christians, practically to the exclusion of all others. Bear with it a while longer, my fellow pale-face! We will triumph one day!

And someone should point out how this works. No one was slamming white Christians. You came on here and said white Christians get slammed daily, and now people are slamming you, not white Christians, for reaching for fake sympathy with an unsupportable claim. So now, you can go about your day telling your friends "Wow, I went on that liberal web site and mentioned I was a white Christian, and they slammed me!" Well played. James O'Keefe is probably hiring.

[missingthebigdog]

65. LOL. That was awesome. Thank You!

[jobycom]

72. Thanks!

[fishwax]

139. .

[840high]

150. Do you really think

my comment was a reach for sympathy? Let me tell you - you are wrong. It was just a comment - reading the answers to my post - as expected.

[jobycom]

152. Yeah.

Sympathy, pity, something like that. Why else would you try to convert a thread about the oppression people of color face into one about the oppression of the group that is the majority power in this country?

[Cali_Democrat]

86. ...

[Number23]

135. Normally, I don't like swarming and pile ons. But in this case, few deserve it more

Even though he's tried ever so hard to be... discreet.

[hunter]

99. Shit, try being a white Catholic male!

So many doors slammed on me!

Especially in communities where the majority of people are some kind of Catholic.

[Call Me Wesley]

106. Do good to them which slam you.

I know you're oppressed by evil beings who point fingers at you while you walk down the streets, shouting, "Look! A white Christian! Let us gather and slam him when the day arises!" Especially if you live in the Southern part, then it's even more brutal. "Hell! Look all ya'll! A white Christian! He's holding a bible!"

I have deep empathy for you. Well, not really, until you tell me how you get slammed daily.

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

130. White straight christian males are KINGS in America

[Chemisse]

131. You are in the majority in this country.

You have the white privilege as well as the benefits of being in the religious majority.

[Buzz Clik]

11. woohoo! Got another one on the hook!

To avoid getting YET ANOTHER POST HIDDEN and to avoid giving you that level of satisfaction, I will avoid stating that which is incredibly obvious to everyone.

Just let it be known: I got you. Again. You aren't fooling anybody.

If this thread shows up at you-know-where, there will be an unavoidable conclusion. Are you ready for that?

[LanternWaste]

37. And always with at least concomitant petulant and irrelevant response.

And always with at least concomitant petulant and irrelevant response which minimizes the actual issue and has no bearing on the issue at hand.

(insert distinction without a difference below)

[Romeo.lima333]

39. what no latin this time?

im not here to solve your problems

[Romeo.lima333]

45. and has no bearing on the issue at hand. you mean like your post

[jobycom]

47. Yep. Another day of horrific inequality and another attempt at raising awareness of its mechanisms.

It will be nice when those attempts finally start to pay off, don't you think?

[Romeo.lima333]

50. i think the discussion of white privilege is a distraction.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

53. Distracting whom from what? I don't feel at all distracted.

[jobycom]

62. From what? You should add more words so we can know what you're saying.

Complaining about someone pointing out white privilege without explaining why just opens you up to appearing racist or clueless (which is the new racism, really). The OP was a long, thoughtful analysis of white privilege and why some people don't understand it. By you simply dismissing it with an offhanded, unpunctuated, no-text flip of the wrist, you come across as exactly the type of person the post is describing. If you are that type of person, keep up the disdainful dismissals, by all means, but expect people to respond. If you aren't, then you should explain what your position is.

[Romeo.lima333]

102. it's mho that w.p. is a part of a larger issue such as racism or institutionalized racism and that

discussions on w.p., a thing that you dont ask for and cant remove, are energies that are better spent on the larger issue. i also dont see what discussions on w.p. will accomplish, if every agrees there is w.p. then what. ok being white can give some white people in some situations an advantage now what?

[bravenak]

110. TBH, IMHO, WP...

I was hoping for a rad fem or a SJW.

[bettyellen]

192. I'm saying WTF and LOL over here!

It's not always nice to see "old friends", TBH!

[Call Me Wesley]

111. You should ask for it, it's part of your history.

You will not be able to understand your history if you don't ask for this certain discussion. You will remain ignorant and like in your post, shrug off anything that doesn't really bother you, because for you 'it doesn't accomplish anything.'

Which means, don't question my w.p., which, I think is the abbreviation for 'White Power,' but you used it - or thought so - in a clever way.

I think you're on the wrong forum. The other one is this way ---->

[Romeo.lima333]

128. w.p. stands for white privilege. i didnt feel like spelling privilege over and over

you are so far off base and I disagree. like I said w.p. (white privilege) isn't something you can ask for nor can you refuse it especially if you don't know it's being given to you. w.p. is like a symptom for example the real problem is flu but we're focusing on the runny nose. you are free to disagree with me but that's not a reason to be prejudice towards me.

[Call Me Wesley]

132. Well, I do disagree with you.

I will not use prejudice, but plain disagreement on everything you said, because that's exactly what the OP tried to say when you say 'nor can you refuse it' (well, yes, of course you can, if you will,) that you just take it for granted.

And that's what 'granted' means. You don't have an opinion on it, you don't think about it, you don't see its power. It's just there, so, well, that's a good thing. You didn't give it to you, it's just granted. In this case, you're the one who is focusing on the runny nose and takes the flu for, well - granted.

You can change that, though. If you want.

You spelled out privilege two times here, so it's not that hard to do. And you're probably right. I'm way far off base. Your base.

[Romeo.lima333]

134. this is why problems dont get solved

[Call Me Wesley]

211. I don't have a problem.

I know that white privilege exists, major time, in our cultural environment. If we could acknowledge it, that'll be one step forward.

So, tell me, why doesn't this get solved and what, in your opinion, would be the solution for it? Because our little white-to-white disagreement arguments on here can't be the reason it won't get solved.

I'd say we start to treat humans equally, like we'd like to be treated by others. It might be a bit painful to adjust to it, but hey, it's totally worth it.

[bettyellen]

191. Go Wesley go!

Always nice to see you- pls send my warm regards and scritches to Heidi and Ginger!

[Call Me Wesley]

197. Always nice to see you, too!

Will deliver warm regards and scritches. Much more enjoyable than replying here.

[bettyellen]

199. Ha ha- you got that right!

[Chemisse]

137. It helps to acknowledge that there is such a thing as 'white privilege'.

Because when we realize there is a very large inequity built into our society, we can start to change it.

For example, when we acknowledge that blacks are shot by police many times more often than whites, we realize that there is a big problem with racism and policing in this nation. And we can start to fix it. The move toward cameras on cops is one step that is being taken. There are so many more things that can be done.

But the really significant thing is that this has been going on for a very long time and whites just didn't realize it!!!

We can't try to improve this situation if we are not aware of it.

I think some white people perceive this as an attack on them, for reaping the benefits of white privilege. But it isn't. Whites don't have to give up (most of) these benefits. We don't have to go to jail to even up the numbers; we don't need to be killed by cops to make it more fair. Instead ALL human beings should have the same 'benefits'.

It should be called the 'human privilege' and we should all enjoy it.

[merrily]

178. +1

For example, when we acknowledge that blacks are shot by police many times more often than whites, we realize that there is a big problem with racism and policing in th

is nation.

Some do. Some like Guiliani and Rivera come to very different conclusions from that statistic. So, we have to go further than just the statistical difference in shootings.

But the really significant thing is that this has been going on for a very long time and whites just didn't realize it!!!

Some didn't. Some whites realized it as soon as they got old enough to think about such things. Some even tried their best to change things.

I think some white people perceive this as an attack on them,

Some do. For others how the topic is presented may have a lot to do with how they react. I do believe in the existence of white privilege and have for as long as I can remember, though maybe I used to use a different term when I was 17. And I've never thought that to be good or right. Doesn't mean everything everyone says about white privilege perfectly fine with me.

Overall, though, I think I know what you are saying and, with the proviso of "some yes, some no," I very much agree.

[jobycom]

145. But don't you think white privilege is one of the tools of institutional racism?

Don't you think that by showing people what privilege looks like, you're also showing them, us, what the flip side looks like? That's how you show people institutional racism, and that's the only way to start building institutions that don't have racism built in.

For example, downthread there's a comment asking about prisons, and why so many black people are in prison. The way the question was worded, it implied that the answer was because black people commit more crimes. There's a perfect example of color-blind privilege. The poster seems to not understand the institutional racism of the prison, law enforcement, and judicial systems (despite the clear examples lately with all the police murders of unarmed black men). If that person understood WP, they'd be closer to acknowledging the systemic racism that creates such an atrocious system in the US. Extend that to schools, colleges, the workplace, and soon you begin to show people how racism still exists, like malware in the US operating system. If we can't see it, we can't fix it.

[Starry Messenger]

91. From what?

What is a bigger problem than racism?

[Call Me Wesley]

98. From blaming Obama for Benghazi?

Economy? Government per se? Iran?

Or you just don't like to discuss it, because you know it's obvious-into-your-face true, but it's also nice and such and why question it? There's a black president, let's discuss that.

[Rex]

112. Of course you do.

Nobody would have thought differently about you, even if you didn't just come out and admit it! We all understand, it rubs you the wrong way.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

55. In Memoriam AJ90 sub-thread.

[Romeo.lima333]

58. we're not allowed differing opinons?

averagejoe90 i am not

[A-Schwarzenegger]

63. But it is nice

that somebody is carrying on
in his name.

[jobycom]

74. And it is interesting

that he didn't ask who averagejoe (or whatever handle you said) is. I don't know, but a poster with 500 posts does. That's pretty impressive.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

77. He's got a lot to live down to

if he's emulating AJ90.

[bravenak]

82. +1

[Romeo.lima333]

133. because i remember when he got booted - just b/c the post count is 500 doesnt mean i just found

d.u.

[Romeo.lima333]

97. hardly

[Rex]

116. You must be a good guesser then! Who knew that AJ90 would mean Average Joe 90?

You knew...that's who!

[bravenak]

118. !

I bet you're thinking what I'm thinking!!!

[Romeo.lima333]

122. i remember when aj90 got the boot

[Rex]

114. TBH, I find it funny that said poster knew who you were talking about.

TBH TBH TBH...

[NuclearDem]

90. ...

[JTFrog]

67. It's another day and you provide yet another example. n/t

[gordianot]

4. Correct

[riqster]

6. Kick!

[valerief]

7. White privilege is like Rich privilege, only not nearly as privileged.

But that doesn't make it any the less real.

[Sheepshank]

10. White and rich... glory be, it's almost a god. n/t

[Gothmog]

9. Great cartoon

[CANDO]

15. I'm white....

And no, you can't take away my privilege! Get your own! You can't have mine! Ok....I feel better now.

[MrScorpio]

16. Damn Skippy! nt

[davidsilver]

18. I agree in part and disagree in part

As to the statistics on prison population over 95 percent of all convicts plead guilty - take a plea deal for LESSER charges.

The rest lost at trial after a jury unanimously found them guilty beyond any reasonable doubt.

Is the poster suggesting that police ignores White felons to focus on POC?

Is the poster saying that because a disproportionate percentage of POC live in poverty that poverty causes people to commit crime? This could be but there are tens of million of white people on public assistance and living at the poverty threshold.

I wish the poster would explain the specifics of exactly how racism results in disproportionate levels of incarceration for POC.

[fasttense]

20. Oh my you are a live one.

Why should the poster explain all that to you? The post was about white privilege and not the unfair, unjust legal system.

"Exactly how racism results in disproportionate levels of incarceration." Think about it. I am sure you can figure it out. It is just so obvious.

[bullsnarfle]

23. I saw an interesting study...

I live in FLA; you know, the state where wanna-be-cops and angry white guys murder teenage black kids for the hell of it?
Anyway, our State Attorney's Office has got to be one of the worst in the U.S., really awful. So one of local tv stations decided to take an in-depth look at white-vs-POC treatment in FLA justice system, and what do you think they found??? The local and the state attorneys over-charge (and I mean WAY over-charge) POC on even minor offenses, hoping that by piling on so many charges that the poor sucker will be terrified into taking a deal.
White folks? Not much...you see, they tend to have better legal representation...

[davidsilver]

27. Thank you for this. I'm not familiar with the criminal justice system

and while I have always suspected racism I was unsure as to how it was accomplished - The mechanics of it. I would hope the DOJ would investigate the Florida AG as a pattern of discriminatory charging practice would also, in my opinion constitue a violation of their civil rights. Thank you again for your post.

[Hekate]

59. Read up on Ferguson, for a teensy peek at the "mechanics" in one town

There's lots of material

[bullsnarfle]

78. Thank you, davidsilver.

But I am thinking that this is not unique to FLA; I will bet it happens every day, all over the U.S., and they have been getting away with it for - well - basically forever...

[Ms. Toad]

26. Assuming you are serious,

Here is a good starting place: http://www.sentencingproject.org/template/page.cfm?id=189

Yes, police are more likely to ignore white felons than POC, as are DAs, as are juries.

There are many places in the criminal justice system where racial bias (conscious or not, base on race or on stand-ins for race(poverty)) tend to disproportionately put POC in prison.

The laws themselves - which more heavily penalize crack cocaine (much more strongly correlated with POC) than powder cocaine (much more strongly correlated with whites). http://www.prisonpolicy.org/scans/sp/RaceandClass.Sentencing.pdf

All of the discretionary choices made:
The decision to stop & frisk - often the first step in the arrest chain
The decision to arrest
The decision to charge
The decision of what specific charges to bring
The decision of whether a plea bargain will be permitted

In addition, people living in poverty are typically defended by public defenders, who are notoriously overworked and underpaid - and get paid little more for going to trial than for negotiating a plea. Fighting, on principle, is something people with money can afford to do - but people without can't. And, not to disparage the many hard working, dedicated public defenders, there are also many who aren't - and constitutionally you are entitled to an attorney, not a competent one. On average - are whites or POC more likely to be able to have the money to afford the luxury of paying to defend themselves on principle?

Here's more, in you are interested in educating yourself about this crisis. http://www.naacp.org/pages/criminal-justice-fact-sheet

[davidsilver]

28. Thank you for this information.

[Ms. Toad]

30. I see I left out two links I intended to include:

General information about causes: http://www.naacp.org/pages/criminal-justice-fact-sheet
Racial disparity in drug laws: http://www.prisonpolicy.org/scans/sp/RaceandClass.Sentencing.pdf

(I'll add them to my earlier post, but wanted to add them where you would see them since I see I left them out originally)

[qwlauren35]

29. YES! Police arrest POCs more than Whites.

There was an Internet video that I saw by a bunch of white kids who talked about the crimes they committed, like shoplifting and drug use and dealing, that were overlooked by cops because "it's a stage, s/he'll get over it, why ruin his/her life with a criminal record".

Didn't Michael Brown get shot after shoplifting?

We know that cocaine use and dealing have lower sentencing than crack. A lot of reasons why jails are overcrowded is not just because of arrest rates, but also long sentences. You also have to look at that hiring statistic. It's VERY important. A white person WITH an arrest record has a higher rate of getting a job than a black man WITHOUT an arrest record. So think how hard it is for a black person with a record to get a job! And we need jobs to survive.

So it's very real, very problematic, and very hard to fight.

[knightmaar]

34. Good!

You're asking questions! That's great! Now answer them instead of using them as rhetoric.

Juries do find black people guilty when they aren't. Yes. We saw video just this week of a cop planting a Taser next to a dead black man, so you can see how that sort of thing can happen.

In Ferguson, police were indeed pulling over, stopping and harrassing blacks even when whites were more likely to have contraband.

And yes, poverty and crime are linked. And it turns out that institutions (like real estate agents) in your country are designed to keep the black people "over there" on the poor side of the tracks where the opportunities are fewer. Do poor white people get the same shitty treatment as poor black people? Good question. Go find out.

But here's the thing: the poster doesn't have to spell out the long, long list of ways that white privilege actually leads to unequal treatment. It. Doesn't. Matter. What matters is that black people are paid less, imprisoned longer, picked on by police more. *That* is the privilege of being white.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

57. Come back when you find your soul...

[jobycom]

71. Take drug use. White people use drugs more, black people are sent to prison more.

You explain that in a way that doesn't imply bias.

The way it works is that at every step of the process, racism is institutionalized. Take crack cocaine, for example. In the 80s Reagan allowed crack to be smuggled into the US by terrorists he supported in Central America (yes, the CIA has admitted this). At the same time, he made prison sentences stiffer for crack than for other drugs, claiming he wanted to clean up the inner cities and rid them of the predators who were selling crack to children. What this meant is that the police flooded the inner cities with cops, narcs, sting operations, and police informant payoffs to arrest as many people as they could, work out plea deals to get more people arrested, etc. What race do you think wound up getting arrested the most in inner city police raids? Yes, black people. So, under the guise of helping black people rid the inner cities of crack, Reagan pushed for stiffer sentences and increased arrests of black people, whereas white people suffered no such increased scrutiny or penalization.

That's one way.

Another way is societal assumptions. For instance, shoplifting. If you've evver worked security or retail, you've been told that black people shoplift more than white people, and you've been given profiles of shoplifters that, even if they don't mention race, describe blacck people more than white people. I worked retail and did an experiment for a year. I refused to watch black shoppers more closely for shoplifting. During that year, at my store we caught ten shoplifters. One was Latina, four were black. Of the four who were black, two of them were together, so that was really one event. They were all caught by the rest of the staff, which varied between five and twenty people, depending on time of year (Christmas has more staff). The other five were all white. Every one of them was caught by me, because I was the only one watching them. And when I say caught, I mean I saw them pocket a wallet (that's what we sold), walk to the door, and set off the buzzer. Here's the really good part. Every one of the people of color went to jail. They were arrested and plead or went to trial, and they all received sentences. Not one of the white people did. In fact, not one of the white shoplifters was even sent to jail. In every case, they talked and bought their way out of it, meaning they begged the manager not to call security, and offered to pay for the merchandise. Yes, the black suspects did the same thing, but were denied that right. And you know the kicker--the manager wasn't even a racist person. She would have been horrified if someone else had presented such numbers to her about someone else. She just couldn't see that she was doing it, too.

So yeah, white people and black people are just as likely to commit crimes. Statistics show--and you can google and find endless well-researched stats to demonstrate this--that a black person is more likely to be arrested, more likely to be charged, more likely to be sentenced, and is going to serve a longer sentence than a white person charged with the same crime and having the same level of criminal background. So, at each stage of the process, from the making of the law to the final sentencing (and that's not even mentioning parole), bias slants the numbers just a little bit, until by the end you have a system where by the end of sentencing, a black suspect is many times more likely to have gone to prison for the same crimes the white person committed and caught a break somewhere in that chain of processing.

So, yeah, absolutely the entire system is biased based on race. Black people are no more likely to commit crimes than white people, and once factors like poverty are adjusted for, or actually less likely (because they know they are less likely to get away with it). But our prisons are filled with people of color.

THAT is white privilege. It's quantifiable.

[qwlauren35]

153. Interesting bit of data there.

Thanks for sharing. Should be interesting to see if people get it...

It's not that black people aren't criminals. It's that white people are criminals and CONSISTENTLY get away with it. Oh what an interesting country we would live in if every white person who ever committed a crime went to jail.

[calimary]

105. Welcome to DU, davidsilver!

Glad you're here! The only complication I could see with what's argued here...

"Is the poster saying that because a disproportionate percentage of POC live in poverty that poverty causes people to commit crime? This could be but there are tens of million of white people on public assistance and living at the poverty threshold."

...is a very basic difference that yet again attempts to compare a brick with a grain of aquarium gravel and claiming they're both the same because they're both hard.

They're NOT the same. YES there are millions and millions of whites living in poverty and needing public assistance. But we whites, in general, have not had the long and shitty history of slavery, wrenched from our homes, families, and communities on a whole other continent, and plunked down into an artificially-created community of slavery and severe indentured servitude. WE haven't had that. WE haven't come from that. WE haven't had a background and a community history of that. WE haven't been preyed upon and persecuted and demeaned and belittled as the black community has. WE don't have the history of "shoot first, ask questions later" for OUR young men. When OUR young men are pulled over for some random bullshit situation like a broken tail light, I would submit that OUR young men are not treated AND presumed as being guilty-until-proven-innocent. The white kid is apt to get a warning, a slap on the wrist, or a ticket. For the black kid, the hard, cold statistics show that presumption is TOTALLY guilty-until-proven-innocent. The black kid automatically starts from WAY back on the speedway.

We whites for the most part can't even begin to comprehend what that is like to live with - through the generations. Through the decades. Through several centuries in this country by now. Not surprising that it doesn't make sense to many of our white brothers and sisters. Because it's just not in their reality. It's just not their universe. How CAN they know? How CAN they understand? They've never experienced anything like the black community faces every day.

I'd venture that there's one single exception to that. The ONLY whites who possibly could even begin to understand that as acutely as blacks do, as a collective that's STILL being regarded as second-class, know-your-place, shut-up-and-obey, are women. The ONLY segment of the white population that has been held down and held back anywhere near as much as the black population in this country has, and had to face similar hurdles, similar discrimination, similar diminishment, similar obstacles, similar inequality, similar lack of opportunity - is the FEMALE population. As a woman, I DO get it. John Lennon once sang about how "woman is the n-word of the world." He used the actual word in that song. And his point was a completely valid one.

[bettyellen]

194. Wow dude, there are tons of studies on this. Educate yourself before entertaining racist notions...

Such as our police depts and justice systems are colorblind. Extreme bias has been proven. Wake up and do some research.

[davidsilver]

195. Okay...

But you're not suggesting that all the people in prison, who either pled guilty or were convicted at trial, are really innocent?

It seem that you are more like me in believing that there should be a lot more white people in prison with them who are not there due to the innate racial bias in our justice system. Right?

[bettyellen]

200. I think a lot of POC get a very bad shake- and if white people got the same treatment-

Laws for non violent drug offenses would be changed. Police and prosecuters would suddenly be held be liable for the abuses. A lot would change if white people were treated this poorly, wouldn't it?

[davidsilver]

224. Yes Indeed

[Hekate]

21. I'm so white that all but my eyes & hair disappeared in a B/W flash photo against a white backdrop

True story from college. Worse, I was wearing a white blouse.

Humor aside, this is a terrific educational cartoon, and I see this thread has already pulled in three live ones. Heh.

[notadmblnd]

32. Acknowledged and agreed

Now, what are we going to do to fix it?

[Jack Rabbit]

33. K/R

!!

[NJCher]

40. this is the theme

for a writing course I'm teaching. The students have to research an area of institutionalized racism.

I have papers being written now on how institutional racism:

--results in poorer nutritional intake (food deserts)

--the old boys clubs of corporations

--fewer African American male teachers and the resulting lack of role models

--how African-American family wealth is lower due to the past practice of redlining

--the advertising model of beauty and how it doesn't include African-American women

and more that I can't recall at the moment.

This is such an interesting area. Institutional racism can be very subtle.


Cher

[jobycom]

80. Good job!

My partner lectures to universities on this. She's very good at it, too, and there's often some point in the presentation where you can see it click, even with people who thought they understood it before. It's amazing to watch a room full of white professors and high levvel administrators suddenly get it. Some burst into tears. Former students come up to her years later and say she was the one who first made them understand, and they've spent their careers since then working on it.

Those types of efforts--like yours, and like the OP's (not to mention the cartoonist's)--pay off in the long run, no matter how many detractors oppose them. The first time I heard the term "white supremacy" (not meaning the hooded guys in white sheets) was here on DU probably over ten years ago. I remember the poster who used it, though I don't see her around anymore. While I always sort of understood the concept and had long raged against it, I never had the words to fully express and clarify my thinking on it. That poster may have no idea how she affected me.

That's why I applaud those who keep trying. It really does make a difference.

[Comrade Grumpy]

41. Like I need some 20-something cartoonist to tell me to "fucking educate myself."

She and all the other incessant white privilege haranguers can go fly a kite.

[jeff47]

52. And they need to vacate your lawn presently. (nt)

[Comrade Grumpy]

56. I don't call myself grumpy for nothing. n/t

[heaven05]

68. figures

[JTFrog]

69. What's that saying again? Racism will end when all the old white people die?

I think Oprah Winfrey said it.

[madfloridian]

75. "Racism will end when all the old white people die?" What a cheerful thought.

I could make other comments about that statement, but I dare not.

[JTFrog]

83. I hear ya.

But even this old white person can understand where she's coming from.

Pretty sure she just meant that it's just a matter of time and that change will come with new generations.

[madfloridian]

93. The kind of change that can't wait for old folks to die? How about that?

[Comrade Grumpy]

76. I'm as anti-racist as anybody. But this meme is counterproductive. Accomplishes nothing.

Except maybe helping some over-privileged white kids feel good about feeling bad about themselves.

"I'm so cool. I acknowledge my white privilege."

Okay. Now what?

[alp227]

84. You're making a tone argument instead of a substantive argument.

What do you mean "now what?"

[Comrade Grumpy]

88. No. I'm suggesting this is a counter-productive way to try to address racism.

What I mean by "now what?" is great, we acknowledge white privilege, so what do we do about it?

It seems like the end game in these discussions is acknowledging white privilege.

I can get behind "Black Lives Matter;" I can get behind black people winning council seats in Ferguson; I can get behind "the New Jim Crow;" but white privilege? Meh.

Might be a useful concept for sheltered, over-privileged white kids going off to private colleges. For the rest of us, not so much. And I really don't need to be lectured by some kid who just discovered racism.

[alp227]

89. Again, that's a tone argument, attacking the tone of the speaker instead of the message.

Not to mention ad hom too. I'm not buying it.

[Throd]

92. Tone is critical in effective messaging.

[JTFrog]

94. Only to those trying to squash the message. n/t

[Throd]

101. You're saying tone doesn't matter when trying to make an argument?

There is a whole industry dedicated to it.

[JTFrog]

141. I'm saying that the only people I ever see using the "tone argument"

are those that want to stifle the discussion or who are never going to be swayed regardless of "tone".

The tone argument is a form of derailment, or a red herring, because the tone of a statement is independent of the content of the statement in question, and calling attention to it distracts from the issue at hand. Drawing attention to the tone rather than content of a statement can allow other parties to avoid engaging with sound arguments presented in that statement, thus undermining the original party's attempt to communicate and effectively shutting them down.

[kwassa]

148. Excellent post, and to the point.

[Throd]

193. Exactly, poor tone becomes a tool of distraction and should be avoided.

What you say and how you say can be two vastly different things.

[JTFrog]

204. Whoosh. n/t

[Throd]

209. Right back atcha.

[JTFrog]

212. Do you have any actual thoughts or opinions about white privilege or do you

just want to keep attempting trying to divert and shut down discussion? If you just bring up the tone argument again, I guess we'll at least have a better understanding of your participation in this thread.

[Throd]

220. I fully recognize the existence of white privilege.

I benefit from it.

I also benefit from straight privilege, tall privilege, and still having all my hair in my late 40's privilege.

The messaging is something I often have a problem with. Conversations about white privilege are bound to put some white people on the defensive. If one truly wants to inform people of the concept, they might want to choose their tone and words carefully. This applies to any sensitive subject.

After seeing 1,000 different threads about the subject, I have too often seen passive-aggressive posters try to punch other people's buttons just so they can say "boo hoo, poor widdle white man haz a sad". They aren't really interested in any kind of meaningful discussion. Also, lecturing some white person whose life is currently in the toilet about their privilege is going to get the same result almost every time.

[JTFrog]

221. Thank you for at least addressing the issue.

We'll just have to agree to disagree about the "tone argument". Don't expect to see less threads about the subject until we see some real change in this country. We need a solution and we need it fast. If that takes getting pissed off and standing up and screaming from the hilltops every hour of every day, then so be it.

[ismnotwasm]

187. I disagree

Constant exposure, constant discussion on a wide variety of venues is very useful.

[romanic]

210. For real.

Agree 100%.

[Number23]

136. The only problem with that, as the OK frat chant and others have proven over and over again, is that

a lot of young white people are damn near every bit as racist as their elders. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/04/07/white-millennials-are-just-about-as-racist-as-their-parents/

This shit is NEVER GOING TO DIE.

And it certainly never will if the millisecond anyone ever talks about racism, they get shouted down, minimized, told they're "distracting" from the REAL issues aka the ones that affect white people, or white people immediately put on their Cloak of Hyperdefensiveness in order to shut the conversation down.

[JTFrog]

142. Very true. n/t

[hughee99]

174. And she's right, that's why there's no racism

In countries like China, Korea and Japan... Not enough old white men.

[hunter]

115. I'm the grumpiest person most people know, comrade...

...most of whom have never had the misfortune of living with me in my "off my meds" state.

This cartoon didn't bother me at all.

I know damned well "white privilege" kept me out of many entanglements with the legal system, even when I've been at my worst, including a few times I've behaved badly when confronted by the police.

If younger or less experienced people are trying to explain that to their peers, why should I complain?

[NaturalHigh]

44. Cool story bro.

If there's one thing we desperately needed today it's a white privilege thread.

[1StrongBlackMan]

81. Apparently, we do. n/t

[irisblue]

85. ^^this^^

[Call Me Wesley]

109. I think it's fine to be reminded every day.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=thread&address=10026478288&info=1#recs

[NaturalHigh]

120. Do you think white people are supposed to feel guilty...

about their skin pigment or lack of it?

[Call Me Wesley]

121. What a wonky reply.

This goes way deeper than skin tissue, if you didn't get it. But thanks for defending us innocent whiteys. Smooch.

[NaturalHigh]

124. I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "wonky"...

but I was expressing my sincere feelings in my reply.

[Call Me Wesley]

127. "Askew."

But yes, I am 1000% sure you were expressing your sincere feelings.

[whathehell]

143. Not wonky at all. It's an honest question,

especially when one sees the meme repeated again and again.

[Puglover]

171. Gack I posted to you by mistake sorry..

Last edited Fri Apr 10, 2015, 09:58 AM - Edit history (1)

[whathehell]

182. No problem. n/t

[Puglover]

179. It's not about guilt.

Most white folks are utterly clueless about their white privilege. Others angrily deny it. I don't know what is worse.

I don't think it's about "guilt" at all.

It's about being open and honest.

I can't do a thing about my skin color but I can be open to how I act and try to keep in mind that I have had (in my life) many advantages that a POC or other minorities do not enjoy.

I live in Ecuador and on our towns Facebook page a man penned an OP. Asking if he would have a problem in our town as a gay man.

One woman answered him with...."I have many gay friends. I don't care who you sleep with just don't flaunt your lifestyle in my face." And I don't have a doubt that she thought she was being welcoming.

POC hear this meme daily from white America. A thousand different ways some subtle and some not so subtle. One of my personal favs are folks that proudly display the stars and bars in their homes while bleating that they don't have a bigoted bone in their bodies.

I wish I had a solution. I don't. The only thing I can do is acknowledge that bigotry is deeply ingrained in me simply by being human and work on not letting it affect my thoughts and behavior.

[WillyT]

46. HUGE K & R !!! - THANK YOU !!!

[Nye Bevan]

60. This cannot be said often enough.

Thank you most sincerely for posting.

[JohnnyRingo]

61. Kick

I too am white, and while I stop short of harboring guilt about it, it's obvious to me that being of any darker pigment than full blooded Irish carries a distinct social disadvantage. Unfortunately, the darker the bigger problem it is.

A question I like to ask friends who flirt around racist comments is "how much would you take to wake up tomorrow as a black person and spend the rest of your life as such? Before they answer I add "really black, not like Obama black". I help out by tossing a million dollars into the pot, but that's never enough. Then I can ask why they think minorities have had it too good for too long. I suggest they owe some reparations.

I know it's a somewhat crude way to make a point, but that's the language they understand.

[Nye Bevan]

64. "really black, not like Obama black"?

You don't consider President Obama to be "really black"?

[bravenak]

96. He is medium brown.

Not ebony, or jet black, or blueblack.

[Nye Bevan]

100. So we should be saying "the first medium brown President"? (nt)

[bravenak]

103. I just call him black for short.

[JohnnyRingo]

108. My subjects understand what that means.

It's a racist way of relating to them "not a light skinned black", so they envision someone like Idi Amin. I want to impress upon them the serious disadvantage they'd have to suffer in their daily lives. The least anyone has said they'd take is $10mil. Many wisely change the subject.

Again, this works better the more racist a person is. It's worth the indelicacy to see the fraught on their faces when they imagine the tribulations they'd face instead of that great life on food stamps and free Cadillacs they see as the entitlement of an African American.

I'm sorry I wasn't more clear.

[7962]

175. "Not like Obama black"? HUH?

[JohnnyRingo]

184. I don't want them to imagine they'll be light skinned

I want them to think Idi Amin so they'll realize the full hardship of life as a black man, and it works. It usually ends the conversation about how black people have had it too good for too long.

What do you think I meant?

[7962]

188. I just think its silly to further segregate black people by the "level of darkness".

[JohnnyRingo]

198. Maybe you believe so, but racists don't think it's silly.

..and that's why I add the modifier when dealing with people who whine about how well off African Americans are. It's unfortunate that bigots are more willing to accept someone who more closely mirrors themselves, but it's a sad fact that should be obvious.

Perhaps you recall that Michael Jackson lightened his skin so he could better appeal across racial divides, and it was indeed a likely factor in his universal popularity as The King of Pop. That title, by the way, was invented by Jacko so he wouldn't get wrongly pigeonholed as a soul performer.

[heaven05]

66. excellent

for the help it will give some in understanding how we can all gain a semblance of fairness and balance

[tclambert]

70. Yes, but there are also drawbacks to being white.

Like . . . I get sunburned easily.

[akbacchus_BC]

157. You are too funny!

Get sunscreen when you travel to the tropics.

Just my humble opinion!

Brown people burn too but we just do not notice it until we return home to North America!

[Bonx]

73. Didn't realize Ms. Mary Ann Twitty posted here.

So I guess we all get to enjoy this fresh take :/

[L0oniX]

95. Hi everyone ...I'm actually beige.

[kpete]

183. and

I am various shades of brown depending on how much gardening I do.
My feet often have 2 shades due to the constant use of flip flops,
my kids make fun of the two-tone

peace,
kp

[L0oniX]

196. Oh so "farmers tan" is a racist remark now?

[kpete]

205. sort of striped

zebra-humanish


thanks LooniX for helping me to see myself in new light...

peace,
kp

[ann---]

104. What is a

"POC?"

[steve2470]

107. people of color, or person of color nt

[ann---]

117. Thanks

[Call Me Wesley]

113. Recc'd. Also, this:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026478288

[IronLionZion]

126. What if someone is a white feminist woman?

How much of her patriarchal oppression is canceled out by her white privilege?



That's a joke. I've always appreciated the support of white women and others in the struggle against racism.

[whathehell]

138. Interesting that they used a female rather than a male..

Considerating that they certainly have less "privilege" .

[graegoyle]

147. I'm pretty sure the cartoonist is female.

And that the cartoon is her voice.

[whathehell]

149. Still, all the inequality stats were about men..

I thought it made it look like it was mainly a woman's issue, which it clearly is not.

[Bonobo]

158. Try googling how much white women earn vs. women of color. nt

[whathehell]

167. Try googling how much men of all colors earn vs. women of all colors. n/t.

[Bonobo]

169. I wasn't the one in denial, whatthehell. You were. nt

[whathehell]

181. Didn't deny a thing, so I'm guessing you're just not up to the challenge. n/t

[lovemydog]

144. Does white privilege exist?

Yes. To me it's obvious and all around our society. It will take generations to reduce it. I find joy in the wonderful people I meet in that struggle.

When opportunities expand we all benefit. It makes life better for everyone.

[AnAzulTexas]

154. hi, I'm white

and this dumbass cartoon makes it seem like I am by default a yuppy, entitled bigot.

reverse racism is just as disgusting

[jeff47]

155. :eyes:

The point










Your head

[gollygee]

164. Reverse racism?

Racism causes people of color to go to prison, get killed, be kept from an education, etc. The only thing that happened to you is that feelings got hurt. Get over it.

[Call Me Wesley]

214. 'Reverse Racism'

is a pretty much white right-wing definition of 'I hate black people!'

[meathead]

217. Funny

The countless successful black people in my life never went to prison. I wonder what they did right?

[gollygee]

218. You should read the comic again. n/t

[kwassa]

222. You would wonder, or you could do some homework.

My money is on you wondering. Much easier.

[Call Me Wesley]

213. Hi, I'm white, too.

And I don't think you know what racism means. You may have put it in reverse all by yourself. Are you kidding me?

'Reverse Racism' is a laughable construct mostly used by right wings whites who hold on on their white privilege because it's a given. The master race. I wouldn't really post this on DU, but you did.

I think this 'dumbass' cartoon is just about you. Yuppy, entitled bigot who had to post the term 'reverse racism.' Eeek.

[akbacchus_BC]

156. That is nice to know!

Is there something else you not telling us? I really do not care about your colour but how does your OP add to the discussion on here? Please enlighten me!

[lykemike]

159. Dense

Thread proves that some will NEVER get it. By choice.

[Scuba]

160. My favorite thread this week! Love the smackdowns of the lame attempts at pushback.

Thanks kpete.

[99Forever]

162. Lots of bait on the board this morning.

[romanic]

168. I feel like

this was more of a bait thread than an actual discussion or a debate on the concept of white privilege. Yawn.

[dumbcat]

185. I thoroughly renounce my white priviledge

and refuse to accept it anymore.

[kwassa]

223. Look in the mirror. You are still white.

[romanic]

225. What do u want him/her to do?

Slice their skin off? What a loaded and passive aggressive response, he/she was agreeing with the topic you buffoon.

[whatchamacallit]

206. Plain and simple truth

Denial is ridiculous.

[muriel_volestrangler]

207. I don't know where they got their figure, but the prisoner numbers are 32% white, 68% non-white

Still far more likely for POCs to be sent to prison, but it's not 11% to 88%.

Source: http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p10.pdf (p.26 Appendix 12: Estimated number of sentenced prisoners under state and federal jurisdiction, by sex, race, and Hispanic origin, December 31, 2010: 1,446,000 male plus 104,600 female, of which 451,600 male and 48,000 female white prisoners)

[Brett Fitz]

226. Hi There, I'm Brett, And I'm A White Man

I started off with milk, as so many of us have. Before I knew it, I was drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon and singing the song! Lately, I've been telling my daughters whom to date! Is there any hope for me?????