"Whitesplaining" White privilege:

[Humanist_Activist]

I'm a white guy, I'm sporting a farmers tan, but that's as dark as I can go, and believe me, I feel that burn!

With that out of the way, here's something I don't understand, what the fuck is up with all the white complaints about white privilege? I will grant that the actual word "privilege" is problematic in the semantic sense, as in, the privileges we white people enjoy shouldn't be privileges at all, but rather the way everyone, regardless of race, should be treated. But, as a convenient shorthand, its good enough. So I will use it here.

It just mystifies me what the over the top objections many white people have over the use of the term. POC and others pointing out this privilege do NOT think every white person in this country goes to the country club in a Bentley chauffeured by Morgan Freeman every day of the week, smoking pipes, wearing tophats and monocles. Though now that I think about it, if I were rich, at least part of that is awesome, but I'd prefer Morgan Freeman as a guest, not a chauffeur.

Actually, side note here, as a second job, my dad was a chauffeur for a limo company for a few years, off and on. He had a lot of stories to tell of the many people he drove around, including quite a few black people, mostly politicians, a couple of community leaders, and a few celebrities, like Cedric the Entertainer and Nelly.

Anyways, as you can gather, my family was not and is not rich, but again, look at what is NOT "white" privilege, being independently wealthy. But here's some stark facts, there are neighborhoods around where I live where I can walk or drive around at 2 am and I'm far less likely to be pulled over and questioned by St. Louis County cops than Nelly. This is a guy who runs a school in an arts college locally, he has a life, or at least an income I am not ashamed to say I envy, but I have one thing he doesn't, I'm white. This isn't a boast, its a fact.

I don't have to worry, most of the time, that police are going to storm up around me, guns drawn, while I'm walking down the street because I "match the description" of a suspect in an armed robbery. After all, whenever a white guy commits a crime, they at least have eye color/hair color to go on, so there's a good chance I don't match one of those descriptions, rather than just using the race as the description. I'm far less likely to be shot, abused, detained, or arrested by the cops than any POC out there. Even if I were to be pulled over, which is in itself less likely, I might add.

Whenever I walk into a store, whether its a convenience store, a department store, whatever, unless I act very suspicious, I'm far less likely to be followed by loss prevention/security, less likely to be profiled, etc.

These are the most obvious examples I can think of, don't think of this as an exhaustive list, but here's some of the reasons I'm privileged. I also carry privileges that are semi-independent due to being a cis-gender heterosexual male, and I freely acknowledge those as well. The thing is, and white people, listen close, its not your fault, not personally that is. I "enjoy" these privileges because, unless I want to go around in blackface, there's no way I can avoid them.

All any of us can do is try to change the culture itself to make this privilege extend to people of all races, and in the meantime, support policies that enforce equality and protection of minority rights.

[delrem]

1. 'Systemic racism' and 'white privilege' are understood in my political milieu.

(speaking while white...)

Not well understood by any means, but well enough so the terms are "out there".

Even those of my family and friends who tend to be more of the reactionary kind understand and accept these meanings as being factually descriptive, even while knowing that the whole of the story will forever remain untold.

So these words signify an *opening* rather than a closing.

European colonialist racism.

Of course there are many who I might "meet on the street" who don't get it and who would be extremely defensive on hearing those terms. But those people aren't defining the language that we use to describe fact.

I'm in Canada. Maybe our police don't shoot down people for "walking while black", but our police have done things, systematically, like drive natives (First Nations prisoners) out into the middle of nowhere, in the extreme cold of the Prairies in January, and shove them out to die of cold. We've denied First Nation children the right to be raised in their own culture, using their own language and according as their own customs. We created entire institutions with buildings, infrastructure, laws, personnel, social systems, to implement it -- all while claiming to serve God. And then, of course, we judged the results. l I think we're at the stage now where we recognize that these aren't problems caused by individual police, teachers, people. They are caused by the systemic racism of a cultural milieu which hasn't overcome roots in European colonialist racism.

I think the Canadian system is the same as the US system, but with different demographics. But the same root problem: European colonialist racism built right into the founding law and structure.

[Humanist_Activist]

3. Yes, what Colonials did to natives in all countries is horrific and we still....

Have people suffer from it.

[brush]

2. God! Finally. Thanks for this post from a perceptive and receptive white guy's perspective. nt