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irisblue

(32,829 posts)
Sun Aug 18, 2019, 11:00 AM Aug 2019

The term "White Privilege" and people have feelings about it.

::This is being posted in the African American Group::
Respect this group please

Source-https://www.axios.com/new-culture-war-meaning-white-privilege-7d3a1744-b03b-4a3c-a30a-9741e0974bf0.html


Snip-"There's no doubt that rural, lower-income, majority-white parts of the country are suffering. People are plagued by opioid addictions, unemployment and high infant mortality rates.

But there's a disconnect between white Americans' perception of their advantages and how they're seen by people of color.
46% of white Americans say they believe they benefit because of their race, compared to 92% of black Americans and 65% of Hispanic Americans who believe that white people benefit, according to a 2017 study by Pew Research Center.
By contrast, black Americans make up 13% of the U.S. population, but 32% of people killed by police in 2012 were black, per the FBI."


Article is an interesting to me read. I've been thinking on and learning about and going to discussions about this topic for several years now because of this groups postings. I will never know enough. But I can do & be better.


13 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Cary

(11,746 posts)
1. There is a disconnect
Sun Aug 18, 2019, 11:08 AM
Aug 2019

That is a good way to put it.

What is the goal? Is the goal to shock or shame white people or is the goal to connect? Can one do both?

irisblue

(32,829 posts)
2. Both? Yeah both
Sun Aug 18, 2019, 11:23 AM
Aug 2019

The 1619 NYT mag & articles like this & "Teaching Tolerance"
public discussions help move thoughts and hopefully actions. I know from my own life experiences, I do not change my thinking/actions if a new idea doesn't make me at least a bit uncomfortable at first.
The 'newness' of an idea, " maybe Dad and Poppa were wrong about black men on the factory line..."
But then I tend to ruminate and study on ideas.

Cary

(11,746 posts)
6. My personal observation:
Sun Aug 18, 2019, 02:41 PM
Aug 2019

You can't do both. Those whom I know, who need some shame, will not be shamed. Quite the contrary, they dig in.

Eliot Rosewater

(31,097 posts)
12. Those who need shame? All white Americans share the burden of this
Mon Aug 19, 2019, 09:02 PM
Aug 2019

deeply twisted history.

And when reparations are paid we need to include NA and JA as well.

Cary

(11,746 posts)
13. Are you suggesting no white people have shame?
Mon Aug 19, 2019, 10:04 PM
Aug 2019

Not that that was my point, mind you.

As one who is 99.7% Ashkenazi Jew I can assure you that my ancestors had a pretty difficult time, and played no role in slavery.

Not that that matters. I have some problems with your concept.

Kind of Blue

(8,709 posts)
4. The great Prof. McIntosh says, "You have to look at it systemically.
Sun Aug 18, 2019, 11:44 AM
Aug 2019
You’re born into a system of white privilege; you’re not born shameful, blameful or evil."

Just as we are born in the same system and negating shameful, blameful or evil based on fallacies is second nature to us, not understanding white privilege in this day and age is white privilege in and of itself.

Cary

(11,746 posts)
9. Who is the "we" and "us" to whom your referred in the post I responded to?
Sun Aug 18, 2019, 05:04 PM
Aug 2019

Since you were responding to me it seemed to me that you and I were "us."

Of course as Stephen Stills said "We are not helpless we are men. What lies between us, it can be set aside and ended."

Are you setting aside and ending what lies between us?

Cary

(11,746 posts)
11. I didn't say anything to deserve that
Sun Aug 18, 2019, 05:17 PM
Aug 2019

I guess I erred when I assumed you were discussing shame in good faith.

Set aside. Ended.

The Velveteen Ocelot

(115,280 posts)
3. Speaking as a white person, I look at it as meaning there's shit I *don't* have to put up with
Sun Aug 18, 2019, 11:23 AM
Aug 2019

because I'm white. Being white doesn't mean I automatically get everything I want, but it does mean, among other things, that if I get pulled over by the cops because a tail light is out, all that will happen is I get a polite reminder to get it fixed; I don't get arrested or shot. It means that nobody is likely to call the police because I'm barbecuing in a public park or trying to get into my own house when I locked myself out, driving through an upscale neighborhood in an expensive car, waiting for a friend at Starbucks, campaigning door-to-door, or so many of the other mundane, harmless things black people have been harassed for doing. I do most of those things routinely and nobody bothers me and I don't think they will. Hearing about these incidents has made me much more aware of the fact that I do benefit from my race, every day.

CrispyQ

(36,231 posts)
5. I first realized my white privilege when I took public transportation for a few years.
Sun Aug 18, 2019, 12:22 PM
Aug 2019

Even minorities treated a middle-aged, middle class white woman differently than how they treated women of color. And it was usually very subtle, like the bus seat next to me would be the absolute last one someone would sit in. They would let the older white woman sit alone, sometimes even standing, instead of taking the seat next to me. When you notice subtle things like that, the obvious stuff really starts to stand out afterwards. That white people get offended or defensive when told they experience privilege in our society, I'm just awed how they can be so obtuse. White is the default, just like male is the default.

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