In the auto parts store yesterday...white privilege

[MineralMan]

One of the brake lights in our second car had burned out. I didn't notice it, because I can't see it when I'm driving, and I'm almost never following it when my wife is driving. A week ago, though, I was following her and noticed it.

So, I went into the auto parts store yesterday and bought a replacement. I actually had some, but they were old style, rather than the push-in based version the PT Cruiser used. I picked up a two-pack so I could replace both, since the car had the original bulbs in it.

I took them to the counter. The guy at the cash register said, "Yeah, not a good time to have burned out tail lights."

It took me a second to realize what he was talking about, but then I remembered the police shooting of a black guy in a nearby city the other day. He was stopped for just that thing. I just nodded and paid for the bulbs, which I installed later that day. As a old guy with white privilege, it never occurred to me that a burned out brake light could pose a life-threatening risk for me if noticed by a cop. That's because it wouldn't pose such a risk for me.

I've thought about that a lot since then. It's an extremely sad commentary on our culture and society, I think. We all need to check our privilege.

[Wellstone ruled]

1. Thanks,great post.

So true.

[MineralMan]

2. Thanks. It made me think.

Thinking is good. We all should do it from time to time.

[SCantiGOP]

3. But thinking is hard

Hard, like George W said Presidenting was hard.

OP was an excellent observation. I remember years ago (70s) when I made my first real black friend in college. First time he ever explained to me what it was like growing up black in the South was after I made an idiotic comment about the 'historical accuracy' of Gone With the Wind. Instead of telling me that I was a hopeless racist idiot, he explained how all the colored folks on the plantations were not actually happy and content with their condition.
Hard to imagine I could have lived in this society for 18 years and never thought about the unspeakable horror that slavery had been for African Americans, and how it had continued to dominate our society 100+ years after that war had ended.

[Wellstone ruled]

6. Sad to say,think so many don't take the time

to engage their brain before opening their mouths.

[yallerdawg]

4. More white privilige.

New headline - "Law Enforcement Targeted," "Police Ambushed," "Kill White People, Kill White Cops."

No headline - "American Law Enforcement Targets and Kills African-Americans For Centuries!"

[sheshe2]

24. That is just to sad.

[hollowdweller]

5. It occurrs to me.

Because I used to be a Deadhead and I had a lot of friends pulled over and searched for bogus reasons like that because they were trying to find drugs and the cops saw a Dead sticker on the car.

I even had a friend in Virginia pulled over just for his Dead sticker, they found a couple of joints. He protested illegal search but the judge said the Dead sticker was probably cause!

Now all the people I know that were pulled over where white, but same thing they were being profiled.

I think if there is one thing that has really led to a lot of these pull overs and also people getting shot by cops and harrassed it's the war on drugs.

To me it's the single biggest contributor to our loss of privacy rights and also it has created sort of an underclass that is underemployed or unemployable due to criminal record.

If we could somehow legalize pot nationwide and somehow grapple with the loss of rights that came with the war on drugs I think a LOT fewer black people would be shot by cops.

[tblue37]

11. It also deprives many of their right to vote to change things. nt

[MineralMan]

12. Yah, well. I was a daily toker back in the

late 60s and early 70s, too. I never got busted for dope, though. But, then, I didn't have Dead stickers or any other crap on my car and never carried when driving. If I had any, it was locked in the trunk.

But, you see, it's not the same thing at all. Not in any way. If you're a black man, it doesn't matter what you drive, what bumper stickers you have or anything else. You're black. That's all that's required to get stopped way more times than a white guy driving the same exact vehicle as you have.

It's not the same.

[Go Vols]

54. Pre Raygun mandatory sentences

pre prisons for profit too.

I got by with quite a bit in the '70s that are felonies now.

Failure to yield to blue lights/run from the cops cost $72 bucks in '78 if caught.

[Scarsdale]

57. Driving while Black

Isn't that what we used to call it?

[1StrongBlackMan]

65. And, I would suggest another difference ...

when the Officer approaches the Deadhead stickered vehicle, he may feel hatred for the "counter-cultured asshole"; but, he's not feeling fear. Cops don't stereotype Deadheads as violent criminals.

[MineralMan]

66. Yes. Exactly.

No racism is involved with Deadheads. Again, their skin color gives them a certain level of immunity, in most cases.

[PatrickforO]

19. Well I'm all for legalization, amnesty for all those rotting in prisons now on pot convictions, and

record expungement for all those who have convictions on the record for marijuana.

You bet.

But even if we did that, we white people, especially white men, still enjoy 'white privilege.' It isn't something we earned, or are even aware of most of the time. I mean, we have to work hard and have all kinds of problems just like everyone else. But...

I won't ever have to worry about getting shot if a cop stops me for a taillight being out.

I didn't ever have to have the 'escalation of force' conversation with my children about how to keep from giving racist cops the excuse to shoot them.

I don't get pulled over when I drive my decent car through a nice neighborhood.

I don't get harassed when I'm walking through a nice neighborhood.

I don't have clerks follow me around in stores to keep me from stealing stuff.

I don't have clerks ignore me in stores and provide service to people who have lighter skin pigment.

When I talk to a banker or other finance person, they don't withhold the best deals on interest because of my skin color.

When I talk to a realtor, they don't consciously or unconsciously try and steer me away from certain neighborhoods because 'I wouldn't feel comfortable there.'

White privilege. We need to be aware of it first, then we need to fight it whenever and however we can.

I think sometimes that white people who resist the very idea of white privilege do so out of fear. But here is a golden truth: WE WILL NOT LOSE A THING IF THE SAME PRIVILEGES WE ENJOY ARE EXTENDED TO PEOPLE OF COLOR - we won't. Not at all, and what we will all gain is the promise of this country, that all people are created equal and should enjoy the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Or, as MLK said, a country where we are judged by the content of our character instead of the color of our skin.

[geardaddy]

49. Excellent response.

This should be its own OP.

[Scarsdale]

59. Rape

What about being white and raping an unconcious student? Slap on the wrist, tears for the lost opportunities for this "poor guy" What about driving drunk, killing several people, crippling one for life? Then walking, flying to Mexico because your parents are rich? Ever heard of either of these situations happening to a Black student? If every p ersons who tried drugs were areested, who would represent us in DC? We are being fooled by a group of flim flam artists in DC, taking, but giving back as little as possible. If people lose the right to vote because of laws, how do those clowns manage to keep that privilege?

[elias7]

64. Good post. I disagree with one statement...

That the resistance to the very idea of white privilege is done so out of fear. I know it's probably rehashing a point, but I think that the resistance is in the terminology itself. The term "privilege" is a pejorative for most of a liberal/progressive bent. The privileged class traditionally meant aristocracy or its equivalent - wealth, WASP, old money - and all the abuse and inequity it implies. This societal dynamic is something that most progressives in most cultures have for centuries fought to undo, only now to be defined as privileged themselves in this newly minted social construct. Traditional terms such as "advantaged/disadvantaged" or "victims" of racism and sexism or other forms of minority persecution have been unfavored as describing our social dynamic. So, "not a victim" has been renamed "privilege". Embracing the term requires a paradigm shift in linguistic meaning, unless you are youth-privileged and growing up with the concept. Discomfort with the term, IMO, is not borne of fear, but of cognitive dissonance.

[SCVDem]

7. Why not just pull alongside a vehicle

roll your window down and inform the driver that a taillight is out. Then drive off.

You know it will get fixed asap.

Unless the taillight is still the excuse du jour for fishing without a warrant.

One is policing and the other .......... We know how that works out.

(I regularly back up to a wall and do a light check. No dumb excuses!)

[7962]

9. Just like the good 'ol "you were weaving" excuse.

The reality is that they dont really have to have a valid reason to pull you over. And the later at night it is, the more likely. Like you said, its a fishing expedition to see if you're drunk/carrying dope/etc

[Igel]

42. It'll be fixed asap?

Really?

I have to assume that was sarcastic.

In Houston we have annual safety inspections. You have your taillight out and you don't get to renew your registration. Then it gets fixed. Cops often ignore taillights for that reason. Then again, they have the crazies weaving in and out of traffic at 90 miles per hour to deal with.

"My kids" who are stopped and tell me about things like this typically laugh. "Stopped for busted brake light. Like I care." And the next time they're stopped, they hope that the cop has no record of the first warning. First rule of teaching: Know your kids.

[SheriffBob]

8. Karma

What goes around comes around.

[Nye Bevan]

10. It's never a good time to have burned out tail lights.

Whatever your color, the probability of being pulled over by a cop for burned out tail lights and then being shot by the cop is infinitesimal compared with the probability of dying when another vehicle slams into you because your brake lights weren't working and they didn't realize you were slowing down. I'm not denying that racist trigger-happy cops are a problem but this is an example of people not putting risks in a proper perspective (similar to worrying about a plane crashing as opposed to the much higher risk of dying in a traffic accident on the way to the airport).

[MineralMan]

14. That's true, of course. But, brake lights do burn out.

Everyone has driven around with one brake light out until it gets noticed and fixed. My newer car notifies me if any lights are not working, but most of the cars I've owned had no such notification. So, I've had burned out tail lights from time to time. I've even been pulled over for it a couple of times in my 50+ years of driving.

But, see, I'm a white guy. When that has happened the cop told me my light was out. I said, "Thanks. I'll fix that today." Then I went on my way. The cop didn't kill me. He didn't come to the car with his weapon drawn. He didn't assume I was trouble in any way. He just told me my tail light was burned out.

That's my privilege at work. I'm lucky to have it. Sadly, the cop behaves differently with a person of color is driving with a burned out light. Because he can. Because he wants to. That's the problem, in a nutshell.

A burned out tail light is not a capital offense. It's just a minor infraction. It's not really cause for anything but a notification that it's out, so you can fix it or get it fixed. If you're white, that is.

[progree]

29. Taillights and jogging in a white surburb

When that has happened the cop told me my light was out. I said, "Thanks. I'll fix that today." Then I went on my way.

The one time it happened, I was told I had a week to fix it, and then to take it to the local police station for them to verify that it had been fixed. Just a tail light. (Golden Valley, MN).

On white privilege - I think about it every time I jog around here, in a 90+% white suburb. Much of it on residential streets.

I'm sure if I was a black guy running down a residential street, clutching something in a plastic bag (a cold water bottle in the summer), at twilight, there would be all kinds of 911 calls. And questions from curious cops too. But I've never been stopped or gotten any attention in any way from a cop (being a white late- late- middleage person)

[oberliner]

31. There would be 911 calls if a black person was jogging in your neighborhood?

What kind of neighborhood do you live in and why would you continue to live there?

[csziggy]

34. In this neighborhood where an elderly Indian man was walking

And ended up partially paralyzed for walking down the street and not understanding English:

Alabama police officer arrested after Indian grandfather left partially paralyzed
By Peter Holley, Abby Phillip and Abby Ohlheiser February 12, 2015

The FBI is investigating an incident in which an Indian grandfather’s encounter with police in Alabama left the man partially paralyzed. An officer involved in the incident is under arrest, and the police chief proposed that he be fired, police said Thursday.

A spokesman for the FBI said that the agency became involved shortly after the Feb. 6 incident, and it is being treated as a civil rights investigation. The findings will be turned over to the Justice Department for review.

Sureshbhai Patel had recently come to the United States from his farm in India to help care for his grandson, who was born prematurely and was suffering from health complications.

At about 9 a.m. on Friday in Madison, Ala., just days into his visit, Patel was strolling through his family’s neighborhood when he was approached by police. A neighbor had called authorities and told them a man who looked “suspicious” was peering into garages, according to the Huntsville Times. That man, police determined, was Patel.

More: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/02/11/alabama-cops-leave-a-grandfather-partially-paralyzed-after-frisk-goes-awry/

Dashboard camera at link.

If you look at the video you will see it is a middle class neighborhood, not an upscale one. But a dark skinned man was seriously injured because his skin color made him suspicious to some paranoid cretin.

[frankieallen]

38. wrong, the man was injured because he kept pulling away from the officers, and he

was thrown to the ground violently. There was no reason for the cop to do that, they had control of the situation and there were two of them against one elderly gentleman.
But to be honest, that is a residential neighborhood similar to the one i live in, and if I saw a stranger walking around, not just walking through, but walking around looking into homes or garages, I might call the cops too, regardless of what color he was. If the guy checks out and isn't doing anything wrong, no harm done. If the guy is a child molester looking for his next victim, of a burglar, then I would be a hero for calling the cops.
That doesn't make me a paranoid cretin.
I certainly would not expect the cops to paralyze the guy, or put him in cuffs just because he doesn't speak english.

[csziggy]

46. Wrong - they asked him where he lived, he was trying to take them there

Since they could not understand his very limited English.

Even though the cops KNEW he couldn't understand them, they got violent with a frail old man because he was not following their directions.

I'm sorry you are so paranoid that a stranger could cause you to call the cops just because he was walking through your neighborhood. That must be a terrible burden for you, thinking the worst of every single person who is unknown to you.

I've had strangers come onto my farm without my permission and handled it without getting confrontational or calling the cops. And I am a short, fat woman with no particular physical capabilities - maybe that is why I have learned to deescalate situations and not escalate them to the point someone gets hurt. Being friendly and TALKING to people are tremendous tools.

[frankieallen]

67. ok, to begin with.....

"I'm sorry you are so paranoid that a stranger could cause you to call the cops just because he was walking through your neighborhood."

I specifically addressed that point in my post, I understand it doesn't fit your narrative so you choose to ignore and change my words. This is what i actually said.

"if I saw a stranger walking around, not just walking through, but walking around looking into homes or garages, I might call the cops too"

I'm not paranoid at all, but if I see someone I've never seen before in my residential neighborhood acting suspicious, I'm going to keep an eye on them, and if I feel it necessary, I'll ask the cops to check them out.
Do you actually think that is unreasonable?

[oberliner]

41. You live in Madison, Alabama?

I can't imagine what it must be like there.

Maybe you can move somewhere more progressive?

[csziggy]

47. No, I live outside Tallahassee, Florida

Paranoid people in neighborhood enclaves are just one reason I will not live in a town or a neighborhood.

[progree]

45. It only takes one person to make a 911 call(s)

Last edited Sat Jul 9, 2016, 08:17 PM - Edit history (2)

out of the many thousands who live on the residential streets that I run on. Where black people running down these residential streets is a very rare sight (in fact I don't recall ever seeing a black jogger in the area for many years), particularly one clutching a plastic bag. And like anywhere, they encourage people to call 911 if they see something "suspicious" or "unusual".

I'd be surprised if 911 has never been called on me, even though I'm white. I'm guessing if ever a 911 dispatcher takes such a call seriously, they'd just send a squad car that would drive by, and see that I'm just a jogger, and that would be it, and I'd never know. (And I have no doubt it helps that my appearance blends in with the local demographics).

Sometimes I intently eye property that I go by, e.g. looking at concrete steps that railing has been put into -- but I try not to be obvious and to continue jogging or fast walking by as I'm taking a quick look at it.

(My concrete steps crumbled after a few short years of a railing being put in, and so I'm curious how often that occurs - very rarely it seems, but I do "catalog" it when I do see -- I carry a voice recorder with me and use it frequently). So that would be another cause for "suspicion" in some people's mind.

I remember Obama talking about walking down the street (back when he was just another young black male) and hearing car doors being locked as he went down the street. Its never happened to me, but maybe its because I'm hard of hearing, as well as being white.

[MH1]

15. Yeah but I would fix my taillight to avoid the hassle and expense

of being pulled over. For a black person, a simple traffic stop is a lot more life threatening experience.

[csziggy]

48. ‘The Tail Light Was Not Out’ Diamond Reynolds Makes Startling Statement

‘The Tail Light Was Not Out’ Diamond Reynolds Makes Startling Statement on Murderous Traffic Stop
Claire Bernish July 7, 2016
<SNIP>
Castile, Reynolds and her four-year-old daughter had been pulled over by St. Anthony, Minnesota, Police for a broken tail light on Wednesday night, but as Reynolds grieved Thursday,

“The police officer stopped us for a busted tail light that was not busted. They pulled us over on the side of the road, asked for license and registration. As he was reaching for his license and registration, he told the officer that he was licensed to carry and had [a firearm]. As he got back, comfortable, the police took four or five shots into him for no reason.

“They took his life for no reason. They did this to my daughter and they did this to me and now I want justice,” Reynolds demanded through tears.

Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/diamond-reynolds-admits-taillight/#gx5zkxbbbUOvbrPm.99

Video at link.

I can remember cop movies as long ago as the 1960s showing cops breaking tail lights with their batons to justify stopping cars. Now they simply lie about an infraction to have an excuse for pulling people over.

Making sure that everything on your car is in perfect working order and driving defensively within every detail of the law or following every single one of the "rules" posted above will NOT make sure you are safe from police excessive violence. Bad cops will be bad cops.

When I was in college in the early 1970s a Polk County, Florida cop was caught pulling over women and raping them. Then he'd blackmail them into not reporting their rapes by claiming that he would charge them with prostitution. That same crime, same pattern still happens today - within the last year a cop (not sure where, maybe Missouri) was convicted of the exact same crime.

Those women had nothing wrong with their cars, no reason for the cop to pull them over other than his intent to commit a crime. Unless we get rid of the bad cops, crimes on people of color and women will continue.

[mythology]

60. There is a report that he matched the description of a suspect in a robbery case

Note that isn't to say that he was a suspect as some conservative outlets are claiming, but in that case, it would explain the cop seemingly being primed to think Castile might be reaching for a gun (even if that thought was inaccurate).

I don't mean this to excuse the cop shooting, but I believe that it's simplistic to assume the cop was being overtly racist and set out to shoot a black guy that day and I think that understanding the root causes better enables us to try to find solutions.

[csziggy]

63. Yes - he resembled the suspect because he had a "wide set nose"

Police scanner audio
“The two occupants just look like people that were involved in a robbery,” the officer says. “The driver looks more like one of our suspects, just ‘cause of the wide set nose,” the officer continues.
http://www.kare11.com/news/police-scanner-audio-1/267042738

Found via http://www.snopes.com/philando-castile-was-not-wanted-for-armed-robbery/

If the cops stopped every person with a "wide set nose" the streets in some neighborhoods would be empty!

At least the "description" might have matched better in this case than when the cops in California shot at a truck driven by two Asian women when looking for a truck driven by a large black man (who had been a cop).

[PatrickforO]

13. And yet, when white privilege is brought up in a white crowd,

the person bringing it up usually is thoroughly repudiated, ridiculed and then shunned. Most white people STILL give a very strong negative response to the concept.

I know that as a fellow 'old white guy,' it took some time for me to understand about white privilege and what that means.

[MineralMan]

16. That's very true. It took me some years to figure it out, too, and

I'm always in danger of forgetting it. It's good to get a reminder from time to time. Hence my post.

[egduj]

36. It's encouraging to know, that even though I don't understand it now, in several years I might.

[frankieallen]

39. :-)

ya, me too..

[MH1]

17. I think what makes it tough is that "white privilege" is really about

the absence of certain negatives (punishments) in carrying out every day activities.

It's not that you can point to an extra check in the mailbox and say, "see you got that just because you are white".

It's the absence of harassments and inconveniences in areas that white people just take for granted.

[MineralMan]

18. Yeah. We don't notice things that aren't happening to us.

It's insidious.

[Nye Bevan]

28. I know, when you tell a white person who is looking for a job and struggling to pay medical bills

how "privileged" they are, it does tend to produce a negative or even hostile reaction that derails the conversation and distracts attention from the underlying problems. Which probably explains why in the eight years of his presidency Barack Obama has not uttered the phrase "white privilege" even once during his many speeches about race and racism.

[Nevernose]

33. The social justice vernacular isn't friendly

To those not heavily invested in social justice movements. For instance, the assertion that racism is only systemic and therefore PiC can't be racists, only bigots. That's dumb. It needlessly complicates what should be fairly simple. More importantly, my Uncle Jimmy is not the most sophisticated of thinkers, nor does he have much notice to think to deeply about definitions of words he already believes he knows the definitions to. At the end of the day, that's all we're trying to do: explain shit to our accidentally-racist uncles and out kind-but-ignorant coworkers.

Privilege, for instance, implies that white people get something special. That's because white people DON'T get anything special for being white. Not being targeted by a corrupt legal system or a racist housing policy isn't a bonus. It's the bare minimum we should expect for all people.

Another social justice phrase that does more harm than good: microaggression. Nobody wants to hear about how they're being aggressive, even accidentally. Call it micro-messaging, though, and you can have a much better dialogue.

[uponit7771]

20. k&r

[Spitfire of ATJ]

21. Republicans have abandoned the saying, "An injury to one is an injury to all"....

They're happy to see the cops going after people they don't like.

[MineralMan]

23. I never noticed that they ever said that, really.

The Republican Party is the White Straight Man's Party in this country, and has been for a very long time. Its concern for people of color and women is minimal and only appears when it benefits the party in some way. In the end, that is what will destroy the GOP, and the sooner the better, as far as I'm concerned.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

26. They really believe all they need is the white male vote.

[Scruffy1]

22. Thanks MM.

I'm always thinking about not giving cops a reason to pull me over and constantly check my equipment, but it really doesn't matter all that much. I've had them give me a bogus ticket just to show they had probable cause. And I'm considered white. The fact of the matter is you have no real defense. Although I still advise people to check their equipment and not carry a weapon the cops can still find a reason to do anything they want if they are so inclined. They can always plead "I thought he had a gun" or put a "take off" one on the scene. I remember a murder case years ago when the murder weapon was found in a cops locker with no records attached. Most cops just go about their business, but the truth is once they get in their squad car they can do anything they want. In the Falcon Heights shooting it appears that the shooter just lost it when he heard the word gun. I saw a post that said it couldn't be racist because the cop was Hispanic. I have Hispanic, black, and Indian friends. Believe me racism exists in all of us. Mexico had a legal caste system with the very lowest caste being black and Indian and a lot of that is still around.

[MineralMan]

25. No. Thank you!

I'm listening.

[HassleCat]

27. Yeah, we do.

I thought about it many times while being stopped for DWM - Driving While Mexican.

[The Jungle 1]

30. Don't matter if the light works.

It makes no difference if the light works or not. The cop just has to say it is not working!

[Surya Gayatri]

32. K & R most enthusiastically. Thanks for posting.

We all need to check our privilege.

[geardaddy]

50. +1 million

[LoverOfLiberty]

35. I've been thinking about this for a while

No one should die because they have a tail light out on their car. Police just use it as an excuse to detain motorist they deem suspicious.

Why can't they simply take a picture of the license plate and send the registered owner a fix-it ticket?

I think we all know why.

[Jopin Klobe]

37. Yeah ... it's kind of like thinking about the "good old days" ...

... they weren't very "good" at all for everybody ...

[malaise]

40. Great post brother

[loyalsister]

43. Thanks for posting, White people need to hear these stories

My recent awareness raising experience. I've known for a long time that feeling secure around police is a privilege I have. But, in a recent conversation, a woman looked responded in a way that led me to belive that possibility is completely foreign. It really stunned me to see that her fear of police is so deeply and reasonably embedded that she has doubts that it is ever true that police would provide security and protection.
Even more jarring was to remember that I once assumed that my perception was universal.

[Yavin4]

44. Hope.

There's hope.

[mountain grammy]

51. I learned about white privilege in 1958, when we were stationed in Cherry Point, NC,

and the Marine's son who lived next door went to a different school, in a crummy building far away from the school my sister and I attended. It wasn't called white privilege then, it was just segregation. I was 10 and didn't understand why my best friend didn't go to my school, or why I couldn't go to his. I didn't understand it then and I still don't. Except for him being a boy, I thought we were exactly the same. His mom called us two peas in a pod. My mom called us the Bobbsey twins. That always made us laugh.
Wow, the things we remember.

[wallyworld2]

52. That is white privilege

We are just so used to it.

Police can be real jerks at times but I have never thought they were being jerks because of my color, long hair maybe. And I could have always cut it.

On an aside backing into a place of business with plate glass windows is a good place to check if tail lights are working. Same when you pull in with headlights and turn signals.

[Ash_F]

53. Thanks for sharing.

[MrScorpio]

55. We, as black people in America, can never afford the luxury...

To disregard the relevance of our own skin in whatever circumstance we happen to find ourselves in.

The epitome of white privilege, as you've so astutely pointed out, is that white people rarely have to consider what it means to be white in this country.

Basically, this is white normality, something which is practiced in such a way where whiteness becomes the standard by which all others are judged, and invariably judged as inferior. This is manifested by pervasive and systematic anti-black bias, something that each and every one of us are indoctrinated into, whether we know it or like it or not.

What it behooves for whites here is the need for themselves to be simply self-aware, and once obtaining any level of self-awareness, the imperative to share it with other white people. Unfortunately, this very act of achieving and sharing white self-awareness, all too often, becomes incredibly difficult to do. For example, when you have whites who are categorically unable to perceive that black people operate in America, and have always operated in America, under a completely different set of circumstances, expectations and perceptions. Sometimes, even the very act of discussing race matters becomes too difficult.

The key to checking ones privilege is to not apply the circumstances, expectations and perceptions of the privileged to those who do not belong to the privileged group. In most cases, no one earns the right to belong to a privileged group, affiliation which is unasked for as well. But in applying any level of self-awareness, this means...

- If you're a man, you can't apply your own maleness to women.

- If you're straight, you can't apply your own straightness to LGBT.

- If you're abled, you can't apply your own lack of disability to the disabled.

- If you're Christian, you can't apply the general acceptance and tolerance for your own religious affiliation to those who are non-Christian.

- If you're white, you can't apply your own whiteness to those who are non-white.

- If you're documented or a citizen, you can't apply your own legal status to those who are undocumented.

In each case, the non-privileged person needs to think outside of themselves.

This is a necessary act, which requires and significant effort to apply and/or obtain intelligence, knowledge and empathy, in order to succeed.

[MineralMan]

61. Thank you for posting that expansion of how to check one's privilege.

I suspect that most people with privilege have never really thought about it. Based on the blowback offered when the subject is brought up, I'm not sure people even understand that it exists. When I was young, it never occurred to me. As my life experience grew, though, I began to recognize it and understand it to some degree. Still, I can never actually walk in anyone else's shoes. My understanding will always be limited by that, but I'm watching and listening to try to improve my understanding.

[The Wizard]

56. The FBI issued a warning

about white supremacists joining law enforcement. Republicans complained about the report as it was racial profiling.
Racial extremists of any stripe have no business with the authority to arbitrarily end another person's life because of skin color.
Racial extremists must be rooted out and removed from positions of authority that grant them life and death powers.

[Elmergantry]

58. Is this about the Minn shooting?

Contrary to what the GF said, wasn't pulled over for broken tailight.

[MirrorAshes]

62. I've been thinking about my interactions with cops over the years

And honestly, I've gotten away with some shit. I'm good at talking to police, but I know the color of my skin has benefitted me on several occasions.

I've never driven drunk, but there was one night a few years ago that was a bit borderline, I got pulled over and talked my way out of any trouble with ease. It was a pleasant interaction. It probably shouldn't have been.

Then I think back further, to when I was a teenager. I was driving a car full of potheads and my car probably reeked of it. A friend of mine was carrying at least an ounce of it. The cop brought me out of the car, and searched me personally, though I had nothing on me. He left everyone else alone. He gave me a little lecture about making good decisions in life and sent us on our way. I can't help but think if we had been black, we have all gone to jail that night.

Another night of stupidity found a friend and I trespassing on someone's farm, picking psychedelic mushrooms. From the darkness, flashes of blue lights appeared on the road. Then flashlights approaching us in the field, when we were trying to hide. We gave ourselves up and made up a story about looking for a lost dog, even though our IDs put us living 20 miles away. They clearly didn't believe us, but they sent us home with no charges anyway. If we'd been black, we might have been shot.

I did some stupid stuff as a teenager and made it out scott free every single time. White privilege is very, very real.