WHY “WELL-MEANING” WHITE PEOPLE LIKE WTAE-TV’S WENDY BELL...
Damon Young, 3/23/16
Wendy Bell is a lead anchor for WTAE-TV, Pittsburgh’s ABC affiliate. I’ve never met her in person before, but I know many people who have. And she’s generally regarded as a pleasant, kind, and professional woman.
And, like many otherwise pleasant, kind, and professional White people, Wendy Bell is utterly clueless about race, White privilege, and how her privilege contributes to her tone deaf myopia in regards to race. This was made clear earlier this week, when the anchor took to Facebook to share her thoughts about the massacre in Wilkinsburg.
Now, before I continue, I want to note that what I’m doing today isn’t coming from a place of outrage. I am more exhausted and sobered by this than angry or offended. I do not wish for Bell to be fired. Plus, if possessing White privilege and existing unaware of that possession was just cause for termination, the White unemployment rate would be 394%. America has a unique talent for mass producing Wendy Bells like they were sheet metals or hot dog buns. Instead, I’m just using her words to articulate how virulent (and damn annoying) this particular strain of back-pattingly well-meaning Whiteness can be.
***Also, after receiving criticism for her post, Bell edited it. What exists on her Facebook page now is not what was initially published. This piece, however, will reference the original.***
http://verysmartbrothas.com/why-well-meaning-white-people-like-wtae-tvs-wendy-bell-the-white-privilege-turducken-are-the-worst/
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Response to MrScorpio (Original post)
So apparently she does know some shame. Or at least that it was hurting her career 
When Joe paid the bill, I asked to see the manager. He came over to our table apprehensively and I told him that that young man was the best thing his restaurant had going. The manager beamed and agreed that his young employee was special. As the boys and we put on our coats and started walking out — I saw the manager put his arm around that child’s shoulder and pat him on the back in congratulation. It will be some time before I forget the smile that beamed across that young worker’s face — or the look in his eyes as we caught each other’s gaze. I wonder how long it had been since someone told him he was special.
Holy hell. What a clueless fucking idiot. Life is all roses when this woman lavishes her praise on the 'Black help'.
What is this the fucking '50s? Never mind, it never changed.
where a bunch of privileged white kids got their panties in a twist because someone told them is was rude to dress in blackface for Halloween? Reading the things that actual adults in charge wrote before it all blew up in the press was what convinced me that good intentions are no longer enough. The first was some mealy-mouthed BS every so gently warning the sensitive flowers that if they did things that were incredibly rude and insensitive, people might actually be offended. And I am sorry, but if the parents haven't already stepped up and made that clear, then other responsible adults should, in no uncertain terms, be prepared to do it. And then another person, actually considered smart and competent enough to be employed at Yale, chimed in about how the white kids should have the freedom of expression to explore racist stereotypes. You know what? She is probably a nice person, and she meant well, I am sure. But that is not enough. She has a professional obligation to know better. Same with this news anchor. She should just know better. But I bet she is off nursing her wound, whinging about "racially divisive" and "PC"
There should be an expectation for white people, at least those in charge of things like the media and education at elite institutions, to know better.
got nauseated.
I want to write something that I'll attribute to some "liberal" journalist, and basically flip everything she wrote but have it stereotyping white people. I need to list everything that would get on a typical Trump supporter's nerves: talk about the likely murderers growing up in a household where they're "clinging to their guns," parents thumpin' on the Bible while having affairs not really knowing paternity, going to monster truck pulls and watching Nascar instead of getting a job, getting hooked on meth and/or heroine after getting hooked on their parents' opioids they were stealing to use at pill parties...
What else?
