General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: "Let's work to end racial discrimination" is a better approach than "whites are so privileged". [View all]BainsBane
(53,031 posts)Class and race are two separate axes of privilege, while gender and sexual orientation are others. Race and class are not the same, and you are conflating the two.
I get what you want to do here. It's not me. Racism is all the fault of someone else. I have nothing to do with it. Well that's bullshit. We all have something to do with racism. We are all raised in a racist society and we all internalize those ideas. The issue is whether one examines them and tries to do something about it or continually pretends racism is all the fault of others.
Whiteness does carry privilege. Your ancestors were not slaves. Nor were mine. They were not prohibited from voting until 1965. We do not face a higher likelihood of being stopped by police, arrested, convicted or given the death penalty simply because of the color of our skin. That is an incontrovertible fact, just as wealth carries privilege, as does maleness and heterosexuality. That you are white does not mean you are wealthy and the term white privilege doesn't imply that you are.
As long as you think combating racism is all about pointing the finger at others rather than examining oneself, it will continue in full force.
Given there are only a handful of African American posters left on this site because they have been made to feel so unwelcome, I for one and sick to death of white people moaning about how they don't like to be reminded of privilege. I'm as white as they come, and I see no reason to be offended at the term white privilege because I know self examination is essential to combatting racism. I see a lot of people on this site who make a point of telling African Americans their perspectives don't matter, that black people should be "honored" by racism, like dinners of watermelon and fried chicken. It's time for people to quit their whining about how they don't have everything on the planet and the fact there exists a few wealthy African Americans means that white privilege doesn't exist. This is supposed to a liberal site, for Christ's sake. This continual whining about how beleaguered white men are by having to hear about privilege is unbecoming. Think about what it's like to be the target of racism day in and day out and quit feeling sorry for yourself.