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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)Last edited Fri Feb 28, 2014, 12:43 AM - Edit history (1)
that they shouldn't raise issues of concern to them is also divisive? I consider it's damned divisive. In fact it's hostile.
There is a concept called intersectionality. Class is indeed important but it is not all encompassing. If the world were composed entirely of white men, as some here seem to think, then class could operate as the sole means of analysis. That is not the case. Class alone cannot explain the experience of racism that affects even wealthy African Americans. It doesn't explain why African Americans are arrested more often than whites, even though their incidence of criminality is no greater. It doesn't explain why their sentences are harsher or why they are more likely to receive the death penalty. It doesn't explain why killing a black person is far less likely to earn someone than death penalty than killing a white person.
It is not "individualistic." I can't even begin to imagine what you mean by that. It is simply another subject position, another mode of analysis that deals with groups of people, not individuals.
The only way we can change anything is by examining how we are influenced by racism. Every single one of us grows up exposed to racist ideas. All of us. In order to combat racism, we must confront those ideas within ourselves. The whole impetus of denying white privilege is to externalize racism, to pretend it is something that exists entirely outside of us. Republicans are racist; Floridians are racist; but I am above reproach. It's a fallacy.
No evidence? My god. The evidence is everywhere. It's in the history of slavery, the very notion that the concept of freedom for whites emerged because of slavery. It's present throughout the history of this country post-emancipation as well, all the way to he present. Every African American member of this site has experienced a whole host of manifestations of oppression that you and I never will, regardless of income level. That you and I are not subject to racism gives us a certain privilege over African Americans. Its evidence is everywhere, to sentencing discrepancies between crack and powder cocaine to redlining.
Ultimately denying privilege is about one thing: maintaining privilege and perpetuating racism. It elevates the ego of the white man above the lives of people of color. It declares that their experiences don't matter. What is most important is that I never be made to feel uncomfortable or reflect on my own role in perpetuating racism.
The only reason to give up privilege is because of social justice. If you're looking for benefits for yourself, you're not occupying the same political space as the rest of us. I support equal rights for all because that is the right thing to do. I need not gain anything in return other than knowing I am working for a better society. That is the same reason I support gay rights. I don't need to be convinced that I should be given something as a result. To do otherwise would make me a bigot, and that I cannot tolerate in myself.