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Showing Original Post only (View all)Many thanks to Rachel Maddow for proving the existence of white privilege (Bundy v. Ferguson) [View all]
Last edited Thu Aug 14, 2014, 07:34 AM - Edit history (1)
This is not coming from me or any of the black, brown, Asian or white sympathetic DUers.
This is Rachel Maddow's show tonight. It was a brilliant show tonight because she demonstrated a very important contrast.
For months now, many of us have been trying--in vain--to explain what we have witnessed. Our life experiences. To try to get people to understand, not to make white people feel guilty. Not to accuse white folk of racism--real or unconscious. But simply to get people to see how white skin privilege has led to disparities in the ways people of color and whites have been treated in this country.
Rachel drew a contrast between the Bundy stand-off in Nevada and what happened in Ferguson, where the protestors came strapped, armed to the 9's, antagonizing federal troops, aiming their weapons squarely at feds. We saw how favorable to the Bundy's the coverage was in that the feds were lambasted for "overstepping their bounds," even as they enforced federal laws. (Remember, Bundy had been breaking federal land regulations for many decades!)
In stark contrast, the protestors in Ferguson--all unarmed--are treated like animals, told to go home. The protests began peacefully, but with only a few of them causing trouble, the press generalized about ALL the protestors. The cops are militarized, the crowds are sprayed with tear gas. Remember these people are all unarmed.
Don't attack me. Rachel clearly drew the contrast. She clearly stated that race IS the central factor.
And guess what? I agree.