Racism - It's a real thing.

Sorry Devo - I see you commented about the Holder/Emanuel thing when I was posting my question.  

Carry on!  

This one is going to be very, very interesting.

 
4 well spent mins.   And if you're not familiar with W. Kamau Bell, look into him.  He has (I think it's still on, haven't seen it in awhile) a great show on CNN.

 
I wonder if White privilege was poorly named or if people would have reacted the same regardless of the chosen phrase. (Kinda like people suddenly don’t understand the nuances of the English language when talking about the phrase “Black lives matter” and purposely, incorrectly take the intended meaning as only Black lives matter).

Anyhow onto the point. I think White privilege has less to do with White people getting an advantage and having more good things happen to them and more to do with White people having less bad things happen to them, like the above — White people are a lot less likely to get pulled over for doing nothing wrong. They’re a lot less likely to not get a job interview based on their name. Etc.

 
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So you're saying people of color are disadvantaged because of that.  And unprivileged or underprivileged because of their lack of access to equal assumptions, or the same "good things" happening to them.  

I think it's really toe-mae-toe vs. toe-mah-toe.  Anybody questioning if POC are getting a fair shake is going to ruffle insecure (racist), white people's chain.  They'd have an issue no matter what it's called - not sure if it's defensiveness because they're worried about it going away or they're embarrassed at how POC have been treated in the past, take that back, I think very little of it is feeling bad or embarrassed about our past.

 
NM11046 said:
So you're saying people of color are disadvantaged because of that.  And unprivileged or underprivileged because of their lack of access to equal assumptions, or the same "good things" happening to them.  

I think it's really toe-mae-toe vs. toe-mah-toe.  Anybody questioning if POC are getting a fair shake is going to ruffle insecure (racist), white people's chain.  They'd have an issue no matter what it's called - not sure if it's defensiveness because they're worried about it going away or they're embarrassed at how POC have been treated in the past, take that back, I think very little of it is feeling bad or embarrassed about our past.
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I agree with this, but it might have been easier to swallow the other way around. Because some people hear “White privilege” and they’re White and they’ve had plenty of s#!tty things happen to them and immediately scoff at the idea.

But you are probably right that no matter how it was phrased it would’ve gotten the same reaction. 

 
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I think first of all 'white privilege' was a mistake in language because it led everyone to focus way, way, way too much on an immutable characteristic that's far too broad, often times at the expense of other highly important power/privilege spectrums that we ignore. 

That aside though, a good way to frame the privilege conversation is that whoever you are your struggles are legitimate, and there are other people who have similar legitimate struggles and then they have some extra struggles specifically because of something like the color of their skin.

Like white people that are having a tough time aren't having a tough time because they're white. That's part of the distinction.

 
Landlord said:
I think first of all 'white privilege' was a mistake in language because it led everyone to focus way, way, way too much on an immutable characteristic that's far too broad, often times at the expense of other highly important power/privilege spectrums that we ignore. 

That aside though, a good way to frame the privilege conversation is that whoever you are your struggles are legitimate, and there are other people who have similar legitimate struggles and then they have some extra struggles specifically because of something like the color of their skin.

Like white people that are having a tough time aren't having a tough time because they're white. That's part of the distinction.
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And most black people aren't having a tough time, because they're black.... I do agree with your larger point, it's less about the color of your skin, and more about the "class" you were born into.

 
B.B. Hemingway said:
And most black people aren't having a tough time, because they're black.... I do agree with your larger point, it's less about the color of your skin, and more about the "class" you were born into.
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So having people cross the street when a black man walks by or having a sales clerk follow you around a store - that's because of the class they're born into?  How exactly can one tell that at the mall?

 
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