This was written by my friend and respected colleague, Tim Wise. Tim, along with Father Michael Pfleger, both happen to be white males who actually get it. They both have my eternal respect.This is Your Nation on White Privilege
By Tim Wise
9/13/08
For those who still can’t grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are constantly looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help.
White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because “every family has challenges,” even as black and Latino families with similar “challenges” are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.
White privilege is when you can call yourself a “fuckin’ redneck,” like Bristol Palin’s boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you'll “kick their fuckin' ass,” and talk about how you like to “shoot shit” for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.
White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action.
White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don’t all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means you’re “untested.”
White privilege is being able to say that you support the words “under God” in the pledge of allegiance because “if it was good enough for the founding fathers, it’s good enough for me,” and not be immediately disqualified from holding office--since, after all, the pledge was written in the late 1800s and the “under God” part wasn’t added until the 1950s--while believing that reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because, ya know, the Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school requires it), is a dangerous and silly idea only supported by mushy liberals.
White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people immediately scared of you.
White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto was “Alaska first,” and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you're black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she’s being disrespectful.
White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do--like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child labor--and people think you’re being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college--you’re somehow being mean, or even sexist.
White privilege is being able to convince white women who don’t even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your running mate anyway, because all of a sudden your presence on the ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women, and made them give your party a “second look.”
White privilege is being able to fire people who didn’t support your political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being a typical politician who engages in favoritism, while being black and merely knowing some folks from the old-line political machines in Chicago means you must be corrupt.
White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflict in the Middle East is God’s punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you’re just a good church-going Christian, but if you’re black and friends with a black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you’re an extremist who probably hates America.
White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is when asked by a reporter, and then people get angry at the reporter for asking you such a “trick question,” while being black and merely refusing to give one-word answers to the queries of Bill O’Reilly means you’re dodging the question, or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced.
White privilege is being able to claim your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and experiencing racism is, as Sarah Palin has referred to it a “light” burden.
And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are losing their homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because white voters aren’t sure about that whole “change” thing. Ya know, it’s just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain.
White privilege is, in short, the problem.
4 comments:
Whoa...that shocked me, especially coming from a White person. I'm gonna see if I can find some more material on this cat, so I can get a better look at him.
Article on white priviledge checklist by one Peggy McIntosh.
1. I can arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time.
2. I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed
or harassed.
3. I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my
race widely represented.
4. When I am told about our national heritage or about “civilization,” I am shown that people
of my color made it what it is.
5. I can be sure that my children will be given curricular materials that testify to the
existence of their race.
6. I can go into a music shop and count on finding the music of my race represented, into a
supermarket and find the food I grew up with, into a hairdresser’s shop and find someone
who can deal with my hair.
7. Whether I use checks, credit cards, or cash, I can count on my skin color not to work
against the appearance of financial responsibility.
8. I am not made acutely aware that my shape, bearing, or body odor will be taken as a
reflection on my race.
9. I can worry about racism without being seen as self-interested or self-seeking.
10. I can take a job or enroll in a college with an affirmative action policy without having my
co-workers or peers assume I got it because of my race.
11. I can be late to a meeting without having the lateness reflect on my race.
12. I can choose public accommodation with out fearing that people of my race cannot get in
or will be mistreated.
13. I am never asked to speak for all of the people of my racial group.
14. I can be pretty sure that if I ask to talk with the “person in charge” I will be facing a
person of my race.
15. If a traffic cop pulls me over or if the IRS audits my tax return, I can be sure I haven’t
been singled out because of my race.
16. I can easily by posters, postcards, picture books, greeting cards, dolls, toys, and
children’s magazines featuring people of my race.
17. I can choose blemish cover or bandages in “flesh” color and have them more or less match
my skin.
18. I can do well in a challenging situation without being called a credit to my race.
19. I can walk into a classroom and know I will not be the only member of my race.
20. I can enroll in a class at college and be sure that the majority of my professors will be of
my race.
Tim Wise is an outstanding speaker who tells it like it is. He sounds dynamic in his writing, but he is far more dynamic and powerful with his speaking and the way he can work and fire up a crowd. I would encourage all people to investigate Tim Wise and learn more about his story and his writings.
I'm a huge fan of Tim Wise's columns, but of course, I have a criticism that I believe is worthy of examination. Tim Wise, although gifted and anointed with the fervency to speak against White Privilege, has never, in my estimation, spoken candidly against White SUPREMACY. As Dr. Frances Cress Welsing teaches, you can't claim to be radical in your initiative if the phrase "White Supremacy" is not front-and-center of your work. White Supremacy gives birth to White privilege and - based on the teachings of Dr. Frances Cress Welsing - fear of White Genetic annihilation gave birth to White Supremacy. When Tim Wise articulates this philosophy specifically, he would have my unrelegated approval.
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