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What is "white privilege"?
Sep. 1st, 2014 04:44 pmBackstory: A few weeks ago, a man of color was in a Walmart in Beavercreek, OH, carrying an air gun and allegedly aiming it as if to shoot people with it. Police was called and shot him. There are plenty of other cases similar to this. Ferguson. Over-The Rhine (a neighborhood in Cincinnati).
[Origninally posted as a note on my Facebook wall.]
We have a socioeconomic caste system in the US that many people don't talk about, or are afraid to talk about. Some of those class lines coincide with racial divides, specifically, the "white" vs "black" divide. Many of us "whites" -- mostly Americans of European descent -- don't know how good we have it. Our ancestors came here either by their own free will, or escaped political and/or religious turmoil back home -- not captured, put on a ship, and sold into slavery.
I want racial equality. I want to undo this caste system. But what can I do? What am I able and willing to do to make this happen? First, I can take a look inward and examine my own prejudices, and the fear that lies underneath them. Second, I can encourage others to do the same. I can't change people; they have to change on their own.
Suggested reading:
"Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack" by Peggy McIntosh
https://www.isr.umich.edu/home/diversity/resources/white-privilege.pdf
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
http://newjimcrow.com/
"Why Black Men Don't Open Carry" by Vyan (liberal point of view)
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/08/08/1320164/-Why-Black-Men-Don-t-Open-Carry
"What Happens When Black Americans Open Carry? Not Much, Apparently" by Charles C.W. Cooke (conservative point of view)
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/386219/what-happens-when-black-americans-open-carry-not-much-apparently-charles-c-w-cooke
[I may add more to this list in the near future.]
[Origninally posted as a note on my Facebook wall.]
We have a socioeconomic caste system in the US that many people don't talk about, or are afraid to talk about. Some of those class lines coincide with racial divides, specifically, the "white" vs "black" divide. Many of us "whites" -- mostly Americans of European descent -- don't know how good we have it. Our ancestors came here either by their own free will, or escaped political and/or religious turmoil back home -- not captured, put on a ship, and sold into slavery.
I want racial equality. I want to undo this caste system. But what can I do? What am I able and willing to do to make this happen? First, I can take a look inward and examine my own prejudices, and the fear that lies underneath them. Second, I can encourage others to do the same. I can't change people; they have to change on their own.
Suggested reading:
"Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack" by Peggy McIntosh
https://www.isr.umich.edu/home/diversity/resources/white-privilege.pdf
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
http://newjimcrow.com/
"Why Black Men Don't Open Carry" by Vyan (liberal point of view)
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/08/08/1320164/-Why-Black-Men-Don-t-Open-Carry
"What Happens When Black Americans Open Carry? Not Much, Apparently" by Charles C.W. Cooke (conservative point of view)
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/386219/what-happens-when-black-americans-open-carry-not-much-apparently-charles-c-w-cooke
[I may add more to this list in the near future.]
