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Showing Original Post only (View all)Explaining White Privilege to a Broke White Person [View all]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gina-crosleycorcoran/explaining-white-privilege-to-a-broke-white-person_b_5269255.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000010Years ago some feminist on the Internet told me I was "privileged."
"THE F&CK!?!?" I said.
I came from the kind of poor that people don't want to believe still exists in this country. Have you ever spent a frigid northern-Illinois winter without heat or running water? I have. At 12 years old were you making ramen noodles in a coffee maker with water you fetched from a public bathroom? I was. Have you ever lived in a camper year-round and used a random relative's apartment as your mailing address? We did. Did you attend so many different elementary schools that you can only remember a quarter of their names? Welcome to my childhood.
So when that feminist told me I had "white privilege," I told her that my white skin didn't do shit to prevent me from experiencing poverty. Then, like any good, educated feminist would, she directed me to Peggy McIntosh's now-famous 1988 piece "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack."
After one reads McIntosh's powerful essay, it's impossible to deny that being born with white skin in America affords people certain unearned privileges in life that people of other skin colors simply are not afforded. For example:
"I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented."
"When I am told about our national heritage or about 'civilization,' I am shown that people of my color made it what it is."
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Very recent example: the lady who is running for governor in Texas was a single mother and on
jwirr
Aug 2014
#12
Highly signifigant! They do it and they do it well. And they can because they have the money to.
Dark n Stormy Knight
Aug 2014
#86
It shouldn't be a hard sell, if sold along with the concept of class privilege
Hippo_Tron
Aug 2014
#25
It's a bit confusing that you started your response to my post that ended with, "It's complicated,"
Dark n Stormy Knight
Aug 2014
#103
I've experienced white privilege my whole life. True, I've felt the wrath of discrimination..
BlueJazz
Aug 2014
#11
Please don't deflect attention away from the issue at hand. We all agree about the 1% but that's not
Liberal_Stalwart71
Aug 2014
#18
I still am amazed how many white people, regardless of income, dont understand that privilege
BaggersRDumb
Aug 2014
#55
Fuck that and fuck Cornel West who is driven by his personal resentment of Obama
Liberal_Stalwart71
Aug 2014
#107
White privilege is like manmade global warming. It's there, but there are a lot of people who deny
Louisiana1976
Aug 2014
#88
"Black Like Me," by John Howard Griffin, "White Like Me" by Tim Wise of ANYTHING written by Tim Wise
Liberal_Stalwart71
Aug 2014
#17
Perhaps we need to post a disclaimer for what should be obvious, but somehow isn't:
freshwest
Aug 2014
#53
That's right--right-wing whites are much more likely to be racist than others.
Louisiana1976
Aug 2014
#89
Proven by their acts in elected office and media sources. So tired of the righties.
freshwest
Aug 2014
#93
The term is, of course, a generalization, to which there will always be individual exceptions. But
WinkyDink
Aug 2014
#22
There is inherent privilege in being wealthy. There is inherent privilege in being white.
Lex
Aug 2014
#23
Apples and oranges. Privilege based on wealth is not the same as privilege based on race.
Lex
Aug 2014
#36
So, you would be perfectly comfortable starting a conversation about "white privilege"
Nye Bevan
Aug 2014
#39
not really, i know some gay people who are well off but i can see how as someone who is not gay
JI7
Aug 2014
#110
If they were in the same situation and were black, they'd be even worse off n/t
eridani
Aug 2014
#100
The answer is no. We continue to experience these things. I think the list does a pretty good job
Liberal_Stalwart71
Aug 2014
#102
Excellent point. In the context of the subject the word: Privilege = Social Inequality
Tuesday Afternoon
Aug 2014
#34
I think that 'advantage' would be a less loaded term but it's really not the point.
Gormy Cuss
Aug 2014
#62
It's obvious you didn't read the article, as the author is a woman...
friendly_iconoclast
Aug 2014
#69
having white privilege is not the same thing as being privileged. nt
La Lioness Priyanka
Aug 2014
#71
not really. even a poor straight person has straight privilege over a gay person. Its similar for
La Lioness Priyanka
Aug 2014
#83
Yes. While those seemingly small things are insidiously powerful,
Dark n Stormy Knight
Aug 2014
#104
Why I think white people think that it denies they suffered/suffer when they hear white privilege
ck4829
Aug 2014
#84
Pretty decent article. All inequality of outcome is a result of inequality of opportunity, in my
Chathamization
Aug 2014
#109