I was reading through this and thought I’d notify you. The link for “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” goes to a 403 Forbidden error page. Google helps, though. The essay can be found at http://mmcisaac.faculty.asu.edu/emc598ge/Unpacking.html

Just thought I’d let you know,
JPS

Now that I see how you’ve modified the word, I’ll freely admit: that they exist, that words / phrases are needed to allow them to be discussed, and that I can’t think of a better word to use.

It’s nice to find a forum where articles like this are listed, to establish the meaning of phrases (or maybe the phrases used here for the meanings) that will be necessacery for the rest of the discussion.

Thanks Angry,
MG

Could “my privilege” affect me? Sure. I can justify almost anything if I come up with the definition of items to justify my thoughts/actions. However, it is just as possible that, in a world without “racism,” we would all think that it wouldn’t matter what the “clerk” said… Isn’t that what we are working towards?

There’s just one, big, HUGE, glaring error in your thinking:

THIS IS NOT A WORLD WITHOUT RACISM!

Also, I just LOVE it when people think that all of this is just in our heads, that it’s only our “perception”, that we’re just wishing for racist shit to happen.

Really, people? REALLY?!?

First, a quote placed in the post states

–Start Quote–
It sometimes puzzles conservatives that progressives are so concerned with what people think. What is racism, sexism, homophobia, etc, after all, other than a way some people think about some other people? And as long as I’m free to pursue my own self-interest, what does it matter what others think of me?

For someone with a lot of privilege, the rational answer is, “it doesn’t matter at all.” The more privileged you are, the less other people’s thoughts count. You go into a store, and you buy what you want, or you don’t buy. You don’t have to worry about what the store clerks think of you – what could matter less?
–End Quote–

I disagree that anyone needs to be concerned what the clerk thinks since the clerk will think something. You can not control the thoughts of any other person. If you let what they say affect you, you are doing harm to yourself by allowing others (who you disagree with strongly) to control your mood/feelings or to make you feel however it is you feel in these instances. Psychologists say that you are replaying the tape that was played to you by (your parents, that prejudiced and ignorant person, etc.).

Could “my privilege” affect me? Sure. I can justify almost anything if I come up with the definition of items to justify my thoughts/actions. However, it is just as possible that, in a world without “racism,” we would all think that it wouldn’t matter what the “clerk” said… Isn’t that what we are working towards?

You see the person at the corner saying, “The world will end!” or “The sky is falling” and you walk by or help them. You likely think they are “ill” or not thinking clearly. Many people laugh openly. Either way, you don’t take that “crazy” statement as fact or let if affect your day.

Yet you state it is our privilege that lets us not be affected? Is it that we are not “crazy” as well? I understand their medical issue(s), but I am not letting that statement affect my mood or how I think about myself. Should we listen to and react to someone else who spews “racist” comments? I think those statements by “those” “racists” is just as “crazy” as the statement about the sky falling…

I really hope you know other people who think like me who might be white… I know people who are white who think that way…

“Race” is a term used to divide–we are all Homo sapiens. We can be “racist” against dogs, cats, and birds, but we can be prejudiced against anything. Prejudiced means the person speaking is pre-judging (without knowing). The “prejudice” speaks more of the person speaking than it does about the person spoken about.

Of course, those are just my opinions. You are, like everyone else, welcome to disagree.

you can be BOTH lower-class economically AND upper-class racially

THIS!!!

Yes. Because there is a black candidate that has a legitimate shot as being our president, racism is all over. Everything is all hunky-dory, right?

“In my opinion, the white privilege rhetoric actually increases racism because people who are strongly identified as whites feel blamed, and get angry and defensive because it is a philosophy which says that just by existing, they are contributing unknowingly to the suffering of others.”

Basically, we call that white guilt. And white guilt helps no one. Instead of feeling guilty, white people need to learn how to SHUT UP AND LISTEN and go out and use their privileged status to help eradicate racism so that we can reach an interesting little thing known as pure equality.

“Ultimately, it is a wonderful thing to have a good computer, but to call it “white privelege” adds an unneeded notion of guilt. it also ignores reality, which is that while an economic imbalance remains from the past, the work that needs to be done with race now is to bring people together.”

Continue to grasp at those straws. REACH.

When you get through, it is because of STILL EXISTING white privilege that those economic issues continue to exist – those disparities in education continue to exist due to that notion of white privilege, which you think is somehow outdated, which makes me think that you are speaking from your OWN privilege.

“Blacks are angry over the past, and whites are afraid and guilty, and sometimes ingorant. Blacks are also attached to their identity as a poor minority. As Obama said, “the old racial rhettoric has exhausted itself” and white privelege rhetoric is one part of this dead body of words that drags us down into guilt trips and blaming.”

Blacks are angry over what happens TODAY. Did you not read the post “Thank you, White people?” Did you not read about how hate crimes went up in 2006? Did you not notice that Black men are much more likely to be incarcerated than white men, and that they’re much more likely to serve more time for the same crime? Did you not pay attention to the fact that by and large, people of color are the ones being gentrified out of their homes for WHITE yuppies? Did you not notice that when a person/child/woman of color goes missing, nothing is said, but if a white child/woman goes missing, they get non-stop coverage?

But white privilege isn’t a reality?

If you feel guilt, that’s your issue. But telling us that we should shut up because you feel guilty is crap. Instead of pushing that privileged mindset on us, you need to have a seat and listen to what PoC have to say and not continue to parade around in that ignorance that you yourself say that white people demonstrate.

NOBODY likes to be poor, and to suggest that black people are “attached to their status as a poor minority” is fucking insulting and racist. But I suppose you’ll say they asked for it because one of them wrote a blog post about white privilege and it offended you. Jeezus.

I’m white and I have no easy answers about the white privilege question and about how some whites respond to it. I know that when I was introduced to the concept I readily understood it and could even agree with it; I have no idea what it’s like to be a person of color but I have heard enough accounts of what they go through to comprehend a little. I have had a few life experiences, also, that give me a glimpse of the other side of things but it seems my whiteness always steps in at the last minute to set things right for me in some way, ultimately.

I think that in the balance the problem is that we are strongly indoctrinated in either-or thinking in this country and can’t grok both-and, as in you can be BOTH lower-class economically AND upper-class racially. It does not compute for many (white) people. In the final balance, if the Powers That Be had to choose between me and an upper-class white person they’d totally go with the UCWP–but if they had to choose between me and a person of color they’d likely choose me. Not as much these days as that used to be true, but it is still true enough to be a serious problem.

And, y’know, I hate to say it but some people just are not going to Get It. I see the same crap go on when there is talk of gender relationships and gender politics. And, to tell you the truth, racial equality activists also have trouble sometimes with intersectionality, and so do feminists. So even “our side” needs to learn to juggle several concepts at once in our minds, sometimes.

But sometimes when a white person objects to the white privilege concept because HE’s not rich, I want to say to him, “Oh, you’re not white?” I’m not sure that would help him Get It, but it might be fun to watch him splutter. :)

In my opinion, the white privilege rhetoric actually increases racism because people who are strongly identified as whites feel blamed, and get angry and defensive because it is a philosophy which says that just by existing, they are contributing unknowingly to the suffering of others. This is the true reason for resistance to this topic. if it does not increase racism, it increases guilt. Looking at my own life, I feel that adding an adjective to privelege like “white” is impossible beyond an individual encounter. Do I have my nice computer because I am white? maybe. But I got it from my father. He is well to do. Is he well to do because he is white or because he is one of the top in his field? Is he one of the top in his field because he got a good edjucation? maybe. did he get a good edjucation because he is white or because his father was a professor who worked hard? well, I don’t know. That was 50 years ago. Ultimately, it is a wonderful thing to have a good computer, but to call it “white privelege” adds an unneeded notion of guilt. it also ignores reality, which is that while an economic imbalance remains from the past, the work that needs to be done with race now is to bring people together. Blacks are angry over the past, and whites are afraid and guilty, and sometimes ingorant. Blacks are also attached to their identity as a poor minority. As Obama said, “the old racial rhettoric has exhausted itself” and white privelege rhetoric is one part of this dead body of words that drags us down into guilt trips and blaming.