I wrote a previous blog on the subject, which I'll summarize here. In the previous blog, I took the position that white privilege does not exist. I have since rethought the issue, learned more about it, and have relaxed that position.
My previous position came from having only been exposed to the issue by the polarized. The fanatics, if you will. As a result, the issue was not clearly explained and I felt attacked. Cooler heads have since prevailed.
Yes, I and my white brethren do get bullied (by civilians and by cops). We do have to pay a debt to society if we break the law. We did have ancestors who were mistreated and sometimes even enslaved. We've had to work crappy jobs, live in crappy homes, and had folks misjudge us by appearance.
American society has largely been shaped by rich WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) males. Anyone who fails to meet that criteria automatically becomes somehow lesser. The more of that criteria you fail to meet, the lesser you are. The non-whites who get away with shenanigans that I mentioned in my previous blog do meet some of the criteria. (Looking at you, Cosby.)
The way history has played out, most non-whites are still struggling with poverty. They are not WAS, even if they are P. Half of them aren't male. This is what folks are really referring to when they talk about white privilege.
For example, it's against federal law to deny someone a job because of their race or sex, but it still happens. The guy doing the hiring may not even realize it. We're taught to prefer "normal" and that's usually based on the WASP model. We are not doing it on purpose - at least not most of us - but we do it. Even those of us, like me, who feel that being called a racist is a most vile insult.
I use race as a shorthand descriptive device. What's Bob look like? He's a skinny black dude. Where'd we park? Over by where that Mexican lady is loading groceries into her car. Strictly speaking, that's racist. Why is their race what makes them stand out to me? Because I've been socialized to think of WASP as the norm.
That doesn't make me a racist in the general meaning. It just means we all, as humans, need to work harder on seeing what we have in common.
