White Privilege Article by Tim Wise

[admin]

THIS IS YOUR NATION ON WHITE PRIVILEGE

September 13, 2008, 2:01 pm
By Tim Wise

For those who still can’t grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are 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 if you're black and believe in reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because the Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school requires it), you're a dangerous and mushy liberal who isn't fit to safeguard American institutions.


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 is “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 and the fact that she lives near Russia, 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 when you can take nearly twenty-four hours to get to a hospital after beginning to leak amniotic fluid, and still be viewed as a great mom whose commitment to her children is unquestionable, and whose "next door neighbor" qualities make her ready to be VP, while if you're a black candidate for president and you let your children be interviewed for a few seconds on TV, you're irresponsibly exploiting them.

White privilege is being able to give a 36-minute speech in which you talk about lipstick and make fun of your opponent, while laying out no substantive policy positions on any issue at all, and still manage to be considered a legitimate candidate, while a black person who gives an hour speech the week before, in which he lays out specific policy proposals on several issues, is still criticized for being too vague about what he would do if elected.

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 go to a prestigious prep school, then to Yale and Harvard Business School (George W. Bush), and still be seen as an "average guy," while being black, going to a prestigious prep school, then Occidental College, then Columbia, and then Harvard Law, makes you "uppity" and a snob who probably looks down on regular folks.

White privilege is being able to graduate near the bottom of your college class (McCain), or graduate with a C average from Yale (W.), and that's OK, and you're still cut out to be president, but if you're black and you graduate near the top of your class from Harvard Law, you can't be trusted to make good decisions in office.

White privilege is being able to dump your first wife after she's disfigured in a car crash so you can take up with a multi-millionaire beauty queen (who you then go on to call the c-word in public) and still be thought of as a man of strong family values, while if you're black and married for nearly 20 years to the same woman, your family is viewed as un-American and your gestures of affection for each other are called "terrorist fist bumps."

White privilege is when you can develop a pain-killer addiction, having obtained your drug of choice illegally like Cindy McCain, go on to beat that addiction, and everyone praises you for being so strong, while being a black guy who smoked pot a few times in college and never became an addict means people will wonder if perhaps you still get high, and even ask whether or not you may have sold drugs at some point.

White privilege is being able to sing a song about bombing Iran and still be viewed as a sober and rational statesman, with the maturity to be president, while being black and suggesting that the U.S. should speak with other nations, even when we have disagreements with them, makes you dangerously naive and immature.

White privilege is being able to say that you hate "gooks" and "will always hate them," and yet, you aren't a racist because, ya know, you were a POW, so you're entitled to your hatred, while being black and noting that black anger about racism is understandable, given the history of your country, makes you a dangerous bigot.

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 and an absent father is apparently among the "lesser adversities" faced by other politicians, as Sarah Palin explained in her convention speech.

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.

[LadyMamba2]

It's more than white priviledge - its the ongoing culture of white supremcy and black complacency that allows the exist of unearned white priviledge. see article below.

UNEARNED WHITE PRIVILEGE PART I
>
>White people need to acknowledge benefits of unearned privilege
>
>By Robert Jensen
>
>
>BALTIMORE: Here's what white privilege sounds like: I'm sitting in
>my University of Texas office, talking to a very bright and very
>conservative white student about affirmative action in college
>admissions, which he opposes and I support. The student says he
>wants a level playing field with no unearned advantages for anyone.
>I ask him whether he thinks that being white has advantages in the
>United States.
>
>Have either of us, I ask, ever benefited from being white in a world
>run mostly by white people?
>
>Yes, he concedes, there is something real and tangible we could call
>white privilege.
>
>So, if we live in a world of white privilege - unearned white
>privilege - how does that affect your notion of a level playing
>field? I asked.
>
>He paused for a moment and said,
>
>"That really doesn't matter."
>
>That statement, I suggested to him, reveals the ultimate white
>privilege: the privilege to acknowledge that you have unearned
>privilege but to ignore what it means.
>
>That exchange led me to rethink the way I talk about race and racism
>with students. It drove home the importance of confronting the dirty
>secret that we white people carry around with us every day: in a
>world of white privilege, some of what we have is unearned. I think
>much of both the fear and anger that comes up around discussions of
>affirmative action has its roots in that secret. So these days, my
>goal is to talk openly and honestly about white supremacy and white
>privilege.
>
>White privilege, like any social phenomenon, is complex. In a white
>supremacist culture, all white people have privilege, whether or not
>they are overtly racist themselves. There are general patterns, but
>such privilege plays out differently depending on context and other
>aspects of one's identity (in my case, being male gives me other
>kinds of privilege). Rather than try to tell others how white
>privilege has played out in their lives, I talk about how it has
>affected me.
>
>I am as white as white gets in this country. I am of northern
>European heritage and I was raised in North Dakota, one of the
>whitest states in the country. I grew up in a virtually all-white
>world surrounded by racism, both personal and institutional. Because
>I didn't live near a reservation, I didn't even have exposure to the
>state's only numerically significant non-white population, American
>Indians.
>
>I have struggled to resist that racist training and the racism of my
>culture. I like to think I have changed, even though I routinely
>trip over the lingering effects of that internalized racism and the
>institutional racism around me. But no matter how much I "fix"
>myself, one thing never changes - I walk through the world with
>white privilege.
>
>What does that mean?
>
>Perhaps most importantly, when I seek admission to a university,
>apply for a job, or hunt for an apartment, I don't look threatening.
>Almost all of the people evaluating me look like me - they are
>white. They see in me a reflection of themselves - and in a racist
>world, that is an advantage. I smile. I am white. I am one of them.
>I am not dangerous. Even when I voice critical opinions, I am cut
>some slack. After all, I'm white.
>
>My flaws also are more easily forgiven because I am white.
>
>Some complain that affirmative action has meant the university is
>saddled with mediocre minority professors. I have no doubt there are
>minority faculty who are mediocre, though I don't know very many. As
>Henry Louis Gates Jr. once pointed out, if affirmative action
>policies were in place for the next hundred years, it's possible
>that at the end of that time the university could have as many
>mediocre minority professors as it has mediocre white professors.
>That isn't meant as an insult to anyone, but it's a simple
>observation that white privilege has meant that scores of
>second-rate white professors have slid through the system because
>their flaws were overlooked out of solidarity based on race, as well
>as on gender, class and ideology.
>
>Some people resist the assertions that the United States is still a
>bitterly racist society and that the racism has real effects on real
>people. But white folks have long cut other white folks a break. I
>know, because I am one of them. I am not a genius - as I like to
>say, I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer. I have been teaching
>full time for six years and I've published a reasonable amount of
>scholarship.
>
>Some of it is the unexceptional stuff one churns out to get tenure,
>and some of it, I would argue, is worth reading. I worked hard, and
>I like to think that I'm a fairly decent teacher. Every once in a
>while, I leave my office at the end of the day feeling like I really
>accomplished something. When I cash my paycheck, I don't feel
>guilty.
>
>But, all that said, I know I did not get where I am by merit alone.
>I benefited from among other things, white privilege. That doesn't
>mean that I don't deserve my job, or that if I weren't white I would
>never have gotten the job. It means simply that all through my
>life, I have soaked up benefits for being white.
>
>All my life I have been hired for jobs by white people.
>
>I was accepted for graduate school by white people.
>
>And I was hired for a teaching position by the predominantly white
>University of Texas, headed by a white president, in a college
>headed by a white dean and in a department with a white chairman
>that at the time had one non-white tenured professor.
>
>I have worked hard to get where I am, and I work hard to stay there.
>But to feel good about myself and my work, I do not have to believe
>that "merit" as defined by white people in a white country, alone
>got me here. I can acknowledge that in addition to all that hard
>work, I got a significant boost from white privilege.
>
>At one time in my life, I would not have been able to say that,
>because I needed to believe that my success in life was due solely
>to my individual talent and effort. I saw myself as the heroic
>American, the rugged individualist. I was so deeply seduced by the
>culture's mythology that I couldn't see the fear that was binding me
>to those myths.
>
> Like all white Americans, I was living with the fear that maybe I
>didn't really deserve my success, that maybe luck and privilege had
>more to do with it than brains and hard work. I was afraid I wasn't
>heroic or rugged, that I wasn't special.
>
>I let go of some of that fear when I realized that, indeed, I wasn't
>special, but that I was still me. What I do well, I still can take
>pride in, even when I know that the rules under which I work in are
>stacked to my benefit. Until we let go of the fiction that people
>have complete control over their fate - that we can will ourselves
>to be anything we choose - then we will live with that fear.
>
>White privilege is not something I get to decide whether I want to
>keep. Every time I walk into a store at the same time as a black man
>and the security guard follows him and leaves me alone to shop, I am
>benefiting from white privilege.
>
>There is not space here to list all the ways in which white
>privilege plays out in our daily lives, but is clear that I will
>carry this privilege with me until the day white supremacy is erased
>from this society.
>
>
>-- Dawn/LAT-WP News Service (c) Baltimore Sun

[Sanea AKA Naytel]

My Supervisor
Associate Dean Dr. Christopher Metzler is speaking tonight his topic will also be on the election.

He is a professor with concentrations in Race, Human Rights, Civil Rights, EEO, Diversity and Inclusion.

see
www.christophermetzler.com

Georgetown University School of Continuing Studies

invites you to celebrate the publication of

The Construction and Rearticulation of Race in a "Post-Racial" America

by

Christopher J. Metzler, PhD
Georgetown University associate dean, Human Resources and Diversity Studies

Sponsor:
The Master of Professional Studies Program

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2008
Georgetown University Alumni House
3604 O Street, NW (corner of 36th and O Street)

6:30 PM Reception
7:00 PM – 8:30 PM Discussion (followed by book signing)
RSVP Requested

RSVP: Sanea Pinkney, (202) 687-2812
chrismetzlerbooksigning@gmail.com



About The Construction and Rearticulation of Race in a "Post-Racial" America:For the first time in U.S. history, a major political party has nominated a black man as its presidential candidate. America, and in fact much of the world, is abuzz about how the nomination of Barack Obama calls attention to America's preoccupation with race. Dr. Christopher J. Metzler, Associate Dean, Human Resources and Diversity Studies at Georgetown University's School of Continuing Studies, puts Obama's nomination in perspective by exploring America's past and recent history with race. Metzler is a global scholar and thought leader in the areas of human rights, civil rights, critical race theory, corporate social responsibility, diversity, equity, and human resources. In The Construction and Rearticulation of Race in a "Post-Racial" America, published this week by Aberdeen University Press Services, Metzler takes a hard look at the racial politics of the present election by analyzing the roles of the candidates and the media.

Part heavy-hitting analysis and part reflection on how America has constructed and rearticulated race, the book begins with slavery and its role in the creation of race, critiques the role of the NAACP in the civil rights movement and exposes some of its most significant missteps in the fight for civil rights, and offers a useful comparison between civil and human rights. Metzler deftly exposes the racial thinking that has "become as American as motherhood and apple pie." He uses the racial thinking rubric to explain why and how the media have become so fascinated with the Obama candidacy. He also uses that rubric to expose how both McCain and Obama will use racial thinking as part of their electoral strategy. The question he poses is, "Which one will make it work for him?"

[shel5087]

I listen to your show just about everyday. I dont "hate" your show. I hear you make comments everyday that you would be "blasting" a white dj about should the roles be reversed. I am not nor have I ever been someone that judges someone by color or creed. Yet I hear you make remarks that seem race biased. Anyway I am a registered republican but I will more than likely be casting my vote for Obama. I do find that he wont use the pledge of allegiance disturbing... how can you lead a country that you dont believe in the pledge or the star spangled banner??? I enjoy the show and will continue to listen .. just remember not all whites are Racists and you can be a black racists as well as white. Thank you and God Bless

[sunshine247]

To the person that wrote on White Privilage....There is no such thing! A privilage is something that you earn..Not something that you just come up with b/c this or that is said or done by a few ignorant individuals....All americans neeed to get the illusions out of their heads and just be real to themselves..

[BRICKHOUSE73]

michael baisden, you're fine and everything but i think you guys are wasting your time!!! obama is not going to win.. mccain is going to win. i'm not going to waste my time voting, the whole system is rigged!!!

when obama loses, i will definitely call the show and laugh!!! both obama and mccain are a bunch of liars... obama says yes we can, yeah right!!! no we can't!

[barberlcarrie]

America! R U listening? Step Up -It's Time To Step Up. To all the true son's of God. mccain has not the charecteristics of Christ! let's not be blind anymore. we've asked for generations and now it's time for us to receive.

[Glazed Donuts]

In all honesty, the intelligence level of this country has sunk to a new low. We should all be ashamed of ourselves. That man Henry that you had on the show is just a prime example of the millions of other Americans who have this same mentality and intelligence level. I honestly believe we are seriously outnumbered by people like Henry when it comes to this. It is a shame, really, and it makes me ashamed to call myself an American when other countries look at us and view us as a whole for the stupidity that goes on.

It is really no wonder that so many countries hate the US.

To the remaining American people with intelligence and COMMON SENSE: We need to step up and take this country back and not see it go to Hell like Bush has taken it to. We don't need a person like McCain who actually supports Bush despite all of the s--- he's done to make our lives even more miserable after 8 years. Obama is going to be the one to bring us all out of this.

Put the stupid racisism aside! I can't believe people would rather see this country go to hell than to vote for an INTELLIGENT Black man! If you want to stop working for minimum wage (or stop jobhunting altogether due to Bush's crap) then vote Democrat. The majority of Americans today are middle-class and below. Republicans don't give a s--- about the middle-class, nor do they give a s--- about minorities! It's all about money for them -- making the rich richer and the poor poorer. Is living in a cardboard box the only way people will finally get some sense knocked into them? Because that's what it's eventually going to boil down to at the rate the economy keeps going.

OBAMA 08!!!

[ThisIsYourWorld]

Hey Mike, I am I 45 year old African Male born in New York, I say Afircan because I know how I got here (kidnapping). I served this country for 10 years I was Military Intel. First let me ask does it really matter which of them is voted in, I say yes for two reasons. We tell oursleves the if Obama gets voted in that he can change things...no he cant. He would be our first, and our first shall be standing alone in the white house standing alone. He will not be sourrounded by his peers, or groups that want him to succceed. He will be there looking at some of the same types that founded this country(that's a good one--populated by Indians and they found it) We are speaking of those who will make the deal, make the promise, say all the right words then when its time they will do what they have always done. They will, and time has given us the facts, the same way they have continued to take land bring their religion then charge you to live there or like in the case of the Indians send you to Mexico and name you Mexicans. Heck we got brought here and we pay to live here twice, taxes (I dont know where that money goes) and rent for my house. Wanna hear something funny, most of this content came from the mouth of a man most of you would call a terrorist. While in the Military our paths crossed and I wont lie I was scared to death. When I noticed him he was standing on the side of a building with a firearm, before I could start begging for my life which any smart man would do. He put it down, turned his palms up, called me his brother, then said he would never hurt me. I wont lie that day some of my outlook on why I was in the military changed, we talked for about 4 hours and this was our topic. Oh and he said "ours" too, yes these are his words........now I just look at him as a man who doesnt want to pay rent twice

[lynjs]

Originally Posted by Glazed Donuts

In all honesty, the intelligence level of this country has sunk to a new low. We should all be ashamed of ourselves. That man Henry that you had on the show is just a prime example of the millions of other Americans who have this same mentality and intelligence level. I honestly believe we are seriously outnumbered by people like Henry when it comes to this. It is a shame, really, and it makes me ashamed to call myself an American when other countries look at us and view us as a whole for the stupidity that goes on.

It is really no wonder that so many countries hate the US.

To the remaining American people with intelligence and COMMON SENSE: We need to step up and take this country back and not see it go to Hell like Bush has taken it to. We don't need a person like McCain who actually supports Bush despite all of the s--- he's done to make our lives even more miserable after 8 years. Obama is going to be the one to bring us all out of this.

Put the stupid racisism aside! I can't believe people would rather see this country go to hell than to vote for an INTELLIGENT Black man! If you want to stop working for minimum wage (or stop jobhunting altogether due to Bush's crap) then vote Democrat. The majority of Americans today are middle-class and below. Republicans don't give a s--- about the middle-class, nor do they give a s--- about minorities! It's all about money for them -- making the rich richer and the poor poorer. Is living in a cardboard box the only way people will finally get some sense knocked into them? Because that's what it's eventually going to boil down to at the rate the economy keeps going.

OBAMA 08!!!

I couldn't have said it better myself. We've been dumbed down through every aspect of American life. I mean people look at "American Idol" for music taste instead of someone actually paying their dues. What can one expect when it comes to an election of this magnitude?

They'd rather vote for an uninformed ill-equipped white guy with a running mate who had to go to five different schools for a lone B.A. degree than a smart intelligent top of his class black guy with a running mate who is just as smart and teaches law classes on Saturdays. This just proves it. We're a nation of dummies and they're repeatedly elected to office causing messes like the Iraq, the financial crisis and the health care crisis.