DISQUS

YBPGuide: White Privilege

  • TruthSeeker · 1 year ago
    Ha..good post.
  • P. Horizon · 1 year ago
    Good Post!
  • Stephon · 1 year ago
    for many of the privileged, they live there lives like this: "the rules apply to *everyone* else, but me"

    good post Fredric
  • Jemfirst · 1 year ago
    Wow, I came to YBP Guide to make this exact same post as I received an email recently and am listening to the Madison Show. Very true and hypocritical. It is clearer to me more than ever that we live in a country full of double standards.
  • jmac · 1 year ago
    Usually not one to stir the pot....but I'd like to know thoughts. Obama is described as a Black man in one instance and a bi-racial man in another. I understand that he describes himself using the same terms. But why?
    I'm curious because I do the same, albeit a Black woman or mixed woman or woman of color. Do we mixed people sometimes feel we have to validate ourselves as simply Black? Or do we claim mixed/ bi-racial because that is the only way of truly describing ourselves, without leaving anything out? Is it just too much of a mouthful to claim all colors? Or is it simply about how we identify, day in and day out? Anyone?
  • cdj2002 · 1 year ago
    Jmac I don't think your stirring the pot at all. You can describe yourself individually by any terms you would like. But when you are being looked at as a group member you will be looked at as a person of color--be that mixed or simply Black. This ties directly into White privelege, because only those who are 100% "White looking" can fall in the catagory of Whitness. Everyone else is apart of of Subordinated group when it comes to race no matter how that person individually identifies themself.
  • jmac · 1 year ago
    Thanks cdj2002. Interestingly, there are many people who think I am white. And it isn't because of my tone, I"m at the darker end of the mixed spectrum. And 90% of the time, it's not White people who confuse me. Case in point, I was at the DMV the other day to pick up a new license, and the woman who helped me put my race down as White. When I saw this, I turned right back around, walked up to her desk, and said "excuse me ma'am, but I'm not White. I'm Black." And she looked so aghast. That's what I mean when I speak of having to validate ourselves.

    What do we think nowadays of people who pass? Or who don't acknowledge it at all? I still cringe everytime I remember the gaff of Tom Cruise when asked about whether he discussed his adopted children's race with them, and he asked "what is there to discuss?" I think this is an aspect of white privilege that isn't as heinous as outright and blatant disrespect, but can be just as damaging.