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Great post, SloRoller. I'd rep you if I could. The White Privilege list was so dead on. I only wish I could see the videos you posted too!
These clips are from ABCs 20/20 program "What Would You Do?" series that sets up social dillemas and captures people's reaction on hidden camera. One of the most blatant examples is a scenario where a young white male, about 18 to 20 years old, is obviously attempting to break the lock on a bicycle chained to a post in a public park. This is in plain view of anyone passing by. Passersby asked the guy if it was his bike. He said no, but no one challenged him beyond that. They just went about their business while he continued to break he lock. Only one couple bothered to even consider calling the police. Out of 100 people. He was stealing the bike! This was repeated several times.
Later the same day in exactly the same place, the very same scenario was repeated, this time with a young black man. Result - almost immediately he is agressively challenged by several people who actually stop and give him a hard time. Some break out the cell phone cameras to take his picture to turn over to police. Some even call the police to report that he was stealing the bike.
Quite a different response when the "thief" was black. Much more hostile and people were very quick to call the police and make a scene.
None of you do not know what it is like to be in the shoes of a black man, and basically you need to experiment just like how the white male did to experience that racism exists, and unfortunately white people, especially white females in the USA are the most racist people in America.
Wow!! Where is this coming from? Just because they aren't interested in dating a black man? Perhaps if black men had a better reputation for wanting to marry and be a good family man...
Wow!! Where is this coming from? Just because they aren't interested in dating a black man? Perhaps if black men had a better reputation for wanting to marry and be a good family man...
Here we go again. No. 1 Black Male Hater..........
I'm here to tell you that it has happened to me twice in my 25 years in IT. Long story short, I passed two oral interviews over the phone, was flown down to Mississippi to the Coporate Headquarters at their expense to meet with the IT Director and the CIO. When I showed up at headquarters, suddenly the job was no longer available and that there had been some kind of "misunderstanding". There was no misunderstanding. I understood perfectly well what was going on. There was no problem until they got a look at me. Guess I sounded white over the phone.
You don't understand White Privilege. I have posted about white privilege in another thread. Here are a couple of short video clips that clearly demonstrate this. The third link is the best example of this:
No one is arguing that a white person cannot have a black boss. That's not what White Privilege is. I don't know what you mean by "black have privilege". Is that a reference to Affirmative Action?
Below are some questions you might ask yourself if you're trying to figure out if White Privilege exists for you. The items in blue are issues that I have dealt with personally or professionally in the last 24 months. For me, the answers to these questions is "No", or "That is not true for me". I am by no means an anomaly:
White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh
1. I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time.
2. I can avoid spending time with people whom I was trained to mistrust and who have learned to mistrust my kind or me.
3. If I should need to move, I can be pretty sure of renting or purchasing housing in an area which I can afford and in which I would want to live.
4. I can be pretty sure that my neighbors in such a location will be neutral or pleasant to me.
5. I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed.
6. I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented.
7. When I am told about our national heritage or about "civilization," I am shown that people of my color made it what it is.
8. I can be sure that my children will be given curricular materials that testify to the existence of their race.
9. If I want to, I can be pretty sure of finding a publisher for this piece on white privilege.
10. I can be pretty sure of having my voice heard in a group in which I am the only member of my race.
11. I can be casual about whether or not to listen to another person's voice in a group in which s/he is the only member of his/her race.
12. I can go into a music shop and count on finding the music of my race represented, into a supermarket and find the staple foods which fit with my cultural traditions, into a hairdresser's shop and find someone who can cut my hair.
13. Whether I use checks, credit cards or cash, I can count on my skin color not to work against the appearance of financial reliability.
14. I can arrange to protect my children most of the time from people who might not like them.
15. I do not have to educate my children to be aware of systemic racism for their own daily physical protection.
16. I can be pretty sure that my children's teachers and employers will tolerate them if they fit school and workplace norms; my chief worries about them do not concern others' attitudes toward their race.
17. I can talk with my mouth full and not have people put this down to my color.
18. I can swear, or dress in second hand clothes, or not answer letters, without having people attribute these choices to the bad morals, the poverty or the illiteracy of my race.
19. I can speak in public to a powerful male group without putting my race on trial.
20. I can do well in a challenging situation without being called a credit to my race.
21. I am never asked to speak for all the people of my racial group.
22. I can remain oblivious of the language and customs of persons of color who constitute the world's majority without feeling in my culture any penalty for such oblivion.
23. I can criticize our government and talk about how much I fear its policies and behavior without being seen as a cultural outsider.
24. I can be pretty sure that if I ask to talk to the "person in charge", I will be facing a person of my race.
25. If a traffic cop pulls me over or if the IRS audits my tax return, I can be sure I haven't been singled out because of my race.
26. I can easily buy posters, post-cards, picture books, greeting cards, dolls, toys and children's magazines featuring people of my race.
27. I can go home from most meetings of organizations I belong to feeling somewhat tied in, rather than isolated, out-of-place, outnumbered, unheard, held at a distance or feared.
28. I can be pretty sure that an argument with a colleague of another race is more likely to jeopardize her/his chances for advancement than to jeopardize mine.
29. I can be pretty sure that if I argue for the promotion of a person of another race, or a program centering on race, this is not likely to cost me heavily within my present setting, even if my colleagues disagree with me.
30. If I declare there is a racial issue at hand, or there isn't a racial issue at hand, my race will lend me more credibility for either position than a person of color will have.
31. I can choose to ignore developments in minority writing and minority activist programs, or disparage them, or learn from them, but in any case, I can find ways to be more or less protected from negative consequences of any of these choices.
32. My culture gives me little fear about ignoring the perspectives and powers of people of other races.
33. I am not made acutely aware that my shape, bearing or body odor will be taken as a reflection on my race.
34. I can worry about racism without being seen as self-interested or self-seeking.
35. I can take a job with an affirmative action employer without having my co-workers on the job suspect that I got it because of my race.
36. If my day, week or year is going badly, I need not ask of each negative episode or situation whether it had racial overtones.
37. I can be pretty sure of finding people who would be willing to talk with me and advise me about my next steps, professionally.
38. I can think over many options, social, political, imaginative or professional, without asking whether a person of my race would be accepted or allowed to do what I want to do.
39. I can be late to a meeting without having the lateness reflect on my race.
40. I can choose public accommodation without fearing that people of my race cannot get in or will be mistreated in the places I have chosen.
41. I can be sure that if I need legal or medical help, my race will not work against me.
42. I can arrange my activities so that I will never have to experience feelings of rejection owing to my race.
43. If I have low credibility as a leader I can be sure that my race is not the problem.
44. I can easily find academic courses and institutions which give attention only to people of my race.
45. I can expect figurative language and imagery in all of the arts to testify to experiences of my race.
46. I can chose blemish cover or bandages in "flesh" color and have them more or less match my skin.
47. I can travel alone or with my spouse without expecting embarrassment or hostility in those who deal with us.
48. I have no difficulty finding neighborhoods where people approve of our household.
49. My children are given texts and classes which implicitly support our kind of family unit and do not turn them against my choice of domestic partnership.
50. I will feel welcomed and "normal" in the usual walks of public life, institutional and social.
How can you be so sure about not hearing it from your employees? I don't know them and I don't know what the dynamic is between you and your employees, but I can guarantee you that given that this is an employer / employee relationship, they don't as free as you might believe, to tell you whether they think you're racist. They may not feel that you are racist, but they may feel that you don't treat them as equals with the rest of your staff. The latter is conjecture on my part, as I am not a part of that situation. I will venture to say, however, that if they are over the age of 30, they have come to understand, at least to some degree, both a black and a white paradigm when looking at workplace interaction.
Well said above.
I also would like to know the question to the bolded above in the last paragraph. Just because you have black employees and you don't hear about it really doesn't mean anything at all.
How many people of any background are open with the employer in that fashion. My boss is black and I don't discuss anything of a political or religious nature with her. She is VERY liberal and would probably fire me if she knew my stance on certain issues and even if she didn't fire me she would see me in a different light and that may have an effect on our workplace relationship. She does discuss her own political and religious leanings though in our office, but she is the boss and IMO has more leeway about what she can and cannot say in our office without repercussions since she is the one who hires and fires.
Also wanted to say that I agreed with everything Bill Cosby said about black people and our responsibilities to control our own lives and circumstances and especially in parenting our children as do quite a lot of black people and really I would make an educated guess to say that the majority of black people in this country agree with the majority of what he said based on the people I know and their response to him and others like him. I agree with the concepts of self reliance and personal responsibilities and really I don't get any flack from any black person I know regarding these beliefs at all. I agree with lots of black people who speak out against the use of the N word and other demeaning language in songs and film. I don't see anything as an excuse to me succeeding in anything that I attempt to do. But I also am not ignorant to the fact that racism still exists and that the history of black people in America has contributed to the current way society behaves, both black and white.
Here we go again. No. 1 Black Male Hater..........
I don't think that's a fair assessment, there are several threads in which she attacks Asian males and females. She simply doesn't like anything that isn't white, and as a poster in another thread stated, she is the resident white-washed Asian. It's a textbook example of an inferiority complex...
Wow!! Where is this coming from? Just because they aren't interested in dating a black man? Perhaps if black men had a better reputation for wanting to marry and be a good family man...
Dang... that's harsh. I'm a white (Jewish) woman in the USA, and I've dated more black men than white. And guess who treated me better overall? The black guys!! But I don't consider race when choosing a date, I only consider the man himself - you might want to do the same.
There has always been racism and discrimination that favored white people and there still is whether people accept it or not. I'm sure there are some minorities that bring up race to manipulate people just as well when race really had nothing to do with something. Both situations exist.
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I'm a white (Jewish) woman in the USA, and I've dated more black men than white. And guess who treated me better overall? The black guys!! But I don't consider race when choosing a date, I only consider the man himself - you might want to do the same.
