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get rid of affirmative action, and all that goes away.
sound good to you? it does to me, too.
Not if the people making the decisions assume that POC aren't smart enough to do what it takes to complete the program. In both of my examples, the people I was talking about knew nothing about the applicants they were trashing, other than their ethnicity. As long as the assumption that a POC can't do the same work as a white person exists, affirmative action plays an important role in having applicants treated fairly.
The bolded is what I've seen. I worked briefly with a young white woman who was a Harvard Law grad. Both of her parents had attended Harvard and donated literally millions of dollars. We were talking one day about a young Hispanic woman who had just been admitted to law school at Berkeley Law. The white woman smirked and said, "Of course she got in, she's Hispanic." Her assumptions were that she had gotten in on merit, despite her status as a legacy and daughter of big donors, and that the Hispanic woman got in on affirmative action.
I've seen other examples of that among my contemporaries when it comes to college admissions as our children are college age. A white friend whose son was wait-listed at a service academy while a girl from another high school was admitted also chalked it up to race. Never mind that her son was not even in the top ten percent of his class and that the girl who was admitted was Valedictorian.
The assumption that white people get ahead on merit and POC get ahead because of a special break is one form of white privilege.
The other obvious area where white privilege plays a role is with law enforcement. I've never been stopped by LE without a reason and I've never been afraid when stopped. Neither has my husband or daughter. To be able to walk around without fear is a privilege.
The bolded is what I've seen. I worked briefly with a young white woman who was a Harvard Law grad. Both of her parents had attended Harvard and donated literally millions of dollars. We were talking one day about a young Hispanic woman who had just been admitted to law school at Berkeley Law. The white woman smirked and said, "Of course she got in, she's Hispanic." Her assumptions were that she had gotten in on merit, despite her status as a legacy and daughter of big donors, and that the Hispanic woman got in on affirmative action.
I've seen other examples of that among my contemporaries when it comes to college admissions as our children are college age. A white friend whose son was wait-listed at a service academy while a girl from another high school was admitted also chalked it up to race. Never mind that her son was not even in the top ten percent of his class and that the girl who was admitted was Valedictorian.
The assumption that white people get ahead on merit and POC get ahead because of a special break is one form of white privilege.
The other obvious area where white privilege plays a role is with law enforcement. I've never been stopped by LE without a reason and I've never been afraid when stopped. Neither has my husband or daughter. To be able to walk around without fear is a privilege.
I have heard comments like that, too, and it's exactly what I was talking about.
I agree with you that words matter, but right now, "privilege" is the commonly used term. I understand the point you are making, but I still think that arguing about semantics can end up as nothing more than a means of ignoring the problem.
As for the examples you gave, I can't really address them, as I haven't observed that kind of behavior. People stepping over dying colleagues, really?
Here's what you don't understand about why this matters. The term white privilege is so inflammatory and anti-white that it's creating racism where it didn't exist previously among both white folks and black folks.
White people are tired of hearing that they're getting treatment they shouldn't get when the truth is that black folks are sometimes getting treatment that they shouldn't get. There's a difference.
It really is like saying that women who aren't in abusive relationships are somehow privileged because others have to put up with a lot of horrible behavior directed towards them - and that's not fair.
The black community keeps looking for solutions outward, blaming others, instead of looking inward and trying to solve their problems themselves. This is a major major problem because their problems as a whole will never go away looking outward for solutions. No one else can solve their problems. Generalizing here but they need to start rebuilding the black family unit, placing far more emphasis on education, shed the sigma of being successful is "acting white", selecting better role models/leadership, managing their money better, etc. No one else can fix these issues for them, there is no government solution.
I agree with you that words matter, but right now, "privilege" is the commonly used term. I understand the point you are making, but I still think that arguing about semantics can end up as nothing more than a means of ignoring the problem.
As for the examples you gave, I can't really address them, as I haven't observed that kind of behavior. People stepping over dying colleagues, really?
And what is to be done about this "problem"? I have heard plenty and there have been plenty of threads about this subject but not one solution from those that say it exists. As Mpowering said it is about treatment of people. I can only control my behavior as all of you can only control yours. What exactly is to be done?
The black community keeps looking for solutions outward, blaming others,
Yea its not like they were held in chattel slavery for hundreds years and then kinda sorta given freedom but not really. Yea they need to be grateful to the wonderful and benevolent United States for allowing them to eat.
Here's what you don't understand about why this matters. The term white privilege is so inflammatory and anti-white that it's creating racism where it didn't exist previously among both white folks and black folks.
White people are tired of hearing that they're getting treatment they shouldn't get when the truth is that black folks are sometimes getting treatment that they shouldn't get. There's a difference.
It really is like saying that women who aren't in abusive relationships are somehow privileged because others have to put up with a lot of horrible behavior directed towards them - and that's not fair.
If you want to convince people that "White Privilege" is a thing, you have to demonstrate that it exists. You have to do that in the face of a giant list of "minorities only" scholarships, subsidies, Affirmative action and benefits. You have to do that in the face of facts. For example, the following groups are more successful than native white Americans in the USA:
1. Jews (for some reason considered not fully white which I've never really understood.) Jews have battled through oppression and adversity the likes of which no other group in history has seen to become the wealthiest and most prosperous demographic in the nation and the world.
2. Asians. If you are ethnically Asian then odds are you will make about 25% more money than whites, this is spite of a long history of mistreatment by whites including the Chinese Exclusion Act and throwing ethnic Japanese into concentration camps in WW2. They finally operate on a mostly level playing field and they're kicking white peoples' butts economically.
3. African migrants. The folks who actually immigrated from Africa when black slavery was long gone make more money on average than whites. This would seem to debunk the theory that the deck is stacked against all blacks because they have the wrong skin color. Just like the previous two groups, simply working hard and persevering has led them to wealth and prosperity. .
Yea its not like they were held in chattel slavery for hundreds years and then kinda sorta given freedom but not really. Yea they need to be grateful to the wonderful and benevolent United States for allowing them to eat.
So how does one explain black Americans that do become successful? Was it just luck ?
Which country offers a better opportunity for blacks today , if not America ?
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