Get a grip, white people

[struggle4progress]

By Max Boot
Columnist
August 6 at 11:59 AM

To understand the roots of the white rage that President Trump taps into with unerring and unconscionable precision, it helps to look at a recent news story from South Africa.

... The white minority denied the black majority the most rudimentary rights for decades. Then, in 1994, apartheid crumbled, and a democratically elected government took office that, remarkably and wisely, refused to exact vengeance for decades of oppression. Even today, whites occupy an economically privileged position in South Africa. Their average income is five times that of blacks. More than half of blacks live below the poverty line, compared with less than 1 percent of whites.

Yet, rather than being grateful for the forbearance of the black majority, many South African whites, especially those from the working class, smolder with resentment. Their bitterness erupted during and after an emotional confrontation in 2017 at the Johannesburg outpost of a casual restaurant chain called the Spur Steak Ranches. Videos show a white man arguing vociferously with a black woman over the behavior of her kids. As the New York Times notes, “The white man yanks the arm of a black boy, before threatening to hit the black woman and trying to overturn a table where her small children were sitting.” A few days later, the restaurant chain apologized to the woman and banned the man from entering its restaurants because of his “unacceptable actions.” Many whites were outraged at the treatment of the abusive customer and announced a boycott of the Spur restaurants. The boycott continues to the present day, hurting the restaurants’ sales in white areas ...

... A 2018 PRRI-MTV poll found that 55 percent of white respondents think that discrimination against whites has become as big a problem in the United States as discrimination against blacks and other minority groups.

Needless to say, this perception is at odds with reality. Whites are still much better off than blacks. The poverty rate among African Americans is 21.8 percent; among whites, 8.8 percent. The median wealth of black households is $17,409; among whites, $171,000. The homeownership rate for blacks is 41.2 percent; among whites, 71.1 percent. There is also manifold evidence of continuing discrimination against African Americans ...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/08/06/get-grip-white-people-were-not-victims/

[MicaelS]

1. The REAL fear of white people is ...

What they have done to POC will be done to them. They are terrified of that.

[RKP5637]

4. K&R!!! n/t

[Kurt V.]

2. you can't erase the past max. this goes for the rest of the never trumpers.

[struggle4progress]

3. +!

But political tactics always involve shifting and temporary alliances

That's just the reality of the game

And I'm OK with it, so long as we don't forget the bigger picture

[Kurt V.]

10. yep. if boot et al are useful now, might as well use it.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

5. K&R&IBSWP

In Before "Some White People!!1!11!!"

[wryter2000]

7. No kidding

I hate to see that sort of ignorance on DU.

[StarfishSaver]

6. You're supposed to add "present company excepted because not all white people" or else it's racist

[Caliman73]

8. When you have all of the advantages, losing even a little bit seems like oppression

White people; and as I did yesterday, I preface this with (not all White people as there are a ton of other factors like gender, sexual orientation, SES, education, etc... that affect opportunity) have been the basis of social norms, political power, and economic power in the US and in the world generally. People like Peggy McIntosh called it "privilege" which is a term that seems to irritate people because they assume it means that they have an easy life but the reality is that privilege is just the benefit of the doubt, the assumption of worthiness without having to continually prove yourself. It is the idea that when a Black or Brown person, or a woman for that matter, does something wrong, that it is because they are Black, Brown, or woman that they did it whereas if you are a White male and do something wrong, it is as an aberration to "White Maleness" or Whiteness generally that you did the wrong thing.

When privilege is called into question, there is a loss. There has to be. That is what some White people are responding to. When you have all the toys and are made to share one, it seems like a major loss.

[Wounded Bear]

9. People tend to confuse the terms "privilege" and "rights"...

And yes, when you've been privileged for generations, extending real rights to others can "feel" and be mistaken for a loss of rights.

Fairness, for many folks, means 'do it my way.'

[Gothmog]

11. There is no discrimination against white people

[Hermit-The-Prog]

12. you're racisming me!

j/k carry on.


P.S.: K&R