There are 5 million poor white kids in this country. Let's explain white privilege to their parents.

[Comrade Grumpy]

How does that work? Anybody?

And what does it accomplish?

And yes, I am aware that there are millions more poor kids of color in this country, too. But this is about white privilege.

[Katashi_itto]

1. +10000!

[alp227]

2. the exception proving the rule

http://www.timwise.org/2009/03/when-exceptions-prove-the-rule-poverty-whiteness-and-privilege/

[thucythucy]

33. Looks like an excellent article.

I hadn't seen this blog before.

Thanks for this link.

[redqueen]

3. Threads on DU are intended for DUers.

Nobody is going door-to-door canvassing to raise awareness of white privilege.

So your question is asinine.

People raise the issue here because everyone here should get this. Instead we see evidence that many don't in various threads and it's fucking gross

[hfojvt]

42. not my threads

when I post this http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024400678

or this

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021880321

or this

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/hfojvt/171

or this

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/hfojvt/169

I generally want the WHOLE nation to read it, not just DUers. That's why I post it on a public message board instead of just on an email list.

I don't think it is "fucking gross" when people disagree with me. After all, everybody has a perfect right to be wrong. I do my best to persuade them, to get them to see my point of view and move on.

You think it's a darn shame I can't be dragged to room 101 and forced to recant or something? That's hard for me to understand.

[Recursion]

4. "Your son won't get shot for buying skittles"

And he won't be pulled over randomly by cops who see him.

If he does well and winds up with a good job, people won't accuse him of being a token.

Etc.

It's not all that hard, really...

[leftyohiolib]

12. im white and have been pulled over thrown over the hood of police cars (in my neighborhood)

pockets searched police asking where is it or where did u hide it. i guess i should have shown him my white privilege card.
btw white people get shot as well

[Major Nikon]

44. Gender privilege also plays a role

* When compared with men, women were 23 percent less likely to be ticketed, 55 percent less likely to be arrested and 76 percent less likely to be searched when stopped by police. Women were more likely to only receive a warning or have no outcome when stopped by police during a traffic stop.

* Black and Hispanic drivers were significantly more likely to be searched, ticketed and arrested than white drivers when stopped by police. For example, black drivers were more than twice as likely to be searched or arrested when compared with white drivers. Hispanic drivers were almost three times as likely to be searched when compared with white drivers.

By combining data dealing with race and gender, Briggs found the differences between men and women do not hold up for all races. Out of all racial and ethnic categories of male and female drivers, white women were most likely to receive a perceived benefit in a traffic stop, such as receiving only a warning or no outcome at all. But the same is not true for black and Hispanic women, who were just as likely as white men to be ticketed, arrested or searched instead of receiving a warning or no outcome.

http://www.k-state.edu/media/newsreleases/jun12/racialprofiling62112.html

[SheilaT]

54. There's also an older white woman privilege which

I've benefitted from every single time I've had a traffic stop in the past eight or so years.

That's when I let my hair go its natural gray. I'm currently 65 and while I like to think I look younger than that, I'm definitely not a young thing.

So when I get stopped (crappy stop at stop sign, speeding, a couple of others) I look like Mom or possibly Grandma to the young officer who stops me, and so I always get a simple warning. It's very nice and I appreciate it, but I know that were I younger or male or a different color I wouldn't always get those warnings.

Mind you, I only get pulled over about once every two years, but it's still nice.

[leftyohiolib]

5. this is my point as well- people telling me im privileged simply b/c im white (which is just racist)

they know nothing of my situation but im white and therefore privileged so shut up about it. there are people on this board who say if you deny your white privilegedness you should ppr'd.

[boston bean]

13. I have to ask... you don't feel that not in one way you have it better than a poor black person?

And you really think that stating race places an additional burden on someone with the same financial resources as you is racist against you?

[treestar]

52. I don't think it means shut up about your situation

Or that it means a white person's situation can't be bad. It is a different concept.

[boston bean]

6. Another thread by you to try and find a way to stop people from discussing white privilege.

If you ever understand it, you might find the err of your ways. But at this point it is hopeless.

[Comrade Grumpy]

23. You are part of the problem.

I understand the concept of white privilege. I just don't find it very useful. I find it to be an unnecessarily hostile and confrontational approach to race. If you disagree, just look at this board, which is made up of self-identified progressives and Democrats. The white privilege argument goes on and on, generating much heat, but little light.

But we can't even get as far as discussing whether it's a useful approach. Instead, we get put-downs and name-calling. And veiled accusations of racism or idiocy.

And your sneering superiority is just another example.

There's a whole radical fundamentalist current on this board that is self-righteous, dogmatic, and intolerant. It reminds me of campus Maoists back in the day, who were of so revolutionary, and everybody else was a lackey or a running dog. It may score points in the dorm room at Wellesley or Oberlin, but it doesn't make for good politics. Maybe ask yourself why so few women identify as feminists or why your white privilege schtick goes meets such resistance. (Hint: It's not because we're racists.)

[LanternWaste]

25. Much as creationists find Tyson's Cosmos to be unnecessarily hostile and confrontational approach

"I find it to be an unnecessarily hostile and confrontational approach to race..."

Much as creationists find Tyson's Cosmos to be unnecessarily hostile and confrontational approach to the formation of the universe... and our sneering about it is just another example. Six of one, half a dozen of the other.

(Insert distinction without a difference here)

[laundry_queen]

65. +1

apt comparison.

[boston bean]

32. What gives you the right to determine what words can be used in a discussion?

Or how minorities approach resolving the issue of race, or how they speak their experiences?

Wow, you just don't get how insulting and degrading that is, do you?

[hfojvt]

46. Tim Wise looks like a white boy to me

seems to me that lots of people pushing this concept are just as white as I am.

[uppityperson]

7. Is it REALLY THAT difficult to understand the difference between institutionalized/macro and micro?

Seriously, is it?

[TroglodyteScholar]

51. No, it's not.

But despite understanding it, many people still fight tooth and nail not to accept it. It's so pathetic.

[mn9driver]

8. The numbers breakdown

http://www.nccp.org/media/releases/release_34.html

This is a source of national shame no matter what color they are. We are supposed to be better than this.

[el_bryanto]

9. i suppose you could ask them if those parents if they would rather be black

How do you think they would reply?

Bryant

[hfojvt]

47. Do most poor black people wish they were white?

Really?

[TroglodyteScholar]

55. I call bullshit

You're putting words in the poster's mouth. The question was very specific. Do you think that most or all poor white people would prefer to be black?

If not, what might be some of the primary reasons? Might one reason be that this country and much of the world traditionally shits on black people?

Deny it, and you are not just lying to strangers on a message board. You are deceiving yourself.

P.S. If you want to talk about what most poor black people would like, I think it's safe to say they would like social justice. But don't you get too concerned. White people will never, EVER let that happen.

[hfojvt]

60. I didn't put any words in anybody's mouth

I did the classic, answer a question with a question.

Do YOU think that most or all poor black people would prefer to be white?

If not, might one reason be that being white in this country simply is NOT all that and a bag of chips? Or might the reason that neither group wants to change their race, be that both groups are happy with what they are?

Nice closing line too.

Yeah, those white people, they sure do suck don't they, buncha evil pieces of excrement.

[bravenak]

56. No.

You're right they don't. That has nothing to do with the price of tea in China either.

[hfojvt]

58. why doesn't it?

Presumably the fact that poor white people would not want to be black means that it sucks to be black, and they know it.

But if it sucks that bad then why don't poor black people want to be white? Then suddenly they could goto town with their white privilege.

Maybe the fact that most poor white people would not want to be black just proves that people like what they are.

[bravenak]

59. Because tea is cheap in China.

And aardvarks eat bugs.

[hfojvt]

61. and cottleston pie to you too.

and I suppose the mome raths outgabe.

[bravenak]

63. You know what i have to say to that!!!!!

Mares eat oat and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy, a kid'll eat ivy too wouldn't you??
Try that on for size!!
Adding you to my list!!

Joffrey, cercei, illyn payne, the tickler, the mountain, the hound, and now hofjvt!!! Blame yourself when the stranger commeth!!!!

[PeteSelman]

10. Trash thread option is your friend.

I use it often these days.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

11. .

[sinkingfeeling]

14. Really? You can't understand it?

[SaltyBro]

15. All these Whites need to understand their roles in racism

and learn from their mistakes.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

16. Sure, explain to them how their kids are less likely to be profiled by police, potential landlords,

potential employers, etc etc etc. Maybe explain to them what happened to Henry Louis Gates in spite of his status. You're welcome.

[gollygee]

17. And 11.5 million poor children of color

So if you're white, you have a much smaller chance of ending up in poverty.

[Iggo]

18. Here.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4946492

[reformist2]

19. "white privilege" is a needlessly negative term to describe how everyone should be treated.

[SaltyBro]

20. How is it a negative term?

I think it is a perfect term that is easy to understand.

[NuclearDem]

21. Explain that there are cultural assumptions about them based on their skin color?

And that privilege has absolutely nothing to do with their financial situation?

[Gormy Cuss]

22. As a former poor white kid, let me give it a shot.

First off, do you know what privilege means? In young person terms, it means that a person is given respect and allowed to make choices without being told no all the time.

For example, if a rich person wants to eat steak for dinner, they just buy one. They may even go to a restaurant and let someone else cook it for them and serve it to them even though it costs a bazillion times more that way. Why? Because having lots of money gives them that privilege.

You know that in your family it works differently. You can want a steak every day of the week but you'll never get one. Why? Because the lack of money means that you don't have that privilege.

Now being poor stinks on so many levels it may feel like you don't have any privilege at all. It sure feels like no one gives a hoot about you, that no one is willing to give you a chance. So when you see some fancy dressed white person say that you have "white privilege" you may think it's a bunch of hooey. WHAT privilege, you say. Your life sucks every day in a hundred ways and it's no better for your white neighbors. More to the point, you don't think it will ever get better either. Too many strikes against you.

Now if when you grow up you graduate from high school, you'll be out looking for a job. You'll worry about making a good impression. You'll worry about whether your school record was good enough. You'll worry about whether they'll hire you even though your address betrays the fact that you live in THAT part of town. You'll worry about whether is too far away to walk, bike or drive in your old car.
What you won't worry about is whether they'll skip hiring you because you're Latino, or African-American, or Asian or Indian. That's white privilege.



And BTW, I've used similar examples to explain white privilege to friends and family from the old neighborhood. Most of them get it on the first try.

[The Magistrate]

26. You Nailed It In One, Sir

[thucythucy]

34. Excellent post.

Really hits the proverbial nail on the head.

[myrna minx]

35. +1

[redqueen]

43. It is nice how you keep trying.

Given how many times these explanations have gone so intently ignored already, it is really a testament to your patience.

[Starry Messenger]

48. I wish I had your patience.

[hfojvt]

49. except in the real world of today

I get lists from HR. And people have scores - based on their resume/application/experience.

Then I get another list. A list of minorities who have lower scores, BUT still made the list to be interviewed.

Maybe with SOME employers being white is an advantage, but with many others, in this day and age, it is clearly NOT.

And you kinda undercut your whole argument, or actually make MY point, when you list twenty DISadvantages and put that next to ONE tiny advantage. Why strain at gnats and swallow a camel?

[Gormy Cuss]

50. Why list all the disadvantages? Because it's reality.

Because it's true that low income white people have far fewer advantages than wealthy anybodies. However, they still retain that white skin advantage. I gave only one example because I'm not writing an article. I could go on, but all of the anecdotes have the same theme. You life may suck on many levels but it would suck even more if you weren't white.

Oh, that HR list letting the minorities on the interview list even with lower scores? That's because Affirmative Action is one of the remedies used to winnow away at privilege. I don't know what you're scoring, but many fitness tests systematically make it harder for persons of color to get hired. I know, I've been on hiring committees for eons. People who would never consciously discriminate yet score some applicants lower because they just don't think the person will fit in because the person isn't enough like the interviewer.
Similar prejudice happens on other metrics (and perceived socio-economic status is certainly one of them) but Affirmative Action only addresses a subset.

[hfojvt]

66. there's simply no way to know that

That my life would be worse if I was black.

For one thing because life is NOT worse for rich, or middle class, blacks than it is for poor whites.

But even getting rid of the rich-poor divide.

Let me look at my co-worker. We were both part time janitors.

He has girlfriends. I don't.
He has kids. I don't.
He slacked off at work and left early. I didn't.
He got promoted into the job I wanted. (Okay, I got the job above him.)
He got other jobs. I didn't (couldn't).

His life does not look any worse than mine, and in many ways it looks much better.

Then again, he is not just black. He's also absurdly good looking.

And I'm not.

And probably I am leaving some things out.

I have a home that's paid for. He doesn't. (Then again, for many years, from 2004-2009 I had no car (and it wasn't breaking my heart))
I have $50,000 in IRA accounts and another $50,000 in savings. And he doesn't. (But some of that comes from the miserly way I live, not just the fact that he has kids to pay for and I don't (I probably would have stopped at two kids also, instead of having four))

But my point goes back to rich/poor. There are many poor whites and many not-poor not-whites, and yet you want to point to the poor whites and tell them about their privileges. Privileges which they do NOT have compared to the not-poor.

White privilege is like a penny and green privilege is a hundred dollar bill. Don't pinch pennies when you are shredding hundred dollar bills. Or don't put a microscope on white privilege and gloss right over income privilege.

[Gormy Cuss]

67. I don't want to point to poor whites but that was the OP's challenge.

Rich vs. poor really isn't the discussion here. If it were I doubt that there would be as many DUers denying wealth privilege as there are denying white privilege.

[hfojvt]

71. but it IS the discussion here

if there is such a thing as white privilege, then clearly POOR whites should have it. But since poor whites clearly have LESS privileges than not-poor, then white privilege is mostly something that will get you a cup of coffee once you add 50 cents to it.

And it's kinda hard for liberals to talk about white privilege without poor people hearing it. Heck, the opposition will WANT poor people to hear it, just like we wanted people to hear Romney's comments about the 47%.

White people who happen to be living hard lives, or lives that they are unhappy about don't like to be told about their privileges because they know damned well they don't have any.

But then they don't find sympathy for their unhappiness or troubles, they are mocked, scolded and told to empathize with all of the racist BS that Oprah and Obama have to put up with.

[Gormy Cuss]

72. Billionaires have more wealth privilege than millionaires.

Millionaires, more than upper income workers, et cetera.
You're arguing that poor whites, because they have no economic privilege, have no white privilege. That's just not true. I've also acknowledged that it's not easy to point this out because they don't want to hear it, what with all of the problems associated with economic disadvantage.
And yet I know from first hand experience that there was a privilege to being white even when low income. I've seen different treatment too many times to count.

I completely disagree with you that low income white people don't get sympathy for their troubles. They don't get as much as they deserve, but they get more than African-Americans. Period.

[Xyzse]

24. I agree there are disadvantaged White Folk.

People that are beaten down due to wages and class.

However, let's do a hypothetical shall we?

A poor white kid and poor minority kid walk around with hoodies in a neighborhood, who would get stopped by police first?
Who would create an immediate alert?

The name that they get also, particularly the last name creates more positive associations.

A Smith would be given priority over a Mfume.

It is not about the fact that some people have it hard, it is the added crap some minorities have to go through due to such a thing, through inherent prejudices. Where some have to work harder and longer to get to that same level.
---
See, it doesn't really make much of a difference on people that poor since they are stuck in their own misery to look beyond themselves sometimes. I give them quite a bit of leeway, I don't really like replying to these things, since I agree that it doesn't really accomplish much, unless when it deals with people like Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney who used social services and are working to strike it down for everyone else that needs it.

However, when I see threads instead complaining about how they feel put out for people mentioning "White Privilege" when it isn't really about "Privilege" per se, but a dumb term mentioning how they don't have to deal with the prejudices minorities get from having an odd name or their ethnicity, and the fact that the corporate world favors anything perceived as Caucasian since it is the corporate culture, and they go by what is familiar; well now that makes me feel like they are missing the point.

[me b zola]

27. My white husband grew up in extreme poverty

He has a heart of gold and always willing to try to understand someone else's point of view. I tried for years to explain white privilege but with little luck. Then Travon Martin was killed.
Then hubby heard black parents talk about how they had taught their children how to stay safe, things that white parents never had to warn their children about. I saw the light bulb go off and sadness come over him as he finally got it. He now understands white privilege.

The thing about empathy is that "putting yourself in someone else's shoes" isn't as easy as it sounds as you first need to understand that someone else's shoes involves a long history and things/obstacles/struggles that you are not even aware of.

[PeaceNikki]

28. race privilege and class privilege are two different things

Both real. The denial of it and anger it generates with some is not unique to DU.

http://www.timwise.org/2008/09/explaining-white-privilege-or-your-defense-mechanism-is-showing/

Sigh.
I guess I should have expected it, seeing as how it’s nothing new. I write a piece on racism and white privilege (namely, the recently viral, “This is Your Nation on White Privilege”), lots of folks read it, many of them like it, and others e-mail me in fits of apoplexy, or post scathing critiques on message boards in which they invite me to die, to perform various sexual acts upon myself that I feel confident are impossible, or, best of all, to “go live in the ghetto,” whereupon I will come to “truly appreciate the animals” for whom I have so much affection (the phrase they use for me and that affection, of course, sounds a bit different, and I’ll leave it to your imagination to conjure the quip yourself).

Though I have no desire to debate the points made in the original piece, I would like to address some of the more glaring, and yet reasonable, misunderstandings that many seem to have about the subject of white privilege. That many white folks don’t take well to the term is an understatement, and quite understandable. For those of us in the dominant group, the notion that we may receive certain advantages generally not received by others is a jarring, sometimes maddening concept. And if we don’t understand what the term means, and what those who use it mean as they deploy it, our misunderstandings can generate anger and heat, where really, none is called for. So let me take this opportunity to explain what I mean by white privilege.

Yet many who wrote to me took issue with the notion that there was such a thing, arguing, for instance that there are lots of poor white people who have no privilege, and many folks of color who are wealthy, who do. But what this argument misses is that race and class privilege are not the same thing.

Though we are used to thinking of privilege as a mere monetary issue, it is more than that. Yes, there are rich black and brown folks, but even they are subject to racial profiling and stereotyping (especially because those who encounter them often don’t know they’re rich and so view them as decidedly not), as well as bias in mortgage lending, and unequal treatment in schools. So, for instance, even the children of well-off black families are more likely to be suspended or expelled from school than the children of poor whites, and this is true despite the fact that there is no statistically significant difference in the rates of serious school rule infractions between white kids or black kids that could justify the disparity (according to fourteen different studies examined by Russ Skiba at Indiana University).

As for poor whites, though they certainly are suffering economically, this doesn’t mean they lack racial privilege. I grew up in a very modest apartment, and economically was far from privileged. Yet I received better treatment in school (placement in advanced track classes even when I wasn’t a good student), better treatment by law enforcement officers, and indeed more job opportunities because of connections I was able to take advantage of, that were pretty much unavailable to the folks of color I knew growing up. Likewise, low income whites everywhere are able to clean up, go to a job interview and be seen as just another white person, whereas a person of color, even who isn’t low-income, has to wonder whether or not they might trip some negative stereotype about their group when they go for an interview or sit in the classroom answering questions from the teacher. Oh, and not to put too fine a point on it, but even low-income whites are more likely to own their own home than middle income black families, thanks to past advantages in housing and asset accumulation, which has allowed those whites to receive a small piece of property from their families.

The point is, privilege is as much a psychological matter as a material one. Whites have the luxury of not having to worry that our race is going to mark us negatively when looking for work, going to school, shopping, looking for a place to live, or driving for that matter: things that folks of color can’t take for granted.

Much more at link

[Drunken Irishman]

29. Threads like this are proof positive the left isn't much different than the right on race...

They're just better at disguising it than the Republicans. That's not to say everyone on the left believes this (as this thread indicates), but there is a startling amount who do and it's appalling. I'm sure these same people like to reason Affirmative Action is not needed too. :/

Let me tell you, Comrade, I grew up poor. I grew up in a shitty neighborhood with two parents who barely made cents on the dollar at times. My dad spent a good chunk of my life working graves at 7-Eleven in one of the worst neighborhoods in my city. He was beat up, robbed and nearly left for dead after a beer run gone bad. My parents couldn't even own a home - we rented a unit in a four-plex. The cars we owned were always hand-me-downs from friends and rarely ever ran well. The first I remember was a Monte Carlo, whose driver side door couldn't even open. That died. Then it was my grandpa's Dodge Rampage (yes, Rampage - not Ram) that was a decade and a half or so old that he gave to my father so he could get to work. That was our family car. Have you seen what Rampages look like? Think El Caminos but less popular. There was hardly any room to fit a family of four - as the backseat was maybe knee-long. Certainly the older we got, the harder it became to sit back there. Then my parents got a 1980s era Impala (in the 90s) from their friend. It ran all of a year before it sat in our carport collecting dust.

To feed me during the summer, my mom would send me to school for their free summer lunch program. We never went on vacation - ever. The only time I left state was with my aunt to visit my cousins in Montana, who were attending college up there (we would drive). My parents couldn't afford insurance for either of the kids and therefore limited what we could do - my mom was deathly afraid of me climbing trees for fear of falling and breaking a bone, therefore killing them financially. We were on food stamps (before the EBT card, so, you actually used the stamps - which, to a child, was pretty embarrassing).

Even still, as a white person, I realized, compared to my Hispanic and black friends, I had it better. You wanna know why? Because I saw it first hand. When we'd go to the store, the clerk would always eye them - not me. When the police would come to our street, they'd be extra curious as to what they were doing, often ignoring me entirely. When there was a burglary up the street from us, and witnesses said they saw kids (no ethnicity mentioned), the cops went to their homes and curiously ignored mine - even though I was their friend and certainly could have been involved (it actually turned out to be two white kids from a couple streets over).

But beyond that, I know I'm less likely to get arrested than they are and stood a far better chance of getting out of the poorhouse. That's the privilege you ignore. There are poor white people - but they're less likely to be arrested and more likely to achieve upward mobility than their black comrades.

[AverageJoe90]

39. This would have been an alright post.....

But I'm afraid that this single line of complete crapola:

Threads like this are proof positive the left isn't much different than the right on race.

Kinda ruined it. Seriously, WTF were you thinking when you wrote that shit? This is truly no better, or no more factual, than saying that both of the parties are equally bad, or corrupt, etc.

[Drunken Irishman]

40. It's true. Just look at this thread...

Look at DU whenever race comes up. Look at how many people supported Zimmerman here. Look at how many people believe there is no white privilege. Hell, look at the shit that flew at Obama during the '08 primary from Hillary Clinton supporters - saying he was only popular because of his color (specifically, comments by liberal hero Geraldine Ferraro). It exists. It's not as blatant - but it's there.

[Number23]

64. You nailed it.

Threads like this are proof positive the left isn't much different than the right on race...

And the rest of your post was truth too.

[RainDog]

68. for this and other reasons...

seeing this inability to see what others experience

[gollygee]

73. +1

[Capt. Obvious]

30. Send them out in a nice car

See if they get pulled over.

[yewberry]

31. This is bullshit.

Privilege does not exist in a vacuum. It makes no sense to try to divorce one kind of privilege from another.

Are you honestly arguing that people of color have no systemic, institutional disadvantages in comparison to the experience of white people? That poor people have no systemic, institutional disadvantages in comparison to the experience of wealthy people? That women have no systemic, institutional disadvantages in comparison to the experience of men? That people with disabilities have no systemic, institutional disadvantages in comparison to the experience of able-bodied people?

No one is saying that white people or men or rich people or able-bodied people hit some kind of genetic jackpot or that they as individuals by definition enjoy benefits based upon privilege. Understanding privilege is not about judging others and it's not some ridiculous one-upsmanship Olympics about who has it worst. It's about understanding that there are a variety of ways on an institutional level that privilege plays out invisibly, often running in the background, unnoticed by those who don't have to think about them.

So in response to your question: why not ask those poor white families if they think they'd be better off of they were African-American or in a wheelchair or undocumented?

[JI7]

36. you continue to show you don't know what this is about or even care

[JI7]

37. are people saying things like food stamps and other govt help should not go to whites ?

[AverageJoe90]

38. This.....times infinity. Bravo.

[RedCappedBandit]

41. Yeah, put a black kid in the same exact situation. You're telling me

that institutionalized racism isn't going to make it more difficult for the child?

[BainsBane]

45. That is class

And poverty certainly is a great disadvantage. That doesn't mean racism doesn't matter, or that LGBT American's aren't discriminated against.

How many times do you all have to have the same thing explained? It's not rocket science. Good grief.

[NutmegYankee]

62. Understanding white privilege requires the right perspective.

If a person views the world as out to get them or against them, they will probably not understand it or will approach white privilege in a hostile manner. Those who have enjoyed more success such as myself, will agree that it is obvious that such a privilege exists. It's pervades the entire culture.

[AverageJoe90]

70. "That doesn't mean racism doesn't matter, or that LGBT American's aren't discriminated against."....

True, but here's my question: who is arguing otherwise on DU, other than the occasional troll?

[geek tragedy]

53. Yeah, there will never be white privilege so long

as there's a single poor white person.

Haven't heard that one before.

[catbyte]

57. Come on. Even though they're poor, they will NEVER be profiled like minorities are.

They won't be looked at as "potential criminals" like Trayvon Martin was. If he had been a white girl in a hoodie Zimmerman wouldn't have followed her. It's not always about money.

[bettyellen]

69. deny male privilege to the 65% of single moms who live in poverty next

if the subject is so dear to your heart, explain it to the kids that it's some random glitch that fucked over their moms.