General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: White people (especially men...especially straight) seem to have lived in a bubble all their lives [View all]upaloopa
(11,417 posts)others do not have. I learned that as a child. I grew up in the 50's and 60's. I lived in a segregated city as a kid. Either with my folks or alone I went to the AA part of town to try and learn what the world around me was all about. I would ride my bike to places I would never have been taken by my dad. I caddied at a country club and rode the bus with the Black women who were the maids for the members we caddied for. I knew I was treated better than they were by the same people we both worked for.
In high school my friends and I went to Columbus Georgia to meet Black teens our age to learn what their life was like. That trip very clearly taught me what a privileged life I had compared to theirs.
My gripe is that it is taken for granted that because I am white I either deny white privilege or don't know it exists.
On DU there is a trend to adopt the majority opinion as demonstrated truth when at times is is the farthest thing from truth. This group think is good for making OP's then getting massive support and lets the group pile on the abuse of anyone with a different view.
I am not saying that this OP 100% wrong but part of it's assumptions are.
For what it is worth I have always admired the AA community because they were expected to be as successful as I was expected to be but they had one or two hands tied behind their backs and white people denied that their hands were tied and that they , the white people did the tying.
I felt that way partly because I have mental health disabilities yet I have to be successful in spite of them. People always treated my disabilities as character flaws and not something that made it harder for me to do what other kids did. So I root for the under dog because I am under dog too.