this is your nation on white privilege

[sadie_sabot]

a new TimWise essay.

This is Your Nation on White Privilege

Comments

[serazin]

you know, he's got good points, but in my circle and on TV and so forth I hear people talk a lot of shit about "poor white trash" and I think all those things he says about Bristol and the Palin family - that if you're white no one will think less of you for having a kid as a teen, or for shooting as a sport or whatnot - well in this country I think poor white people get a lot of shit for this kind of stuff and people use it to say that other people - poor white people - fit into their ideas of stereotyped behavior. The Palins aren't working class and they aren't poor, and I do think in this case its a special blend of race and class privilege along with the fact that they are part of the ruling party that protects them from real media scrutiny.

And also, I was arguing with a friend about this Friday night - I want to know how many of these supposed white women there are out there who were Obama supporters and are suddenly switching to vote for Palin. It's not that I don't believe that white women aren't racist - of course I know that is prevalent and real - but I just can't believe the polls that there is some significant number of white women who were genuinely voting democratic until Sarah Palin came along, and they just love her so much they want to vote republican.

[sadie_sabot]

oh, yeah, republicans who are mushy and were leaning toward obama, ok, i could see them switching. but democrats? naw.

[unemployia]

i agree that its a special blend of circumstance, race + class and more.

its funny because on first reading of this I was like "right on!" but then I think more and its so easy for me to get fired up about hating someone right now, to look at the personalities and not the larger system, to be yanked around into this and that. and for me, as being a white single mom who was on welfare for ten years ...no, that first paragraph isn't right at all! thats the whole crazy thing for us who are old enough to be during the time when clinton cut welfare and newt grinwhich was saying maybe there should be orphanages for those who can't take care of their children, so thats the twist with this republican thing.

[sadie_sabot]

I agree it's a blend of race and class. At the same time, being middle class would not make these various things ok for a black person or family. i mean, the Obama family is beyond middle class, i think. and if his daughters were 17 and 18 and one of them got pregnant, all those stereotypes...which are applied to poor white people and to people of color regardless of class, would come into play.

as for the white women switching from obama to Palin? i'm not so sure i believe in them either, to be honest.

[serazin]

Yeah, I think you've got it: class privilege does protect the Palin family from criticism for, say, being teen moms. But even class privilege couldn't protect a wealthy Black or Latino family from those criticisms. Which is a bit more nuanced than what he's saying here I think.

[sadie_sabot]

yep, this article seems to be written from a "goddamn it I am so sick of this stupid shit" place than from a "let's look at this in a nuanced way" place.

And as Gordonzola says down below, Tim Wise does not really seem to bring class into his worldview or analysis very much, which is a crying shame.

[spreadsothin]

You raise some good points, but I think there's racism even in the "poor white trash" label- as though "poor trash" is automatically not white.

[serazin]

Yeah, I totally agree with that.