White Privilege

[shadowravyn]

Comments

[arachne8x]

I am glad you started this dialogue, and I hope it becomes something that challenges and enlightens the people who read it

re: In the suburbia I grew up in, there were no black neighborhoods

[etherial]

In the suburbia I grew up in, there were no black people. Oh, sure, there were METCO students bussed in from Roxbury, but they didn't count. They were "clearly" poor, urban, and black. Even Walker Sands, the one who had lived in Wellesley since 5th grade. True, I knew he lived in Wellesley. I had been to his house less than a month after he moved (I tended to glom onto new kids before they realized how unpopular/clingy I was). Yet there were people in our graduating class, who had been in classes with him for seven years who had no idea he lived in town. Despite his obvious suburban dress, mannerisms, and attitudes

Re: In the suburbia I grew up in, there were no black neighborhoods

[hazliya]

In regards to Wellesley, my dad works at the Whole Foods there and came home a little frazzled one day. When I asked him why, he just replied that the people in Wellesley had decided to change the date of Halloween to wednesday because they didn't want their childcare staff working on a Friday.

Re: In the suburbia I grew up in, there were no black neighborhoods

[etherial]

People in the suburbs have been changing the date of Halloween for years. Though I find it hilarious that it's usually changed from a weekday to a weekend, but Wellesley had to go and be clever.

[tpau]

hmm.. this is an interesting discussion, and probably mostly correct. obviously, i cannot speak too much on race in America being as white as you can get

[shadowravyn]

the conclusion i draw form that is that it is due to her makign it special/unique/out of the ordinary that caused that thought.

You came in with a different mindset than most of the girls she was talking to. They needed to be told that it was possible for them--their grandmothers likely weren't engineers, or their mothers doctors. From a young age, girls are shown that their roles are that of teachers, wives, mothers, librarians. Boys get to be astronauts and astrophysicists, the doctors and the lawyers.

So, a teacher comes in to tell you what you already knew, and so you assumed she meant something else--that a woman had to be extra-special to be a doctor. What those other little girls heard was that you don't.
as lognas we make that NOT seem liek an everyday occurance, our kids will think that it IS unique and not everyday...

There's a difference between discussing it and becoming smug. Right now, our society is still fraught with a million, million inequalities, and only by showing that they can be shattered will they stay

[tpau]

i hear you. i am worried i guess that we will not knwo the line. or rather we will not do it right. i think that actions change though, not thought changing actions. it is easier to change how people act then how they think. so i guess my worry is that while we try to change how peopel think/talk about race, we are not changing how they act i.e. what they say.

hmm, otoh i am havign difficulty actually expressing waht i mean. hm. i think what i mean is that to me if we stop tratignit liek a special ofccurance, it will becoem an everyday thing. as opposed to treating it liek a special occurance until it becomes an everyday thing. iam worried that this way it will never become that everyday thing...

[ddrpolaris]

There is a problem with things like this not being brought up on the occasions where they occur. If they are not, they only have the daily experiences that are foisted upon them. A feminist example: Hillary or (shudder) Sarah Palin are not used as examples to girls of what they can accomplish. Little girls are left without specific examples what they can perceive on their own. The paragons they are left with instead are the likes of celebrities like Hilton or Hanah Montana. In toy stores their toys are genderized, the toys promoting scientific exploration relegate to "boys" sections, toys related to homemaking relegated to the "girls" section.
It would be great if we did not need to demonstrate to children with examples that they can accomplish anything, but the problem is that if they were not highlighted these possibilities would be invisible.

[dirkcjelli]

Can you explain how my criticizing Obama/ Obama supporters for suggesting "he is the first post-racial President" or other statements/speeches which indicate racism is over/ended/ending/almost over as bad constitutes white privilege?

From my perspective, it seems like (in that context) I was not allowed to express an opinion on account of "not knowing how it is."

[shadowravyn]

Can you explain how my criticizing Obama/ Obama supporters for suggesting "he is the first post-racial President" or other statements/speeches which indicate racism is over/ended/ending/almost over as bad constitutes white privilege?

No. I'm not sure I remember this discussion, though. Link so I can get full context?

[dirkcjelli]

http://elenuial.livejournal.com/159409.html?thread=1187505#t1187505

[shadowravyn]

From what I'm understanding (and only an interpretation, which elenuial can certainly correct) is thus

[londo]

I dunno about anyone else, but I don't identify as white because I don't see any *reason* to. Not in a fish/water way, in a "why would I staple myself to those people?" sort of way.

[londo]

Nuance asked:

Have you ever had to list way you identify? Mother, husband, Christian, socialist, Democrat, poly, cannibal? Most whites don't list 'white' as part of their identity; most minorities do. Why?

And I answered.

[shadowravyn]

Although I did ask it rhetorically, then answer it in the next sentence.

But your point is well-taken.

[rosinavs]

You may not see this is the supposedly less-racist northeast, but I saw a lot of social stratification and even some outright abuses of white privileges when I lived in Georgia. I didn't hear this because I was trying to read the lease, but when I signed my lease for my apartment in Georgia, my new landlady was trying to have a conversation with my boyfriend at the time and I. He later said that she said that the original reason she started to buy rental property was that blacks had started to buy property in the more prestigious areas of town. One of my friends in that town had a similar experience when she first rented there. She had called a landlord on the phone, and he was not willing to rent to her sight unseen. However, as soon as she got out of her car, he was willing to rent to her. He had waited to see the color of her skin

[shadowravyn]

Overt vs covert, baby.

Don't get me wrong, I'd rather live here a billion times over than in the scary!South, but we New Englanders like to think that we're all perfectly enlightened and egalitarian and there's no racial strife or racism here EVAR.

And sometimes we need a kick in the face to remind ourselves "nuh-unh"