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White Privilege is an Illusion
A simple rebuttal that anyone can understand.
By calling something a privilege, we cheat ourselves day by day out of the rights we all have. Being treated respectfully, and our other rights that our American ancestors fought and died for, are not given to us in a special package addressed to only a few. If we accept that there is an express lane reserved for some special type of person, we are admitting that they are ‘more’ in some way … and that we are less. Do not sell so cheaply that which was won so dearly.
I just happened to spot this short post. It said ‘single paragraph’ and ‘simple,’ so I thought my coffee starved brain could hang on long enough to make it through. It was, as advertised, simple and easy to understand. I offer a rebuttal
… but I think it misses the most important part of the discussion. This imagined ‘treatment’ by police, which is documented to exist at a higher rate for people of color, is not some special ‘privilege.’ It is the right of every American. This is a minimum standard we seek, not a special privilege.
Along with the lower wealth accumulation rates that are a legacy of redlining, stereotypes of young black ‘thugs’ running rampant all over the big cities, and the generational fear that remains like an announcement of fear among many communities, these are deep and emotional scars that will take time to heal. Those issues are the source of the problems, not the decent and kind ways that most of us are treated most of the time.
Do any of the words in the above definition strike a chord in your soul? It is no accident that many of them are reminiscent of the US Declaration of Independence. The rights we have under the law, as US citizens, are not for sale. They cannot be purchased at any price, though many around the world would pay all they have. Others will have to fight their…