This is Your Nation on White Privilege
Date: September 16th 2008
Tim Wise's latest opinion piece:
By Tim Wise
9/13/08

For those who still can’t grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are constantly looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help.

• White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because “every family has challenges,” even as black and Latino families with similar “challenges” are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.

• White privilege is when you can call yourself a “******’ redneck,” like Bristol Palin’s boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you'll “kick their ******* ass,” and talk about how you like to “shoot ****” for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.

• White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action.

• White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don’t all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means you’re “untested.”

• White privilege is being able to say that you support the words “under God” in the pledge of allegiance because “if it was good enough for the founding fathers, it’s good enough for me,” and not be immediately disqualified from holding office--since, after all, the pledge was written in the late 1800s and the “under God” part wasn’t added until the 1950s--while believing that reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because, ya know, the Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school requires it), is a dangerous and silly idea only supported by mushy liberals.

• White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people immediately scared of you. White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto was “Alaska first,” and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you're black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she’s being disrespectful.

• White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do--like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child labor--and people think you’re being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college--you’re somehow being mean, or even sexist.

• White privilege is being able to convince white women who don’t even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your running mate anyway, because all of a sudden your presence on the ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women, and made them give your party a “second look.”

• White privilege is being able to fire people who didn’t support your political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being a typical politician who engages in favoritism, while being black and merely knowing some folks from the old-line political machines in Chicago means you must be corrupt.

• White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflict in the Middle East is God’s punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you’re just a good church-going Christian, but if you’re black and friends with a black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you’re an extremist who probably hates America.

• White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is when asked by a reporter, and then people get angry at the reporter for asking you such a “trick question,” while being black and merely refusing to give one-word answers to the queries of Bill O’Reilly means you’re dodging the question, or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced.

• White privilege is being able to claim your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and experiencing racism is, as Sarah Palin has referred to it a “light” burden.

• And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are losing their homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because white voters aren’t sure about that whole “change” thing. Ya know, it’s just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain.

White privilege is, in short, the problem.

Tim Wise is the author of White Like Me (Soft Skull, 2005, revised 2008), and of Speaking Treason Fluently, publishing this month, also by Soft Skull. For review copies or interview requests, please reply to publicity@softskull.com


http://www.softskull.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/archive/...unce/20080916130314/

Wow. I could not aggree more. ....not to mention how pathetic she has been during her time spent with Katie Couric. Scares me.

Yeah, she really makes me mad. I guess she was should blame her parents for being white and apologize to everyone for the rest of her life. To make matters worst she is attractive as well! What a witch. Come on people this isn't the way to solve anything. Fact is if you would write this on the wall or mirror in a major university it would be considered a hate crime.(only if directed towards a "minority" or protected class) As the current demographic trends continue the white american will eventually become the minority. Then what will we do? (eventually the excuses will run out) I don't disagree some things don't seem fair but this is a poor example of an attempt to achieve equality.

What will you do if John McCain wins the election?

I would support McCain as President just as I would if Obama wins

Are you trying to make a case for white privilege, slam McCain/Palin or trying to use them as an excuse to further your cause? Any and all three are a stretch and poor examples. This crap is getting old. If you don't want to vote for McCain, then vote for the other one.

All email fwd's are stupid! You're trying too hard. -Fail.

White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because “every family has challenges,” even as black and Latino families with similar “challenges” are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.

Black and Latino women are more likely to murder the fetus than white women.

• White privilege is when you can call yourself a “******’ redneck,” like Bristol Palin’s boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you'll “kick their ******* ass,” and talk about how you like to “shoot ****” for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.

Where was he referred to as a “great son-in-law to be”??? He’s a punk!

• White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action.

Unlike black student athletes that are sent to junior colleges free of charge so that they can get their grades up and return to the team!!!

• White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don’t all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means you’re “untested.”

A two year U.S. Senator that couldn’t decide between yes and no 150 times and decided to vote “present”. Yep, that’s pure leadership! Oh, and don’t forget how much leadership is gained being the editor of the Harvard Law Review!!! WOWEE!!

• White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people immediately scared of you. White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto was “Alaska first,” and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you're black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she’s being disrespectful.

Since when do State Militias classify as extremist?

• White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do--like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child labor--and people think you’re being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college--you’re somehow being mean, or even sexist.

Women’s right to vote was done in the early 20th century, civil rights in 1965, 8 hour workday also in the 60’s and we ended child labor abuses shortly after world war 2. So being a community organizer is still a pretty funny thing IMHO.

• White privilege is being able to convince white women who don’t even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your running mate anyway, because all of a sudden your presence on the ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women, and made them give your party a “second look.”

Just like the mostly white and middle-eastern Democratic candidate has done!!!

• White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is when asked by a reporter, and then people get angry at the reporter for asking you such a “trick question,” while being black and merely refusing to give one-word answers to the queries of Bill O’Reilly means you’re dodging the question, or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced.

Just dodging the questions in general is enough for me!! That’s what stuffed suits do when they have no real solutions.

• White privilege is being able to claim your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and experiencing racism is, as Sarah Palin has referred to it a “light” burden.

HUGE difference between putting yourself in harms way and being willing to DIE for your country and being the mark of childhood racial slurs.

• And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time,(on issues regarding the war on terror) even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are losing their homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because white voters aren’t sure about that whole “change” thing. Ya know, it’s just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain.

Change is not a solution and hope is not a strategy. It has nothing to do with race and everything to do with leadership. Neither candidate has any business being on their respective tickets. This is a good year to vote for every office but President. Either way you vote, you get the same liberal perspective and liberal game plan. McCain is republican in name only and would be better to have entered the democratic campaign. There really is so little difference it makes me laugh as post like this and those critical of Obama are posted over and over. Most Americans are so “party blind” that they fail to see the similarities because they think their party has the answers. Both of these candidates are Liberal, regardless of their party affiliation. Both campaigns spew forth lies and innuendo and draw conclusions about candidates because of their proximity to others. Look only toward the Obama/Wright association. Same game, same tactics, worthless candidates. I had expected more of America this time around.

For the record, just by virtue of this original post, it is clear that Ms. Looney is the real racist. Race is not and has not been an issue in this campaign until she brought it up. Besides, Obama is 50% white, 43% middle eastern and 7% black. He is as white as I am!!!

'Liberal' = Politics as if people mattered.

I thought Obama's father was Kenyan. His step-father was Indonesian, I believe. Was his father an immigrant to Kenya of middle-eastern descent?

As long as inequities exist and/or communities have needs, there will be a need for 'community organizers'. They exist across the political spectrum - pro-choice activists are 'community organizers'. Smalls, do you seriously believe that all gender, ethnic, and labor inequities have been fully resolved? Sorry, but some of us believe that the U.S. can aspire to better.

"Race is not and has not been an issue in this campaign..."?! Am I understanding you correctly? Of COURSE race has been an issue - there are people all over the nation who flat out say, "I will not vote for a black man," just as there are many others who flat out say, "I will not vote for a woman."

I believe the reference to an extremist group was to the secessionist Alaska Independence Party, not a state militia.

I'm still interested in what folks will do if John McCain wins the election. Particularly Mrs. Looney.

Personally, I'd pray for a President McCain's health every day, because in no way, shape, or form is Sarah Palin ready to be President.

Hmmmm..."If you don't want to vote for McCain, then vote for the OTHER ONE"? I'm sure your referring to Senator Obama.

If Gov Palin is in no way, shape or form not ready to be President then how is Sen Obama ready in any shape or form to be President?

Obama may still be green, but compared to Palin he's a grizzled old veteran.

Politically, that's one thing that really surprised me about the Palin nomination - it really puts a crimp on the Republican ability to play the experience card.