[Kevin]

Monet, you actually kind of made me think of something there...

What this guy is suggesting in a round-about way is that status as an oppressed group shouldn't be conferred by race, he's suggesting that we look past race and look at socioeconomic background.

If we look at the notion of white privilege, we might say that your trailer-trash-Americans are not recipients of white privilege -- in fact, most middle to upper class whites discriminate against these folks as much as (and perhaps more than) people of color. Not because of any race, but because of their socioeconomic status.

If someone grows up in a meth infested trailer park, they are equally disadvantaged as someone who grows up in east-central Memphis.

I'm not sure that this guy is consciously aware of this, as it just seems like a populist appeal to gain votes. However, I think that maybe this is something that should be addressed -- in other words, reexamine affirmative action to help those of low socioeconomic beginnings, not necessarily those of a certain ancestry.