Random Things You've Learned from GC

[Sen's Revenge]

Originally Posted by carnation

Probably some zumbedo who has no idea how many white people--like about half of my white students--come from desperately poor families, in which their parents don't give a crap about them or whether they succeed in school or even stay in. They are outperformed by most of our black and Hispanic students. These kids, no matter what we do to help, have no privilege because they are white. NONE.

One of ours was killed last night by his sorry and careless dad--one of my sons coached this student--and I am VERY salty about this.

But you know what white privilege means, and what you are describing doesn't negate white privilege.

For those who are observing this exchange, white privilege does not mean that a white person automatically has a better life in every community all the time. It means, in part, that white people are members of a legacy club (that they did not choose to be part of) that grants them better opportunities because of biases that are common in this society.

Examples:

A white child can pick up a science fiction or fantasy novel and see themselves represented most of the time. The existence of Black sci-fi fantasy does not negate whiteness being accepted as the default face for humanity.

Predominately white fraternity/sorority life is seen as the default kind of fraternity life, despite Black fraternal life having more life-long activity and a much larger community service imprint. Additionally, a white person can be guaranteed to not be excluded from the default Greek life on the basis of their race -- and would still be considered (if not fetishized!) if they were interested in Black Greek life.

I'm not even going to get into examples from policing or science/medicine.

In short, nobody ever said that "white privilege" is the same as living a "privileged" life. There are surely poor white people.

[carnation]

Partly true, but you know what? Even when I was a child, and most of you know how long ago that was, kids of all races were represented in my books and in cartoons and on TV. And some people are saying there is now both white privilege and yellow privilege because Asians have done so well here. I can guarantee you that having a white or yellow skin (especially since I have 4 Asian daughters) doesn't automatically push open doors. We all have to prove ourselves individually.

We could debate this forever. It deserves its own thread, though.

[Zach]

Originally Posted by Sen's Revenge

But you know what white privilege means, and what you are describing doesn't negate white privilege.

For those who are observing this exchange, white privilege does not mean that a white person automatically has a better life in every community all the time. It means, in part, that white people are members of a legacy club (that they did not choose to be part of) that grants them better opportunities because of biases that are common in this society.

Examples:

A white child can pick up a science fiction or fantasy novel and see themselves represented most of the time. The existence of Black sci-fi fantasy does not negate whiteness being accepted as the default face for humanity.

Predominately white fraternity/sorority life is seen as the default kind of fraternity life, despite Black fraternal life having more life-long activity and a much larger community service imprint. Additionally, a white person can be guaranteed to not be excluded from the default Greek life on the basis of their race -- and would still be considered (if not fetishized!) if they were interested in Black Greek life.

I'm not even going to get into examples from policing or science/medicine.

In short, nobody ever said that "white privilege" is the same as living a "privileged" life. There are surely poor white people.

Facts and well said.

[Zach]

Can’t say I’ve learned anything. Not a lot going on since I’ve been posting on here, which hasn’t been long.