Ummmm, there is NO SUCH THING as "race"!!!!!! We all have the exact same DNA, that's why we can donate blood, for example.
Doesn't changing "race" to "skin color" make things more honest & point out how nasty the whole thing is? If this post was accurately titled "Skin Color: Leftists vs Conservatives, wouldn't it sound as foolish & nasty as really it is?
Seems reasonable. We all belong to the same Human race.
I agree that debates based on tenuous "racial' characteristics are as irrational as those based on hair colour, eye colour, right/left handedness etc. Nevertheless, we need to address and counter those arguments when appropriate.
@PBuck0145 other than pointing out the Huge flaw in "reasoning", as above, I cannot engage with fools!
@AnneWimsey How very sad (for you). Your loss. Enlightened people, when challenged, can entertain and discuss an opposing viewpoint.
@PBuck0145 yes, with someone who has a brain......
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Put another way: Conservatives are overt racists who deny White privilege exists. Liberals are covert racists who feel insulted when they’re called out on their White privilege.
@TheInterlooper You cannot atone. But you can acknowledge it and work to understand it.
@TheInterlooper "Conservatives...deny White privilege exists".
@TheInterlooper It’s useful because without acknowledging and addressing it, Black lives will continue to be expendable.
White privilege is enshrined in our institutions, from the 1492 Doctrine of Discovery to the U.S. Constitution and Supreme Court decisions that favored White property-owning men. This stuff isn’t something that is reformed with some 20th-Century legislation. It’s inherent wherever we care to look. But you don’t want a history lesson. Anecdotally: No White person in my extended circle has ever been pulled over by the police without a reason — speeding, expired tags, etc. In the last month, the Black people in my circle have been pulled over 5 times. The police gave no reason, and let them go without a ticket after asking, “Are you lost?” or “What are you doing in this neighborhood?”. They were pulled over for driving while Black in an upscale, White county, and they were lucky to be let go. Not being pulled over is White privilege. Until we all acknowledge it’s existence, how it plays out, and proactively address it, Black lives remain at risk.
Did I just browbeat you? I hope not. It’s not my intention.
That's why I proud to be a socialist or progressive, rather than the hated liberal that most progressives loathe. We are well aware of our white privilege and have been for a long time. We also know that racism goes hand in hand with American capitalism and that without radical change on the latter, we will only get temporary and minor reform of the former.
When I was working in the oil patch in the Gulf Coast (west Texas to Mississippi) your description of Conservatives is right on. Overt racism while overtly denyning that white privilege existed. Everybody excepted that blacks stayed in the black area and whites stayed in the white area. It was not possible to go visit of have a drink with my black colleagues who I sweat with day to day. Black got the dirtiest and most difficult jobs in the patch and found many barriers to rising in the ranks to better postions or responsibility. i'm sure there are exceptions, but I was not privy to any.
When I was woking on my Masters in Education in Illinois, I found that the white community denied their white privilege, but practiced it covertly in the policies that cities past. Predominently black communities got poorer service and fewer access to resources than the more affluent white portions of cities. it was a pervasive pattern across the Industrial North. Agriculatural North is more slightly more overt, but nontheless unlikely to admit their white privilege.
When I was at Urbana working on my Masters, I was part of a cohort of teachers that taught high school in a Native American context. We were all working on advanced degrees and were both white and Native working for the betterment of the Native American community. I have taught for 32 years in the Native American and Hispanic communities. I have a degree in anthrology offering some understanding to how culture and society works.
Regardless, the majority of whiites do not even understand what is meant by "white privilege". Most think it has do do with the government shelling out cash to whites indiscrimenately. Its not so much about about getting hand outs from the government, rather a lack of access to financial opportunities. Access to the halls of power. Its about having to act a certain way in public because the white population sterotypes you a certain way. There are so many subtle messages the minorities are given (advertisement, movies, television, magazines, etc) from the white mainstream population that are geared to separate them out, isolate them, and discriminate against them.
@TheInterlooper Yes there’s a difference between implicit bias and White privilege. The Black drivers in my comment were the victims of implicit bias. The White drivers were the beneficiaries of White privilege.
White privilege is a really fascinating topic. Poor white people don’t feel privileged. Indeed they are a much maligned group of people. But White privilege is not about class or economics or even access to opportunity. It’s the privilege of not being automatically assigned a status of dangerous or criminal on sight because of the color of your skin.
@TheInterlooper also, re your observation that you see no viable solution to implicit bias: Police and corporations have what they call implicit bias training. Starbucks mandated implicit bias training after the incident last year when an employee called the cops on a black man while he was just waiting for a friend. Does implicit bias training help? I don’t know. But it does help to acknowledge its existence and at the very least make the effort to train people on how recognize their own implicit bias and change their behavior.
@TheInterlooper Sure. The police could be biased for or against. But the White driver has the inherent privilege of not being automatically perceived as a threat. The Black driver does not have that privilege. He must prove he is not a threat. That is the burden Black people have no choice but to carry.
@t1nick I saw all this while living in the South during my first marriage, spot on!
I like this. As a White Liberal who believes in racial justice, I’m well aware of Liberals’ hypocrisy on race. Lyrics from the 1960s Phil Ochs song, Love Me, I’m a Liberal are dated, but the hypocrisy in display has not changed:
I cried when they shot Medgar Evers
Tears ran down my spine
I cried when they shot Mr. Kennedy
As though i'd lost a father of mine
But Malcolm X got what was coming
He got what he asked for this time
So love me, love me, love me
I’m a liberal
I go to civil rights rallies
And i put down the old d.a.r.
I love harry and sidney and sammy
I hope every colored boy becomes a star
But don't talk about revolution
That's going a little bit too far
So love me, love me, love me
I’m a liberal
I cheered when Humphrey was chosen
My faith in the system restored
I'm glad the commies were thrown out
Of the A.F.L. C.I.O board
I love Puerto Ricans and negros
As long as they don't move next door
So love me, love me, love me
I’m a liberal
That song spoke volumes and is timeless. Says everything that I and Chris Hedges hate about the morally and historically bankrupt history of liberalism vs. socialism.. The liberal class just wants to feel good about themselves and push multiculturalism and environmentalism, but most of all they want to keep the peace on class warfare and hold onto their privilege and affluence.