Today's musing minute : White privilege.

in racism •  4 years ago 

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Some years ago, before I knew what it meant, while sitting on a panel about race and discrimination, I was asked whether I thought my "white privilege" influenced my views. I was taken aback, not really understanding what "white privilege" meant. If I were asked that today I would answer something like the following.

If you believe that my being white has influenced the substance and merits of anything I have said please point that out to me. Please identify any specific instance. Otherwise your question is really just a way of avoiding discussion by indulging in a form of racial profiling.

Claims of "white privilege" are really just a strategy to deligitimize anything that a white person may say that one finds disagreeable. It is a strategy to delegitimize the views of a whole category of people, based on their race (and the alleged connection of their race to their perceptions). It is not a search for truth. It is the very opposite. It is a denial of the possibility of objectivity and therefore of civil discussion.

Preaching to the choir.

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