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A disturbing thought about "white privilege"

Hon. Dr. in Acts-celeratology Posts: 6042 **7/13/16 7:08 am**

Many of us (not all) tend to think that white privilege is just some made-up notion that is used to make whites feel guilty or to otherwise prompt whites to surrender this or that argument.

But the other day it came to me that if everything is just hunky-dory, then perhaps we'd expect a different answer to the following question:

"Would you rather be black or white?"

While some of us might choose the home team just for old times' sake, I imagine there is also an element of concern that there would be lost advantages.

Thoughts.

Re: A disturbing thought about "white privilege"

Acts Enthusiast Posts: 1055 **7/13/16 7:47 am**

Skinny....

Hon. Dr. in Acts-celeratology Posts: 6042 **7/13/16 8:23 am**

It was not my intention to do as you claim. It is just that I am thinking that most of us might select rich over poor, so might some realize that one color has a tremendous advantage over the other.

Are we talking about the whites

Golf Cart Mafia Associate Posts: 2109 **7/13/16 8:35 am**

living in the backwoods of Appalachia, or the rednecks living among trailer trash, or the multitudes of white kids who go to bed hungry at night?

White privilege certainly doesn't seem to give them an advantage.

As a law enforcement and hospice chaplain let me take you a few places in Alabama where white privilege has brought certain whites no distinct advantages, and in some instances being white was a disadvantage.

So, I'm not sure. Could I chose parents who lived in affluent suburbia or on the lake? Or would my fate be to be born to parents who have had to dig out a living somewhere on the backside of wherever?

While privilege is in the eye of the beholder.
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Golf Cart Mafia Consigliere Posts: 3147 **7/13/16 8:37 am**

I'll start asking for my white-privilege discount and let you know how that goes.

Re: Skinny....

Acts Enthusiast Posts: 1055 **7/13/16 8:51 am**

Acts-pert Poster Posts: 15570 **7/13/16 1:44 pm**

Re: Are we talking about the whites

Acts-pert Poster Posts: 15570 **7/13/16 1:49 pm**

Re: A disturbing thought about "white privilege"

Hon. Dr. in Acts-celeratology Posts: 6385 **7/13/16 2:55 pm**

Re: A disturbing thought about "white privilege"

Friendly Face Posts: 496 **7/13/16 3:22 pm**

Having experienced an awful lot of reverse discrimination due to being a white male in an ultra liberal industry (higher education), being black would have helped my career.

Would that be the same if I worked in industry, I don't know.

That said, I am fully aware racism DOES exist and sometimes people are pulled over for "being black". However, I do not believe it happens anywhere near the extent as implied in the media. I read that Police have something like 3 million contacts with people per day (maybe that is a week, I don't really know), but the point is they have LOTS of contact with citizens. The number of instances where abuse is alleged is relatively low. The number where abuse was proven is even lower.

I also do not doubt in the least that people may feel uncomfortable with a black person in certain situations, and similar to the police example, the number of times a black would assault a person, is also relatively low, particularly in normal exposures to whites. That said, would I walk in the middle of the ghetto at midnight. ABSOLUTELY NOT. If that makes me racist, so be it. I consider it wise action. I wouldn't walk in the middle of the night in a poor white area either.

When I was in College, I had a black friend from Atlanta, and this was almost 40 years ago. He said there are parts of Atlanta where I should not be in the middle of the day. He also said there were parts of Atlanta he would not be at night. Was he being racist, even though he was also black? I don't think so. It was just wise advice.

Would I prefer to be white over black in social settings. Yes. I am sure blacks can feel people are often afraid of them and I'm sure that doesn't feel comfortable for them either.

The overall answer? It depends.

Acts-perienced Poster Posts: 11849 **7/15/16 10:30 pm**

I don't think I should feel guilty if police officers stop me and treat me in a civil manner, don't ask me to get out of my vehicle for no good reason. I shouldn't feel privileged to know that if I committed a crime, and a judge sentenced me, that I would likely receive the same type of sentence most other people in my situation would receive.

But I do think it is a cause for concern if law-abiding black citizens are more likely to have to step out of the vehicle or if they are more likely to get a harsher sentence.
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01000001 01100011 01110100 01110011 Posts: 24285 **7/15/16 11:00 pm**

I would choose 'afflunt white' if possible. Of course I don't have that choice. Yes, there are many white poverty stricken folk. I have known some. I was a business man. In my later years I NEVER had a problem with the POLICE. But my friend Sticky (Yep, Eddie, I do have a friend who is black). He is also a business man. Even well known locally. But he has been hand cuffed by the local police, SBI and the FBI. He is a nice guy, knows how o say 'yes sir' (when he is pizzed) in a nice way(I mean that). He was always exonerated but he still spent a few hours locked up, costing him money on the job. This guy is close to a millionaire, but black.

I, on the other hand, have been locked up only once, never hand cuffed. That was as a teen. Embarrassed my dad. I was arrested for 'trying to avoiding the law' (I was going to outrun the state POlice('56 Ford) in a '48 chevy). I was caught in front of Bro McCumbee's house (Dad's church clerk). I deserved to be arrested.

MY friend Sticky has NEVER deserved to be arrested, but he is black.

Yes, we all know, if we are honest, over all, there is white privelege in this country. Things are changing. I think (and my friend agrees) race relations were getting better, but have taken a few steps backwards lately.

Just my opinion, but we do enjoy 'white privilege' in this country.

I KNOW things are more even since 1950, much better. But we still are one-up as whites on blacks. Idea

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Same opportunities

Acts Enthusiast Posts: 1050 **7/16/16 9:17 am**

When I was in elementary, junior high, high school, and college, I sat in the same classroom, ate in the same lunch room eating the same food (although I was getting a "free lunch" cause my parents couldn't afford to pay for my lunch), and played on the same playground as black kids. We had the same teachers, books, pens, papers, and pencils. We sat at desks that were the same, used the same water fountain and restrooms. Rode the same buses home and to school.

When I was in the military, I had the same DI's, lived in the same barracks, slept in same bunks, used the same latrines, ate in the same mess hall, did the same PT, wore the same uniform, and was treated the same as my black fellow soldiers.

When I worked factories and in offices, I worked at the same machines and desks as my black co-workers. We took our breaks at the same time and went back to work at the same time. We started work at the same time everyday, got off work at the same time and made the same pay.

When I was living in an apartment building, blacks were my neighbors living in an identical apartment as the one I was living in, other than the furnishings (which theirs were a lot better than mine), parked in the same parking areas, and swam in the same community pool.

Google "advantages of being a black american" go to this website...wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Johnson_(colonist) If people would learn from history and stop twisting it to match their views, we would be a better nation.

We need to erase the color barrier, but we can't do it by ourselves. As the saying goes, "It takes two" will we ever be rid of racism? Doubt it, but I believe if we have a willingness to accept each other as we are, for who we are, stop digging up the past and living there.

It is my belief that until "whites" are the minority, people of color will not stop the lying and attacking.

01000001 01100011 01110100 01110011 Posts: 24285 **7/16/16 4:39 pm**

It was many years ago now, but once when I was in the Med on a cruise a place called 'WAtts' was being burned and destroyed. The times we did get to see some news you would have thought there was a race war. With the news it seemed 'blacks' were burning the USA. It was 'some' blacks. Admittedly a lot of protestors and rioters. But the % was nothing like 'They all are rioting'. There wasn't a store in Belmont, NC burned or looted. Probably not even in Harlem.

We should be careful in saying 'THEY' and lumping my friends Sticky, John, Wayne (Hodge), Denise and Ron with a bunch or trouble makers. None of them buned and rioted. They all question why anyone would run businesses out of their neighborhoods.

Even among the trouble makers, there are some honetly disgusted people.

Even thought I once was a KKK member, I dispise the idea of being linked with them now. I do not like being linked with some PLEASE SELECT ANOTHER WORD-headed person who took the job as policeman for the wrong reason.

Unlike most ACTS posters, I did not go to school with any blacks. I never ate with blacks except in my home or theirs. I sure did not do it in a public restaurant because where I lived, blacks could not eat there. I never peed in the same toilet, because blacks could not pee in white folks toilets even at service stations when they were paying for gas.

But whether we Americans will admit it, race relations are much better now than in 1945. Black folks can buy a home in LaPlata, Missouri and Valdese, NC in 1950 they could not.

We do have a long way to go. I think we have had a set back, but I believe things will get better.

White privilege? Of course in most areas of this country there is such a thing as 'White Privilege'. I do think it is getting less and less. Smile

WE cannot live in the past, but neither can we forget it. I have no doubt that I am COG because I was raised COG, my past determined and set my mind that way. If I had been born to a Methodist Preacher's family, I would probably be Methodist now (thinking logically)_ There are few exceptions.

People of all colors cannot forget the past. Cool

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Some facts but mostly just my opinion!
jacsher@aol.com
http://shipslog-jack.blogspot.com/