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General News KING: White privilege in America means white people never have to say sorry on behalf

Discussion in 'Current Events, World News, & LGBT News' started by AtheistWorld, Mar 28, 2016.

  1. AtheistWorld

    AtheistWorld Guest

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    KING: White privilege in America means no consequences - NY Daily News


    I write more than 500 articles a year and nearly all of them are a riff on white privilege in America.

    White privilege dominates my thoughts because it has dominated our country for centuries, often with very little inspection.

    Based on a cursory review of my social media accounts, thousands of white people don't want to hear about white privilege. They hate the very notion of it.

    Because they don't feel privileged, they think it must not be so.

    I'm surrounded by oxygen and hydrogen. I don't feel those things, but they are there.

    Scientists say our body is 60% water. Do you feel like you are 60% water?

    KING: THE DANGER OF NUMBNESS TO TRUMP, CRUZ BIGOTRY

    In other words, what we are and what we aren't — what's around us and what isn't — how the world actually works versus how we think it works, isn’t always easy to discern.

    Perhaps the greatest form of white privilege in America is being white, but not being judged or somehow held responsible for the crappiest white people among us.

    Because if we are being honest, some of the worst people in America — past and present — are white.

    Serial killers who eat men for fun, pedophile priests who molest boys and girls, mass shooters who shoot up bible studies or elementary school classrooms, business scammers who steal retirement funds to live high on the hog — by in large — are all white.

    Most drug dealers are white.

    Most murderers in America are white.

    Most mass murderers in America are white. That one's not even close.

    A recent study determined that the greatest terrorist threat to our national security is white men.

    Somehow, though, the stereotype from drug dealers, murderers, or terrorists all seem to have brown or black skin. Why is that?

    A few crappy men thousands of miles away in Brussels carried out a terrorist attack and Sen. Ted Cruz started calling for American law enforcement to secure and patrol Muslim neighborhoods.

    In other words, a few bad men who claimed to be Muslim did wrong in one country and a leading presidential candidate became suspicious of millions of Muslims in our country.

    The world has well over a billion Muslims. A tiny percentage of them are going to do evil. In America, though, to be white is to hold entire races or ethnic groups responsible for the evil of a few people from those ethnic groups while never holding white people to that same standard.

    Nobody, ever, not one time in the known history of this country, has started calling for the widespread surveillance of white people or white Christians when a white Christian man did wrong in this country. Never mind the fact that since 9/11, far more white Christian fundamentalists have carried out terrorist attacks than Muslims. Facts matter in America, unless it comes to race.

    Ask any random black man if he has seen a white woman clutch her purse or lock her doors in his presence. Ask any black woman if she has been followed around by staff in a department store.

    KING: MAINE GOV. BLAMES BLACK PEOPLE FOR STATE'S DRUG PROBLEM

    Twice the number of white people than black people in America (like 75,000 more) were arrested last year for rape or burglary.

    In spite of the obvious reality that white-on-white crime is clearly a problem in America, such a phrase doesn't even really exist in our country.

    To be white and do wrong in America is to do so without any real consequences or repercussions to the race. To be black or brown or Muslim or an immigrant in America, and do wrong, may cause problems for millions.

    That's white privilege.
     
  2. Skaros

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    Re: KING: White privilege in America means white people never have to say sorry on be

    I'd just like to say while I agree with most of what you're saying, you seem to be negating the proportion of black to white people in the US. Blacks make up about 13% of the population and what's make up about 66% of the population. It's fair to say more white people do that as opposed to black people doing that, but that's probably just because there's way more white people in the country.


    Regardless, I think you have some really good points. The media eats up whatever a person of a minority group does and exploits it.
     
  3. Invidia

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    Re: KING: White privilege in America means white people never have to say sorry on be

    Quite agree with both of the above, yes. It really is an unfair world we live in a lot of the time. :/
     
  4. Secrets5

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    Re: KING: White privilege in America means white people never have to say sorry on be

    I'm probably going to be hated for this comment, but I'm going to mention something.

    - Not all X are Z just because they belong to X group.

    Fill 'X' and 'Z' in for whatever you want.


    See, I get what you're saying. But how is holding all white people responsible for the evil white people going to make things any better? I mean, it might make things 'equal', but is that the kind of equality we want? - Where people hold entire groups responsible for just some people in that group, because, well, it's not going to help anybody, whatever group they're from. We can see that when people hold all of minority group responsible for something, it destroys people's lives and we need to work to stop that kind of prejudice.

    In case you haven't read to the left, I'm from the UK, but my sociology book says that the results aren't too far off.
     
    #4 Secrets5, Mar 28, 2016
    Last edited: Mar 28, 2016
  5. Kira

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    Re: KING: White privilege in America means white people never have to say sorry on be

    After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the US thought it would be a great idea to stuff all Japanese Americans in concentration camps solely based on their race. It's getting better, but I feel it's unhealthily slow at the same time.

    Currently, if you have dark skin and a beard and decide to ride a plane you're automatically a terrorist so there's that. :shrug:
     
  6. springroll

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    Re: KING: White privilege in America means white people never have to say sorry on be

    I'm going to mention something here. Privilege is a special right, advantage granted to a particular person or a group and IT CAN BE REVOKED.
    To be treated with basic decency, is not a privilege, it is a BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS.
    My personal pet peeve with the word privilege.
     
    #6 springroll, Mar 28, 2016
    Last edited: Mar 28, 2016
  7. springroll

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  8. 741852963

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    Re: KING: White privilege in America means white people never have to say sorry on be

    There is a lot of misinformation here.

    No, I think they probably just don't want to hear your tone. Raising an idea for debate or discussion is one thing, calling people "white supremacists" and other vile slander as you did in a recent topic that was deleted, and have done so frequently is another matter entirely. You need to learn from this and approach things differently if you ever want to get a topic looked into thoroughly, otherwise you just get people's backs up from the offset which is futile.

    Personally from watching crime fiction on TV I wouldn't say murderers or drug dealers are stereotypically black as representation seems varied, and based on that it wouldn't be the first thing to mind personally.

    However I acknowledge for some it is, but it is down to proportionality. Yes, black people are proportionally more likely to be involved in crime (you have admitted this yourself, see below). There are many perfectly rational reasons for this (mainly down to the remnants of segregation leading to poorer educational provision for minority children), and these reasons do need discussing and addressing BUT in the meantime the facts are the facts. Black people are more represented in this sphere, so people are going to be more likely to presume.

    Its like people presuming male hairdressers or musical theatre actors might be gay. There are reasons for why these careers may be presently populated with gay people (safe space, homophobia, self-expression etc), and with gender norms being challenged this demographic will likely change (with more gay people going for other careers, or more straight people trying these out) but for now it is what it is so people will stereotype.

    Yes with terrorism there is a presumption of non-white ethnicity, but that is a reflection of the type of terrorism we see frequently (I'll come on to that).

    And a crappy whack-job Senator said something radical and you've just generalised to all white people.

    Now naturally Cruz and Trumps ideas of "shutting down the borders" and "patrolling Muslim communities" are absolutely ridiculous. There is a conversation to be had regarding radicalism in the community though. In the UK surveys have shown ambivalence and support to Islamic based terrorism is rife in some communities, and homosexual acceptance is at 0% (look at the Trojan Horse investigation also). Things like that do need discussing for society to function normally and for communities not to fragment. It just needs doing carefully/sensitively and not with a sledgehammer.

    You are comparing apples and oranges here. When discussing actual modern global terrorism involving mass murder, no white Christianity isn't the biggest at play. Of course Christian fundamentalism and extremism exists, but you rarely see white Christian sects bombing cities or executing civilians. It happens infrequently, but it is not the majority of terrorist attacks.

    And there are 5x more white people than black people in the States so you have just blown your entire argument. Essentially you have just said 12% of the population commit half the rape and burglary committed by another 72%.
     
    #8 741852963, Mar 28, 2016
    Last edited: Mar 28, 2016
  9. Austin

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    Re: KING: White privilege in America means white people never have to say sorry on be

    Kinda skimmed your post because it was long. Maybe you touched on it, but... I personally know that being white had its benefits in America. The problem I have with the whole "white privilege" thing it seems many people expect us to feel guilty for being born white, which is nonsense to me.
     
  10. QueerTransEnby

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    Re: KING: White privilege in America means white people never have to say sorry on be

    I am one of those people who fights against discrimination. I hate police brutality, and I fully believe it exists. Blacks are unfairly targeted for petty drug crimes. Crime happens in black communities due to overcrowding and lack of community resources for the population. I am not just talking about social services, but there are a lack of healthy food sources in urban areas unless they are gentrified. Gentrified communities do have a habit of forcing people out.

    That all said, don't make white people feel guilty about their skin color. We are born this way and had no control over what happen regarding slavery etc.
     
  11. gravechild

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    Re: KING: White privilege in America means white people never have to say sorry on be

    It is quite amusing when you think about it: white Americans are one of the most segregated groups in the US. More of them admit to having no non-white friends than the other way around. They have a better chance of being victimized by one of their own, but somehow, minorities they don't even have contact with are painted as the boogeyman. Why?

    The thing about privileged groups is that they don't see themselves as privileged. They think it's this way for everyone. Most men don't give cat calling serious thought, since they're not on the receiving end of it. Most straight people don't consider being executed for being attracted to who they are attracted to, since heterosexuality isn't criminalized. Naturally, since they don't experience something, they assume a group is "making it up" or creating mountains out of molehills.

    Patrick Califia said it best: Prejudice usually can't survive close contact with the people who are supposed to be so despicable, which is why the propagandists for hate always preach separation.
     
  12. Austin

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    Re: KING: White privilege in America means white people never have to say sorry on be

    On a lighter note, the author is confused on the composition of air, assuming he isn't writing this from a bathtub. There's very little hydrogen in the air (even as water). It is mostly nitrogen and oxygen.
     
  13. Libertino

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    Re: KING: White privilege in America means white people never have to say sorry on be

    There are some advantages to being white, no doubt, but as a "brown" person I've also been privy to plenty of advantages for no reason other than my heritage, as well as those that come with being from a higher socio-economic background--the latter of which often has more effect on where you will go in life than does the color of your skin.

    And as the user with the numbers as his name suggested, this post does not take into account percentages and is statistically unsound.
     
  14. beastwith2backs

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    Re: KING: White privilege in America means white people never have to say sorry on be

    I don't see how white people are anymore "priveleged" than anyone else anywhere. Doesn't everyone have a fair chance at being "succesfull"? ( i put that in qoutes because success in life means different things to different people) i remember a while back i made a similiar thread to this. Yes, most criminals in america are white, but that's because roughly 70% of the population is white. Yes, the police shoots black people, but you'll be suprised to know that they actually kill more white people than anything else. The amerucan police force has ITS OWN GRAVE PROBLEMS, trust me, but black-on-black crime, is much more common than white on black crime. Why don't people ever talk about that?

    I'm not gonna even go into islamic terrorism, at the moment i'm just absolutely sick at how both atheist, and religious, left and right, libertarian and authoritatian, treat that issue. I sit of fence.
     
  15. Matto_Corvo

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    Re: KING: White privilege in America means white people never have to say sorry on be

    I know my opinion doesn't matter but I can't really apologize for being born white. It's not something I had control over.
    Am I aware that I have white privelage? Yes, and I'm sorry.
    I believe that no matter a person's race, nationality, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, etc that we should all be treated equally and fairly. I dream of a world where no one has more priveliage than anyone else.
    You'd be amazed by how many white people feel the same. How many feel like shit for the privilege we do have. But we also hate how people automatically assume we are racist simply because we are white. As if the color of our skin determines the thoughts going through our head.
     
  16. springroll

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    Re: KING: White privilege in America means white people never have to say sorry on be

    Everyone's ignoring my link claiming Shaun King is a fraud...
    And he's such an amateur at twisting stats for his argument! It's hard to take the guy seriously.
     
  17. jaska

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    Re: KING: White privilege in America means white people never have to say sorry on be

    When your not part of a community or group you only see what you see from the outside and often that doesn't look good. It seems a lot of the information white people get about other people of different races is filtered through the media.....
     
    #17 jaska, Apr 9, 2016
    Last edited: Apr 9, 2016
  18. gravechild

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    Re: KING: White privilege in America means white people never have to say sorry on be

    Don't feel guilty about. Instead of dreaming of a more perfect world, why not help make chances to bring that world about? I don't think all white people are racist, but they're woefully clueless about racism and how people of color relate to it.

    In fact, I'd say most white people aren't "bad", but by complacently sitting on the sidelines while injustices are going on, they're sending the message that they're okay with things as they are, which isn't fine.

    The color of one's skin determines our experiences, which in turn shape our perceptions.