UU Mom ([info]uu_mom) wrote in [info]unitarian_jihad,
@ 2008-09-16 12:13:00
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Entry tags:obama, palin, politics, racial issues, racism, white privilege

"THIS IS YOUR NATION ON WHITE PRIVILEGE"
By Tim Wise

For those who still can’t grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are constantly looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help.

White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because “every family has challenges,” even as black and Latino families with similar “challenges” are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.

White privilege is when you can call yourself a “fuckin’ redneck,” like Bristol Palin’s boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you'll “kick their fuckin' ass,” and talk about how you like to “shoot shit” for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug....

White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don’t all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means you’re “untested.”
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[info]pellegrina
2008-09-16 04:33 pm UTC (link)
Heh. It is probably white privilege also to think these are better examples of Republican hypocrisy than of white privilege :-/

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[info]uu_mom
2008-09-16 06:23 pm UTC (link)
Did you see how white the Republican convention was to the Democratic convention? If you're white, you may not have noticed, but I'm sure most people of color did.

Edited at 2008-09-16 06:24 pm UTC

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[info]pellegrina
2008-09-16 06:39 pm UTC (link)
Yeah, we noticed all right, and we were yelling at the television that these people would be reacting very differently if Bristol Palin hadn't been white/middle class/daughter of outspoken anti-choicer doing what mommy tells her even when her prior behaviour proves mommy's other ideas about birth control don't work very well. Living in west London is a crash course in noticing that people come in various colours to the point of feeling odd whenever a group is too homogenous.

Good to hear that Todd Palin is such a gem, though; otherwise I might feel sorry for his rude awakening after poking the Governor's daughter :-p

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[info]lonelocust
2008-09-16 06:31 pm UTC (link)
I think it's a mixed bag. Some of the items are certainly broken down on racial lines (I think for example, being a white kid who calls himself a redneck and threatens to beat people up being less likely to be seen as a thug than a black kid who threatens to beat people up), some are clearly just right-wing hypocrisy or stupidity (no one jumping down Palin's throat for not knowing when the Pledge of Allegiance was written and when "under God" was added), some are more the privilege of money than of race per se (failing out of college, raising grades at community college, going back), and some some probably are results of more than one of these things.

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[info]pellegrina
2008-09-16 06:47 pm UTC (link)
Agreed on all counts. Even I know about the addition of "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance, and I moved away from the States before my 5th birthday and stopped going to an American school after third grade. (It was a great relief when my mother told me about that, because even as a pre-schooler I had always felt very uncomfortable reciting the Pledge when I was not raised in any religion.)

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[info]ferndalealex
2008-09-16 08:04 pm UTC (link)
I didn't learn about that until I was in my twenties...now it's one of my greatest pet peeves when the discussion comes up.

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[info]ferndalealex
2008-09-16 08:03 pm UTC (link)
I read this elsewhere, and as I said there Tim Wise has gotten it wrong. Again. If he thinks that white people in these situations without the economic and political connections of the people described (the Palin family) will get the same treatment, he's mistaken at best.

While there may be legitimate examples of white privilege, none of these rise to that standard.

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[info]sparkofcreation
2008-09-17 12:24 am UTC (link)
Agreed, and agreed.

Of course, the whole thing is starting from a false premise: that people (1) think Bristol Palin's pregnancy is her own business; (2) think a black or Hispanic teenager's pregnancy is a moral failing; (3) think her fiancé is upstanding and responsible ... I could go on. My point is, I'd say those things are all examples of complete and utter delusion, not white privilege necessary.

Personally I think that the odds are quite high that Bristol Palin's parents and/or her school's sex ed program failed her miserably; that her fiancé is a thug I wouldn't want to meet on the street unless I had my dog with me for protection; that Sarah Palin should be laughed out of national politics while Barack Obama is merely slightly less experienced than would be ideal.

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[info]castleclear
2008-09-19 03:53 pm UTC (link)
I imagine you've seen Jon Stewart's The Daily Show(?) Their coverage of the RNC was outstanding, as was their humor. My favorite bits were when the showed "What They're Saying Now" video clips contrasting with "What They Said Then" clips from a year or two ago. Awesome!

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[info]uu_mom
2008-09-19 04:39 pm UTC (link)
Yes, mine, too. I posted in my personal LJ blog McCain Reformed Maverick which was one of them.

Edited at 2008-09-19 04:41 pm UTC

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[info]castleclear
2008-09-19 07:52 pm UTC (link)
Yes, I loved the "Reformed Maverick" segment too!

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[info]castleclear
2009-07-11 07:58 am UTC (link)
Just dropping a line hoping you'll post again soon to IUUJ, uu_mom; the jihad benefits from your wisdom and enlightenment, when you have the time. I hope your summer is AWESOME. :-)

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