Re: [UUPoly-L] Acceptance, tolerance and liberalism

["Earth Father" <earthfather@cfnc.us>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: David VanHorn

> > > I didn't have any kind of a "privliged" upbringing
> >
> > A big part of the problem with white privilege is the fact that most folks
> > benefiting from white privilege don't even realize it. "It's just the way
> > things  are." Only it ISN'T the way things are for minorities experiencing
> > discrimination. It's privilege they have no access to.
> 
> 
> Or it could be that I didn't perceive "white privilege" because I didn't
> experience any.
> 
> Exactly what sort of privilege do you think I had?

Were you stopped frequently by a police officer for a "random check", just
because of the color of your skin?  (The common description for this is being
stopped for "driving while black".)

Were the neighborhood schools where you went rat-infested?  High teacher
turnover?  Outdated text books, too few, or none at all?

Was violence a daily reality, with friends dying from stray bullets?

As a teenager, were you followed by security people whenever you went into an
upscale store?

Does your family history go back only a few generations, because prior to that,
your ancestors had their families broken up and sold separately?

Do certain people, especially those of a certain skin color, cross the street
to avoid walking near you, or give you an especially wide berth?

Did you ever hear other children being told that they can't play with you
because they weren't allowed to play with "your kind".

Did you grow up being referred to by your race more often than by your name?

Did you have sufficient food as a child?

Growing up, did you have a home, rather than living in a series of shelters or
being entirely homeless?

Did you grow up hearing stories and seeing many pictures of people who had been
lynched simply because they had the same skin color as you?

Are there active criminal organizations that do not hesitate to use violence
that have sworn hatred to anyone with your skin color?  


David, if you answer "yes" to all of those, then I agree you were not very
privileged.  If you answered "no" to most of them, then you are among the most
privileged people on the planet, as well as in the US.

Michael Rios

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