And the reality is they don’t really have a spot in the hierarchy. They’re poor as shit and the Republicans keep them that way in perpetuity, but as long as they make them scared of Mexicans or Muslims or leprechauns these dummies will continue to vote to remain impoverished forever because they’ve bought into the…

That’s all very true, and the important thing that some people get hung up on is that even though they did have an advantage, that doesn’t detract from their accomplishments. Yes, I was born a straight white guy to an upper middle class family with a paid way through college... but that doesn’t take away from the…

It’s not just the guilt, but the cognitive dissonance involved in being in a position of privilege. In our meritocratic culture, we like to believe that our success in life is a result of our own efforts, so if there is such a thing as white privilege, it would force white people to accept that they have gotten to…

Exactly! In other words, one man’s equality is another’s persecution. What I mean by that is there are too many white people that have too much white fragility, so asking for equality, in their eyes, is unfair.

You get it. “Check your privilege” does not mean we expect you to say You are personally sorry. Everyone knows that every white person alive today did not establish white supremacy in this country. But acknowledging it exists is the start if you truly wish it to change.

I think a big part of the problem is that when people are told that our society is racist they think that they are being told that they are racist. When they hear that they have an advantage they think they are being told that they have no problems.

To me, the most troubling thing as a black person is that many people believe that equality means pulling blacks up (and other minorities) and dragging whites down. Until we can convince more folks that equality actually means equal, we’ll still be stuck in the same shit we’re in today.

well said!

If you were born white, you automatically have a monstrous advantage educationally, economically, culturally in this society

I think it’s easiest explained with a baseball metaphor.

This is a great post, thank you for sharing your perspective.

I am going to cause you emotional distress by posting this clip. Forgive me.

Also, Pop has made me a Spurs fan simply because I like rooting for him. (And I grew up hating the Spurs.)

“If you were born white, you automatically have a monstrous advantage educationally, economically, culturally in this society.”

This is a straw man argument. One writer said it’s bad for the game and now people act like everyone has stopped watching it because of UCONN. Nobody was watching it to begin with. I like most women’s sports, but women’s basketball is just a really poor version of basketball.