United States: White Privilege and Fear of White Genocide
JUST A QUICK HEADS UP: This is a controversial topic, with only my opinions and some thoughts on my mind from my experience as a white guy from a rural small town (I’ll bring this up later as well) in the Southeastern U.S. that I expanded upon. This post may contain potentially offensive content to some so use discretion when deciding to read this post, I mean, just look at the title. I am putting in my demographic to help provide context for where these thoughts are coming from to those who may be oblivious to these experiences and think of them being invalid to prove it is a very much real way of thinking. I apologize if my thoughts are not eloquently presented. I have trouble presenting what I know correctly sometimes and there may be gaps or jumps in thought. So without further ado, let’s dive in.
Race and white privilege and white genocide are all interlocking themes common in the United States. Progress has been made but even after all these years, race continues to divide and cause wedges in the goals of unity, which let’s face it, are not going to happen anytime soon but nevertheless, I am going to proceed with my thoughts about race, and fyi I am a white male with white privilege, not as much as other white people, but of course I still have some because I am white which will be the case probably for the rest of my life. So here are my thoughts on the issue, being more on the moral and coincidently? the liberal side point, I oppose the conservative views on race from the conservative background I was raised in.
I was inspired to write this post after watching a video shared by one of my Facebook friends. It was a TED talk involving a black man who went undercover into the Alt-Right. So here is the link to that. It wasn’t the specific topic in the video itself that enacted me to start writing but one of the things the speaker said that sparked some of my related thoughts and wouldn’t let me focus completely throughout the video even though I did watch it.
The video sparked my thoughts on how people who aren’t directly involved with conservative views about race may get them to think they are nonexistent. Unfortunately they are, and are not going away anytime soon. I have had these thoughts before as well. The thoughts of white genocide. The fear of losing what at the time was what I thought to be my lasting hope for prosperity.
Being taught that white people were superior at a young age combined with the awareness of being poor and underprivileged, I was glad that I would have one ace in the hole, being a part of this superior group of people. This made me feel better about my circumstances of coming from an underprivileged background at a time when I wasn’t as opened to the world as I have grown to become and gave me a sort of “all hope is not lost” kind of feeling. A false substitute I was taught to have to avoid accepting that I was on the bottom of the socio-economic totem pole. Because despite being at the bottom in that regard, I knew that I would be treated better because, at the time, my thinking from what I was taught was, “hey, I’m poor but at least I’m not poor like those ‘ghetto’ people who will never get ahead because they are doomed to never do so.”
The “whites against the world” ideology as everyone else sees it to white people looks more like “the world against the whites” to white people who still hold racist viewpoints and is the cause for racism’s stay. This helps to form a type of “white guilt” where white people think they are not racist but in reality are indeed passively racist by ingnoring their subliminally racist tendencies. They think, and myself as well in times past and this is all coming from my experience from what I have seen and grown up with in my rural small town in the South, that everyone is out to get them for payback for how racist white people were back in the day. This leads to ideas of “reverse-racism” and leads to more racism from white people through this guise as a retaliation on that. This makes white people have a unnecessary fear of being with other races because they think that the other groups won’t accept them because they think these groups are out working to take “power and control” away from white people and dominate them like white people have done since this country’s creation.
Something that really sticks out to me of recent times is the phrase which goes something like “equality seems like oppression when you are used to privilege.” This is part of the fear white people have, because some, like I was, are still taught that white people are superior because of their race. With equality becoming more common, white people have these thoughts that they are going to be reduced to nothing (losing a little power and control means elimination, I guess) because they have to give up a little something, exactly how the phrase describes it. And my white friends from back home who haven’t been changed by their environment and expanded their views outside of their small community to be more open minded, see this as other races complaining because they want more. Well, they do deserve more, because what they have still isn’t equal to what white people have.
White people still have the power in this country. I mean, yeah, white people started it. So that’s one reason they will be around for a while with so much control. The typical “American” is seen as being a white guy. But that is a little outdated imo. Now, if you live, breath, work, sweat, and bleed in and for this country, you are a United states citizen by my standards, even if you don’t have the paperwork to prove it yet. A white person is longer a typical US citizen. This country has become more than that. This country is made up of many different people and they deserve to be recognized to. Just because white people had the idea to make this country doesn’t mean we shouldn’t recognize the work other races and groups of people have put in to making and serving this country. The differences make this country great. Having different people from different races, groups, and cultures keep this country great.
White people are afraid because like the video says, they have outdated and wrong information. Perhaps it’s a fear of losing “white culture” which might just actually be white privilege, which I would say is a part of it. When I have my friends from different backgrounds describe their culture, I have difficulty describing white culture to them. I can’t think of what it is and the only thing that really comes to mind is few things and white privilege itself being somewhat incorporated into it. And I think that white culture is almost nonexistent. I can’t really think of too many individual customary traits that relate to white culture. I’m no expert on it so I could probably find something if I did more research into it but I’m not into the extra work so I’m drawing this info from myself.
When I think of white culture all I can think of is hippies, rednecks, and that typical patriotic “red, white, and blue” vibe. So I guess that counts because I don’t really see black hippies or rednecks and it’s just what I picture maybe because of my background, it may be different for a black person or other ethnic/racial groups growing up, but whenever I think of a typical patriot, I picture a white guy in red, white, and blue attire of some sort. That’s just how it’s always been depicted to me through media as I’ve grown up.

haha oh yeah, this guy
There may be some things that need more elaboration so I will probably edit this when/if I come back to it. This is typical with heavy topics like this. I hope none of what I say offends my audience but each person’s experience is different and we all process things differently and this is how I am processing this topic. I could make a more neutral article but since this is my blog, it’s kind of all about me and my thought process and experience, which is always changing and adapting. In terms of what I wrote earlier in the post about getting ahead because of my race, I realize this may still be true that I may get a head start on some things because of my race but I realized a while ago that I no longer need to rely on this and will ensure that equal opportunity is given to everyone and I plan to call those out who advance me or treat me different because I am white.
So I think this is everything. Just remember respect and to treat others with kindness, because we are all people and no one person is better than another and we all deserve equal opportunities and a good experience in this world. Once you realize that putting energy into putting down anyone is a waste of time and in hurting them you are also hurting yourself because revenge is a 2 edged sword. Make the world better than you found it. Make sure to think of others before yourself because we may see the world as being all about us but it’s really all about each other. We got to work as a whole to make it better. Everyone needs to serve their individual part and although it seems your work is just for you, it’s really for the whole, because we are all connected. When you hurt another person, you’re not just hurting that person, you’re hurting yourself and the whole. So keep good intentions: be good and do good. Have peace, love, and respect for each other, because in the end, it’s all going to be okay if we keep these things in mind.
Originally published at gooeyshoes.wordpress.com on August 26, 2017.
