David Cearley
Aug 22, 2017 · 2 min read

Amber, because there are millions of mostly reasonable people who share some of his viewpoints, and those are the people you have to reach. Worse, many of the points he raises are verifiable facts.

For example, the people who originated the concept of White privilege were very clear that the reality of that privilege is out of the control of the vast majority, there is little or nothing they can do to change it, yet the term is thrown around like a weapon, and routinely used against people like it’s power we can deploy on our own behalf or have some control over. It’s not.

My background is similar to the writer’s. My parents grew up in poverty, in horrifically dysfunctional homes, and much of my childhood was in the same environment. The idea that I was privileged compared to middle or upper class minorities would be a joke. The fact that I resent the use of the term as a weapon against me in no way means I don’t comprehend the privilege of any majority. Government and business practices are built around my needs. Most of the time because it’s cheaper and bureaucrats are cheap, and sometimes it’s because the person with their hands on the levers of power is racist.

That said, I as an individual citizen, regardless of color, feel quite powerless to force change, especially in government. Heck, I don’t know a single person in government who could give me an edge of any kind, for a permit, or a job, or to get out of a ticket.

Rejecting some of your assertions doesn’t make me, or this guy, an enemy, it just means we both have to put greater effort into the search for common ground.

)

    David Cearley

    Written by