The Problem with Denying White Privilege
Having white privilege doesn’t make one a bad person. Denying it does.
For my white brothers and sisters who sincerely want to know why pointing out white privilege is so important
I recently shared this meme on social media:
White privilege example #204:
When a white person characterizes Trump’s rhetoric as just
“saying dumb things.”
Someone wanted to know — and I think he was asking in a genuine way to understand the issue — “How is this white privilege?” Or more to the point, “How is denying Trump’s racist comments a privilege of being white?”
This is a fair question and I want to give it a thoughtful answer.
This is an example of white privilege because only a white person who is unaware of his privilege can hear Trump’s blatantly racist comments and use euphemisms like “He just says dumb things.” There are no racial minorities in this country who hear his rhetoric and think “Oh, that’s not racist, that’s just dumb things.”
Perhaps this analogy would help: if someone said to a Jewish person born in South Pasadena, CA “go back to that shit hole country…
