I AM WHITE/AMERICAN PRIVILEGE

[Reddy]

Again, you speak in absolutes & generalities, and couldn't be further wrong. There are plenty of universities & companies that discriminate against white all in the name of diversity. If you are a person of color with talent and/or strong credentials, I'd argue that in today's corporate environment you actually have an advantage over a similar skilled white person. The value of diversity is screamed out at every business school across the country and most companies are actively pursuing it now. If you ever had a real job (aren't you model when you're not leading the Resistance) you would know this.

 

The average African American no doubt has more challenges than the average white person due to economic factors that restrict opportunities & education. I don't need statistics to tell me that more blacks suffer from poverty than whites and I know well that poverty is a viscous cycle that holds back opportunity for years to come. But there are plenty of whites who also face these challenges and do not start off "a mile ahead". These people deserve the same compassion as the African Americans you fight so hard to support. Again, using blanket generalizations is working against you and makes you come off a know nothing know it all asshole.

 

Let me summarize:

 

If Chicago White Sox says "the average black person has more challenges than the average white person" we're cool, but I should avoid generalizations.

 

Cool.

 

[Reddy]

Also, I think I'm only one more comment away from DMing you a shirtless pic. You know what to do!

[Chicago White Sox]

Let me summarize:

 

If Chicago White Sox says "the average black person has more challenges than the average white person" we're cool, but I should avoid generalizations.

 

Cool.

I said that the average black person faces more challenges while you accused all us white people of being privileged. I'm sure everyone here can see the difference.

[nickofypres]

I'm white, and I grew up in poverty. And until I quit school and started working in a factory I lived below the poverty line.

 

I don't think my race had anything to do with that.

 

 

[greg775]

Is there somewhere to sign up for the benefits of this white privilege?? I don't think I've ever received mine. Maybe I missed the sign up somewhere.

Good post.

 

This is the kicker right? Starting out a mile ahead in a marathon doesn't inherently mean you know how to run it.

You'll obviously never consider changing your position and I won't consider changing mine that's for sure.

 

Again, you speak in absolutes & generalities, and couldn't be further wrong. There are plenty of universities & companies that discriminate against white all in the name of diversity. If you are a person of color with talent and/or strong credentials, I'd argue that in today's corporate environment you actually have an advantage over a similar skilled white person. The value of diversity is screamed out at every business school across the country and most companies are actively pursuing it now. If you ever had a real job (aren't you model when you're not leading the Resistance) you would know this.

 

The average African American no doubt has more challenges than the average white person due to economic factors that restrict opportunities & education. I don't need statistics to tell me that more blacks suffer from poverty than whites and I know well that poverty is a viscous cycle that holds back opportunity for years to come. But there are plenty of whites who also face these challenges and do not start off "a mile ahead". These people deserve the same compassion as the African Americans you fight so hard to support. Again, using blanket generalizations is working against you and makes you come off a know nothing know it all asshole.

Good post. The white privilege gangs should read this, but they would laugh and you and say you don't get it and demand you acknowledge your privilege.

[greg775]

I'm white, and I grew up in poverty. And until I quit school and started working in a factory I lived below the poverty line.

 

I don't think my race had anything to do with that.

The white privilege mob has no compassion for situations like yours. Hope you are doing well financially now.

Edited May 27, 2017 by greg775

[Reddy]

White privilege gangs is one of the funniest things I've ever read.

 

I also lived below the poverty line for the first six years I was out of college. I still had white privilege in the way I was perceived in day to day life. No matter how poor you are, you're less likely to be pulled over by police, you're less likely to be arrested for minor crimes, and you're less likely to be convicted and sentenced to harsh penalties because of your skin color.

 

That. Is. White. Privilege.

[Chicago White Sox]

White privilege gangs is one of the funniest things I've ever read.

 

I also lived below the poverty line for the first six years I was out of college. I still had white privilege in the way I was perceived in day to day life. No matter how poor you are, you're less likely to be pulled over by police, you're less likely to be arrested for minor crimes, and you're less likely to be convicted and sentenced to harsh penalties because of your skin color.

 

That. Is. White. Privilege.

So for the millions of whites that never commit a crime how is that a privilege exactly?

[caulfield12]

Not to have any of these 17 things happen (to whites, or white men specifically) amounts to what exactly, if NOT a form of privilege decreed simply by accident of birth? How should we describe it more/most accurately?

 

https://www.buzzfeed.com/michaelblackmon/17...VlAd#.kskbnm5z8

Edited May 28, 2017 by caulfield12

[Jerksticks]

The minority of anything has to work harder than the majority.

 

Essentially there's tall privilege, white privelege, throwing a fastball harder privelege, size of military privelege, being smarter privelege, living in America privelege, being from Kenya if you run marathons privelege. The list goes on and on. The other guy has to work much harder. Rocky vs. Apollo. The refs didn't tell Apollo to stand there and take a bunch of uppercuts. And Rocky knew they wouldn't.

 

It sucks it is this way but that is the way the world is set up. All black dads should be telling their children to outwork & outsmart everybody else. If the deck is stacked against you, you gotta work that much harder.

 

Meanwhile if you are a minority & you do work harder in the beginning, Lady Diversity will roll out the carpet for you. You will get free college because of your skin, and you will get hired first because of your skin.

 

So yea it can suck more at first and suck more forever if you let it, but if you work harder it's actually easier in the end. Funny thing society.

[caulfield12]

https://irinapavlova07.myportfolio.com/data...nmates-by-state

 

My ex (speaking of privilege again, or "dumb luck" lol) came up with this, I think it's pretty fascinating/amazing...a visual representation of incarceration rates in the US over the last decade.

 

So I didn't have to work that hard to marry a Russian model who had the talent to get an MFA from Wash U. Must be my "Reddy"-like charm and charisma, certainly not my salary as inner city school social studies and English teacher.

 

Probably why Andrew Card (Bush's Chief of Staff) hit on her when she was working as a waitress at Fiorella's Jack Stack BBQ. She had a huge pile of business cards men gave her, despite a visible wedding ring.

Edited May 28, 2017 by caulfield12

[Middle Buffalo]

I had a very similar experience to raBBit.

 

Both of my parents are immigrants. Similarly, they were one of the last families to move out of their parish when the neighborhood changed and their church was closed. That's when they decide to move.

 

The only privilege I had was a private Catholic education because that was something my parents valued, but we had few material things. Pretty much the only toys we had were balls - many which we found at parks.

 

My dad worked as a union building engineer. Solid, but unspectacular income. My mom worked a few shifts as a waitress, earning very little outside of a little time away from her six kids. They had a mortgage, tuition, and no savings.

 

We were all above average to excellent students. We all earned degrees from four year universities. None of us received financial aid.

 

My best friend, who went to high school with me and who was my college roommate, has a background which is basically the same as mine - with the exception of having 3 kids in his family, being of Mexican descent, and he growing up in an arguably better neighborhood. His grades were lower than mine. His ACT was much lower. Yet, he went to U of I for free. In fact, he got tuition, room and board + additional money for living expenses. I had loans and work study.

 

I understand the white privilege argument in an historical sense, but there are plenty of white individuals and communities that do not benefit simply from the color of their skin. Maybe society doesn't automatically judge them in a negative way based solely on the color of their skin as frequently happens with minorities, but large numbers of white people are just as underserved as their minority counterparts. Real "white privilege" only belongs to a select few.

Edited May 28, 2017 by Middle Buffalo

[caulfield12]

That argument doesn't hold up as well in Silicon Valley.

 

If you look at all the Boards of Directors, shareholders, CEO's....of pretty much any multi-billion dollar or unicorn company over the past couple of decades, how many African America, Hispanic and Native Americans would you find there? How many women?

 

Even the figurative show Silicon Valley, there are two women...and immigrants from India and China. Everything is pretty much merit-based or those companies simply wouldn't be competitive. Or Billions, another of my favorite shows...which turned an Indian American prosecutor into Paul Giamatti (whose father led Yale/MLB, ironically enough).

 

Look at Bill Gates, Fred/Donald Trump, the Kushners, Mark Zuckerberg, etc. Look at the picture in the WH Rose Garden when they passed the AHCA in the House of Representatives.

 

For every fifty of them (White privilege second generation), there's only one Howard Schultz or Warren Buffett who really made it on their own...our Horatio Alger stories. And there's only one Carlos Slim, from Mexico, the richest person in the world.

 

Even Steve Jobs was born genetically with advantages, although not the typical ones.

 

Steve Jobs's biological father, Abdulfattah "John" Jandali (Arabic: عبد الفتاح الجندلي) (b. 1931), grew up in Homs, Syria and was born into an Arab Muslim household.[10] Jandali is the son of a self-made millionaire who did not go to college and a mother who was a traditional housewife.[10] While an undergraduate at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, he was a student activist and spent time in jail for his political activities.[10] Although Jandali initially wanted to study law, he eventually decided to study economics and political science.[10] He pursued a PhD in the latter subject at the University of Wisconsin, where he met Joanne Carole Schieble, a Catholic of Swiss and German descent, who grew up on a farm in Wisconsin.[11][10][12] As a doctoral candidate, Jandali was a teaching assistant for a course Schieble was taking, although both were the same age.[13] Jobs's full biological sister (Mona Simpson), notes that her maternal grandparents were not happy that their daughter was dating Jandali: "it wasn't that he was Middle-Eastern so much as that he was a Muslim. But there are a lot of Arabs in Michigan and Wisconsin. So it's not that unusual."[13] Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs's official biographer, additionally states that Schieble's father "threatened to cut Joanne off completely" if she continued the relationship.[11] wikipedia

 

That's why we need immigrants, right? Silicon Valley would not exist with them, and the SAT scores and their coding/engineering ability blows white Americans out of the water. They're even willing to start out working for 40-60% of what their white peers demand.

 

PS. Of course, what's equally fascinating is if you take the time to read about Jobs' adoptive father, Paul Reinhold Jobs, it reads like Bill Clinton's biography in terms of his father and stepfather. Nevertheless, if you generally agree that genetics is 50% determinant, if not more, Jobs grew up with inherent advantages based on his biological parents that no "environment/nurture" could deny or take away.

Edited May 28, 2017 by caulfield12

[caulfield12]

What do you propose to do to balance out all the educational opportunities..."separate but unequal"...denied by the United States of America to black, Hispanic and Native Americans from 1608 until the 1980's but really the 1990's?

 

Those black families never received the economic equivalent of 40 acres and a mule. Native Americans had their lands taken away, their religion, were forcibly assimilated into "white or mainstream culture," were exposed to disease, violence, alcohol, drugs, by white society? What about all the Japanese Americans who were imprisoned (houses, possessions and money confiscated) in the West during WW Two while absolutely nothing happened to their white/German ethnic counterparts?

 

We just pretend it never happened...whitewash it from the history books and stick our heads in the sand?

 

(Life is unfair, those Native Americans are all rich now due to casinos...of course, not mentioned is all the construction companies, land brokers, investment banks and white politicians who made out like bandits).

Edited May 28, 2017 by caulfield12

[iamshack]

Agreed with Rabbit....this is a good thread, except for the weird s*** about Caulfield's foreign concubines and Reddy's shirtless picture threats. WTF?

 

I guess my question is the same as a few others have asked...what do you want?

 

I agree, there are advantages to being white. There are advantages to being male.

 

But what the f*** is your point?

[caulfield12]

I want a Rabbit to watch "The 13th" (Amendment) and read "Zeitoun." He can similarly assign one book and movie, lol.

 

 

It seems Rabbit believes the inherent "unfairness" of Affirmative Action, without taking into account any of the benefits to society or even creating a more inclusive and tolerant management culture...outweighs the total amount of historical discrimination that occurred over the past 400 years in North America.

 

So how do you fairly "rebalance" or recalibrate that to a system EVERYONE complains about, assuming that all these benefitted minorities are "dancing in the streets" about all the advantages they're supposedly receiving from the government?

 

And if you're going to make a merit-based argument...then Rabbit and others should be defending all the discrimination against Chinese and Indian applicants in university admissions as well as immigrant work visas. If the US ever wants to achieve 3% GDP growth, it will come on their backs. This "reverse discrimination" has been adversely affecting both those ethnic groups for the same amount of time as white males have been "suffering."

 

You're not seeing those kids suffering from opioid addiction...and living in their parents' basements (those born in the US of Asian backgrounds)...so how do we explain this? Because white males are not willing to work twice as hard as their Chinese and Indian counterparts? Because the corollary is the systemic/endemic belief of many whites that blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans are lazy recipients of undeserved government handouts. Mick Mulvaney said the same exact thing last week, he just spoke in "code words" so as to be politically correct. But I don't see a single argument pointing the obviousness of this out. Or that Iranian-Americans as an ethnic group earn 40-60% more than their Caucasian counterparts.

Edited May 29, 2017 by caulfield12

[Middle Buffalo]

Agreed with Rabbit....this is a good thread, except for the weird s*** about Caulfield's foreign concubines and Reddy's shirtless picture threats. WTF?

 

I guess my question is the same as a few others have asked...what do you want?

 

I agree, there are advantages to being white. There are advantages to being male.

 

But what the f*** is your point?

Caulfield's posts are so long I generally have a hard time following them. He seems to argue both sides of every point.

 

I guess my personal experience, raBBit's experience, and many other people's experiences are just tough luck or aberrations.. I still get to be white, so I win.

 

It seems that we are supposed to believe America is terrible because white people are by and large in positions of power. But, that doesn't mean all white people benefit. Every other country has the same problems as the United States. There are different classes. Some people have privilege. Some are downtrodden. Race isn't always the factor. What's the explanation for class systems in countries that have homogenous populations? Is whitey to blame for different classes of people in Africa, Asia, Latin America,...?

[caulfield12]

Caulfield's posts are so long I generally have a hard time following them. He seems to argue both sides of every point.

 

I guess my personal experience, raBBit's experience, and many other people's experiences are just tough luck or aberrations.. I still get to be white, so I win.

 

It seems that we are supposed to believe America is terrible because white people are by and large in positions of power. But, that doesn't mean all white people benefit. Every other country has the same problems as the United States. There are different classes. Some people have privilege. Some are downtrodden. Race isn't always the factor. What's the explanation for class systems in countries that have homogenous populations? Is whitey to blame for different classes of people in Africa, Asia, Latin America,...?

 

This is the equivalent of Greg throwing "but sabes" into every other baseball discussion.

 

Ummm....maybe the fact that every country in Africa but two was colonized??? What Latin American countries didn't suffer from foreign interference/interventions? The British in India, etc.

 

At any rate, the Chinese are doing the exact same today, economically....but Trump is too inward looking at the time to realize it. One of the Germans at the G-7 said we're just begging for China to take over the world even more quickly than would otherwise have happened.

Edited May 29, 2017 by caulfield12

[Chicago White Sox]

Caulfield, I honestly have no idea what you are arguing anymore.

Edited May 29, 2017 by Chicago White Sox

[caulfield12]

1) The US will not thrive economically without the drive and determination of another generation of immigrants to achieve the American Dream...we're already going in the wrong direction on that one. You can't be pro American and anti immigration simultaneously. There's no law stating that we can't select the very best from those immigrant groups seeking citizenship or work rights in America. Continuing immigration from Asia brings more benefits than it creates "obstacles" for whites.

 

2) https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexandratalty...food-institute/

 

Millennials, particularly white millennials, need to stop blaming the great financial/housing crisis, Bush, Obama, liberals, Muslims, feminists, George Soros, the rising costs of college education, health care, 9/11 or minorities/Affirmative Action for denying them opportunities to succeed. They should be investing in the stock market or starting their own businesses...they are saving at a relatively high rate of 20%, but it's (according to almost all surveys) for travel/tourism/vacations, eating out, high tech gadgets and generally enjoying life, certainly moreso than buying into the idea of starting a family or making a down payment on a house.

 

Basically, that sense of entitlement needs to disappear. These last two generations never had to confront the idea of military service...are our lives really that difficult compared to our grandparents' and greatgrandparents' generations?

Edited May 29, 2017 by caulfield12

[Chicago White Sox]

1) The US will not thrive economically without the drive and determination of another generation of immigrants to achieve the American Dream...we're already going in the wrong direction on that one. You can't be pro American and anti immigration simultaneously. There's no law stating that we can't select the very best from those immigrant groups seeking citizenship or work rights in America. Continuing immigration from Asia brings more benefits than it creates "obstacles" for whites.

 

2) https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexandratalty...food-institute/

 

Millennials, particularly white millennials, need to stop blaming the great financial/housing crisis, Bush, Obama, liberals, Muslims, feminists, George Soros, the rising costs of college education, health care, 9/11 or minorities/Affirmative Action for denying them opportunities to succeed. They should be investing in the stock market or starting their own businesses...they are saving at a relatively high rate of 20%, but it's (according to almost all surveys) for travel/tourism/vacations, eating out, high tech gadgets and generally enjoying life, certainly moreso than buying into the idea of starting a family or making a down payment on a house.

 

Basically, that sense of entitlement needs to disappear. These last two generations never had to confront the idea of military service...are our lives really that difficult compared to our grandparents' and greatgrandparents' generations?

Caulfield, I appreciate everything you bring to this forum, but good god you are insane at times.

[ptatc]

1) The US will not thrive economically without the drive and determination of another generation of immigrants to achieve the American Dream...we're already going in the wrong direction on that one. You can't be pro American and anti immigration simultaneously. There's no law stating that we can't select the very best from those immigrant groups seeking citizenship or work rights in America. Continuing immigration from Asia brings more benefits than it creates "obstacles" for whites.

 

2) https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexandratalty...food-institute/

 

Millennials, particularly white millennials, need to stop blaming the great financial/housing crisis, Bush, Obama, liberals, Muslims, feminists, George Soros, the rising costs of college education, health care, 9/11 or minorities/Affirmative Action for denying them opportunities to succeed. They should be investing in the stock market or starting their own businesses...they are saving at a relatively high rate of 20%, but it's (according to almost all surveys) for travel/tourism/vacations, eating out, high tech gadgets and generally enjoying life, certainly moreso than buying into the idea of starting a family or making a down payment on a house.

 

Basically, that sense of entitlement needs to disappear. These last two generations never had to confront the idea of military service...are our lives really that difficult compared to our grandparents' and greatgrandparents' generations?

But you can be pro-american and pro-legal immigration. There is a difference in the situation in the US today and back when the US let all immigrants in. They needed the increase in population to fuel the industry and farming for food back then.Today the population is becoming a burden on the US particularly in health care. You can't have it both ways. You can't have massive amounts of immigration into the country and want a healthcare policy for everyone. The reason health care for everyone works in many other countries is the smaller population and smaller costs.

 

The rising cost of college education is in a similar situation. The reason it is rising is that states are no longer funding state schools like they used to, due to rising costs elsewhere. At my institution, the cost to the student in the 1990's was about 20% of the bill with the state paying the rest. Today that same student has to pay for nearly 80% of their bill. This is because the state funding has gone from 75% of our budget down to 20% over the same timeframe.

[caulfield12]

But you can be pro-american and pro-legal immigration. There is a difference in the situation in the US today and back when the US let all immigrants in. They needed the increase in population to fuel the industry and farming for food back then.Today the population is becoming a burden on the US particularly in health care. You can't have it both ways. You can't have massive amounts of immigration into the country and want a healthcare policy for everyone. The reason health care for everyone works in many other countries is the smaller population and smaller costs.

 

The rising cost of college education is in a similar situation. The reason it is rising is that states are no longer funding state schools like they used to, due to rising costs elsewhere. At my institution, the cost to the student in the 1990's was about 20% of the bill with the state paying the rest. Today that same student has to pay for nearly 80% of their bill. This is because the state funding has gone from 75% of our budget down to 20% over the same timeframe.

 

Well, that all goes back to the 47% of the population are receiving benefits/not working argument...no to mention the fact that Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, defense spending and interest on the debt continues to soak up an increasing portion of all government spending, not to mention the public/private pension benefits that are guaranteed to be paid.

 

It's also one of the most compelling "free market" arguments for admitting exponentially increasing numbers of intl students, because their parents are willing to "invest" hundreds of thousands of dollars in their (mostly only) children's education/s. Roughly 50% of those students stay in the US or Canada and contribute to those economies (in fact, like the Kushner Propertystrategy, so many Chinese moved their money into Vancouver real estate, it blew up the prices for couples in their 20's and 30's to the point they couldn't afford to live there...same with SF and Silicon Valley. But isn't that still an overall benefit to the US economy, rising home/land values?)

 

Finally, who are they going to get to work on the farms in California, Texas and all over the US when mostly white "native citizens" are unable or unwilling to do that type of work for $10-15/hour..landscaping/lawn maintenance...nannies/domestic helpers, Midwest processing plants like ConAgra, Iowa Beef Products (slaughterhouses), low skill/lower wage factory jobs, etc.

Edited May 29, 2017 by caulfield12

[greg775]

It's interesting to see how this discussion always circles back to Reddy and Caulfield being great at everything. Unfortunately I am not sure testimonials of not having to work hard to attain a Russian girl who have been able to get an MFA from some institution or being the best at everything in your high school/college has to do with anything.

 

But if testimonials are what you're looking for as some authoritative guidances, here's my experience.

 

I grew up with a kid my whole life. We played baseball together from five years old through Varsity ball. He lived four houses down from me. My parents are both of European descent. My mother grew up in Engelwood and Auburn Gresham to poor Irish immigrants. They were one of the only white families in the neighborhood and her father wouldn't leave after getting stuff thrown their windows or having their garage set on fire. Once their catholic church shut down, then my grandfather was finally ready to leave. My father grew up in a typical south side neighborhood of cops and firefighter families. My friends' parents were Polish and Cuban immigrants. They both came here as teenagers and meet each other young and raised a family together.

 

My friend and I applied to all the same colleges. My parents aggregately made more money than his. When I was applying for college, my father was between jobs after the losing his job in the aftermath of the affirmative action housing crisis. His father was a year from retiring from the union and set to make 80K a year until he dies. He could afford to go to any school in the Big 10. Not because of money but because he was half Cuban. He's just as pale as I am. So I went to the school that offered me the most scholarship, the most financial aid and the cheapest living (my parents' house) and he went to the school that he liked best because his father's Cuban background offered him a very lucrative Cuban American scholarship. We both went into business and had similar majors and career aspirations.

 

The places we both wanted to work wouldn't start hiring students until after their junior or senior years depending on if the student was a masters candidate or not. So when my sophomore year of college wrapped up and everyone went back home from the summer, I ran into him. We caught up and talked about our summer plans. I went to work at the restaurant and he went to work at one of the places where we both wanted to work going into college. I said, "That's weird, their campus recruiting team told me there were no opportunities until after my Junior Year." He said, "Get this, I was studying in the library and there was a recruiting event so I stopped by and one of the recruiters asked if I was Mexican. I said, no I am Cuban and he said that would work. So they enrolled me into a program for Blacks and Latinos to get a head start in business." I talked to him later in the summer and asked him about his experience. He said he got paid $25 dollars an hour to make signs and pass out t shirts and swag with a group of mostly black kids. He said it was a complete joke. So much so that he sought leadership and told them he wasn't learning anything and felt like a cheer leader for the company. So they found a way to get him more real work and he was recognized by the company for his initiative in actively looking for relevant work and experience.

 

The next recruiting season I blitzed it and went to all the recruiting events and ended up at the same company as him. Every recruiting event I went to talked about diversity, transgender inclusiveness and women in leadership. Those are all good things of course. However, some representatives would brag, "All the other places I went to interview with were all white guys. It was like a frat house. This place is different and that was why I chose here." The girl literally said that she chose the company because there were less white guys and everybody applauded it. I wasn't offended as I am not a sensitive person but it was very strange to me how everything in their marketing spiel was targeted to attract non-whites, non-heterosexuals, non-traditional gender classifications and non-males. This wasn't one company or one firm. This was most if not all of them. It was weird to me that they were less concerned about marketing their business or the value of their employment opportunity - they were marketing a non-white male workplace.

 

Anyways, I ended up at the same employer as my lifelong friend. The only difference was he had a year of experience on me when we started, he had a badge or recognition from an opportunity that people of my background were specifically excluded from and he was debt free because of where his father was born where I am still in plenty of student debt to this day. Never mind that we grew up on the same street, went to the same schools and largely had identical backgrounds. He received a discount on his education and a head start in his career on account of where his father was born. My mother, who grew up in poverty, was not able to get me any financial benefit on account of her skin. However, all of her former neighbors' growing up, are able to cash in on this race-based aid and opportunity that is fully entangled in our culture. To me, that would classify as unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things, on the grounds of race, age, or sex but I have white privilege, so I am not sure I can express myself in this manner without being classified as a racist.

Thank you for sharing.

 

I had a very similar experience to raBBit.

 

Both of my parents are immigrants. Similarly, they were one of the last families to move out of their parish when the neighborhood changed and their church was closed. That's when they decide to move.

 

The only privilege I had was a private Catholic education because that was something my parents valued, but we had few material things. Pretty much the only toys we had were balls - many which we found at parks.

 

My dad worked as a union building engineer. Solid, but unspectacular income. My mom worked a few shifts as a waitress, earning very little outside of a little time away from her six kids. They had a mortgage, tuition, and no savings.

 

We were all above average to excellent students. We all earned degrees from four year universities. None of us received financial aid.

 

My best friend, who went to high school with me and who was my college roommate, has a background which is basically the same as mine - with the exception of having 3 kids in his family, being of Mexican descent, and he growing up in an arguably better neighborhood. His grades were lower than mine. His ACT was much lower. Yet, he went to U of I for free. In fact, he got tuition, room and board + additional money for living expenses. I had loans and work study.

 

I understand the white privilege argument in an historical sense, but there are plenty of white individuals and communities that do not benefit simply from the color of their skin. Maybe society doesn't automatically judge them in a negative way based solely on the color of their skin as frequently happens with minorities, but large numbers of white people are just as underserved as their minority counterparts. Real "white privilege" only belongs to a select few.

Thank you for sharing

 

I enjoyed reading those perspectives.

Do you agree with me on the issue I first brought up? That the white privilege gangs should NOT be humored by anybody agreeing they have white privilege when accosted by these rabble rousers? I wouldn't do it.

[Reddy]

Greg what on earth are white privilege gangs?