Because I would apparently rather hold baby mice than blog, I have two links about white privilege today rather than something original or at least about the topic of the blog as a whole. To be fair, the mice babies are much cuter than my faceless readers.
The first is by a white female in a traditionally black sorority: “People often assume that as a white female, I don’t have to deal with racism. And they’re right — I don’t.”
The only quote that I might disagree with is this: “Many students in the white majority look to students whom identify under a minority status to teach them about race topics, which places an undue onus on the minority students.”
My thinking goes, who should I go to to learn about race topics? Shouldn’t I go to a black person to learn what it is like to be black? I wouldn’t want a man to go to another man to learn what it’s like to be a woman, and I’d gladly teach them myself (although I might be one of the worst women to ask). Do they want me to stay ignorant? That can’t be right.
Some light was shed by this comic explaining white privilege. At the bottom is a list of sources. Perhaps those who don’t want us white folk to look to minorities to teach us are saying that resources exist, and we needn’t bother specific individuals and shouldn’t expect them to always be prepared to answer any questions. That does make sense to me.
See, with my homeschooling background, and high school and college experience in honors classes where black students are almost non-existent, I don’t really even have a black friend (I do have some black people I know and I am on friendly terms with them, as far as I know). I might – almost certainly would – if I had more friends, but I don’t. This is not because I think black people are “lesser”; I just don’t tend to know them. I don’t really see this as a problem that needs rectifying because I think going out and looking specifically for a black friend for the purpose of not being racist seems… racist. Ditto for all the other “races” (which really aren’t a real thing anyway), although I’ve always been a fan of Mongoloids for some reason and am a lot closer to understanding Asians (Korea, Japan, and China specifically) than any other “foreign” non-white culture.
I guess what I’m saying is, I’m a prime example of someone with white privilege. I sometimes think and even say things that are offensive, and I’m sure I haven’t always noticed. I’d rather not do this, because it is a bad thing to do.
Of course, I do find some stereotypes amusing. For instance, black people liking fried chicken. That one in particular I find hilarious because EVERYBODY likes fried chicken. If I could eat fried chicken every day, I totally would.
The Complete History of the Universe: A Personal Journey 