White Privilege is a thing. Reverse racism is not a thing. Not even a little bit.

[Soph0571]

Inspired by an article that I wrote today about reparations:

If anyone tries to challenge any racist behaviour by anyone anywhere they just have to jump in and wail about the injustice of it all. Any challenge to their racism has to be met with a group of generally white, generally male, generally middle aged or older calling out the caller out as racist. Just look at the entire republican field - they understand that by accusing people of playing the race card it will stop them challenging their own racist behaviours, their own dog whistles and their own pathetic attempts to appeal to a far right racist base of true nutters – those who actually want a race war. Every time they call out an anti-racist as playing a race card for not accepting their racist bullshit remember that this is what they are doing. They are pandering to a far right fascist racist co-hort – a vote that no normal person would seek to win.

Let us all remember that the vast majority of sentinel human beings understand that reverse racism is not real. The white privilege crowd choose not to understand that racism at its heart is about supremacy and power. Without power you cannot have racism within any real definition of the term. Couple that with the "if you call me racist that makes you the real bigot" shtick and the right wing racists really has an effective power play in trying to shut down the conversation. You have to hand it to them. It is a white privilege pincer movement to shut down any challenge to their world view. Their contradictory and hypocritical position relies on an almost impressive level of arrogance combined with ignorance: it demands that not only you not be offended by the racist comment or deed perpetuated against you, in addition, even though they hate when you challenge their behaviours or take offence at their narrative, they are allowed to be offended that you have the nerve to take offence. Challenging a person who is shrouded in white privilege causes division, apparently.

In the real world, however, it is pretty simple. White Privilege is a thing. Reverse racism is not a thing. Not even a little bit.

[brush]

1. Considering this is DU, there's a surprising amount of instant "NOs" on your reparations thread.

Many hold on to that privilege dearly, even some so-called progressives.

[marylandblue]

2. I think "racist" has more than one meaning, hence a lot of confusion.

One is systemic racism, that's a one-way street that works against African Americans. Another is a personal attitude that an individual may or may not hold. That can be a two-way street. You are talking about two different things.

I don't think you are racist for asking for reparations. I just don't think we should do anything called "reparations" for anyone not directly enslaved. I do think we should fight against systemic racism and have an open conversation about how to end the racist policies that exist all around us. I don't think our country is actual capable of having this conversation, even just among progressives, which is why race-related threads generate a lot of heat but no light on DU.

I don't care if you call me racist or stupid or think I don't understand racism. I've got my own experiences in life. They are good enough to understand lots of things.