General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: It's disappointing to see "liberals" deny the existence of white privilege [View all]AverageJoe90
(10,745 posts).....if anything at all, it's certain of the defenders(well, not all, but certainly some) of the use of "white privilege" language who've been trying to control a lot of these conversations here(and not the other way around!).....but that also, there are some real practical problems with the term.
A large part of the problem has to do with the term's own shortcomings; not only does it fail to adequately address class, political and even gender issues, but it's more modern iteration in particular assumes that all white people will always have it better than all People of Color; the reality is a lot more complex than that.
For example, at least on the coasts(OK, Georgia, South Carolina, north Florida and Orange County, CA excluded), does one really think that a working class white man in a beat-up old car smelling of cigarettes is necessarily going to have less of a chance of being pulled over or needlessly detained than a wealthy PoC driving a Mercedes-Benz or a BMW? Or that a poor white woman that was driven into sex work will necessarily be viewed as more respectable than a nicely dressed Woman of Color who works a regular job?
As to the latter, perhaps the out-and-out racists would see the poor white woman in a better light than the nicely dressed African-American or Latina or Lebanese, etc. lady who has a respectable full-time job. But the public wouldn't necessarily agree with that; even many of those who lean culturally prejudiced might be inclined to have more respect for the latter woman than the former(particularly if they're really uptight).
And in many parts(not all, though!) of the country, a well-liked politico or other authority figures who happens to be a PoC is likely to let off a bit easier than some poor white guy from the local trailer park, if they ran a red light, or were caught drunk behind the wheel, etc.
And that's just one thing; this doesn't even cover public confusion over just what we mean by "white privilege", and many other things.
In any case, this can be said: although "White Privilege" may have been intended to be thought provoking, and perhaps it has been, it just hasn't worked out as a teaching tool for the general public. And all I and others are saying is, it wouldn't hurt to consider trying something else.