General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: It's disappointing to see "liberals" deny the existence of white privilege [View all]badtoworse
(5,957 posts)Getting your rights is not a privilege because rights are things that neither the government nor anyone can lawfully deny you. The Bill of Rights is not a list thing of rights that were granted to the citizens. It's a list of things the government does not have the power to do, in effect, it says the rights were always yours and the government can't take them away from you. If you are being denied your rights, as many black people are, you are the victim of an injustice.
Privileges, on the other hand, are things with which the grantor can exercise discretion in giving them to you. Driving on a public road is not a right; it's a privilege. You get the privilege by passing certain tests and keeping a clean driving record. You get the privilege of using certain golf courses or tennis courts by joining a country club. You don't have any right to membership - if the club doesn't like you, they don't have to accept you as a member and you don't get any privileges. That is the club's perogative and they are not breaking any laws if they don't let you in. Do you honestly see civil rights this way?
In the context we're discussing, prejudice involves denying someone their rights because of their skin color. Neither the government nor anyone else has the legitimate power to do that and consequently, there can't be any discretion involved in who gets their rights and who doesn't. For that reason it's inaccurate to call white people getting their rights a privilege.
In another thread, I asked why proponents of the white privilege concept insist on using an inaccurate description and didn't get a straight answer. Perhaps they believe that doing so will attach some stigma to not being denied your rights. If that is true, then the people involved are being disingenuous and manipulative. That in a nutshell is why I don't accept the idea of white privilege.