Do you think white privilege exists?

SSG(P) Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 04 Nov 2017 17:31:36 -0400

Do you think white privilage exists? If yes, what’s some examples of it and what’s your definition of it. I think it’s a made up phrase that attempts and sometimes succeeds at shamming or guilting white people. Whites don’t have white only scholarships, minorities do. 2 students, 1 white...1 minority apply for college, white is more qualified, but minority gets accepted. White privilage is fake.

Response by MSgt Danny Hope made Nov 4 at 2017 5:37 PM

MSgt Danny Hope — Sat, 04 Nov 2017 17:37:19 -0400

I think you're gonna catch a lot of feedback on this post. Don't get me wrong, I think it is a legitimate question; but the subject is very emotionally charged.

Response by Cpl Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 4 at 2017 5:37 PM

Cpl Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 04 Nov 2017 17:37:57 -0400

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoHAG9UFaKI

Debunking White Privilege: The Economic Reality

Jay Fayza presents the evidence that debunks the concept of white privilege. MORE: http://www.therebel.media/debunking_white_privilege_the_economic_reality h...

Response by SGT Matthew Sesar made Nov 4 at 2017 5:40 PM

SGT Matthew Sesar — Sat, 04 Nov 2017 17:40:34 -0400

Don’t know, never spent a day in someone else’s shoes.

Response by LTC David Brown made Nov 4 at 2017 5:41 PM

LTC David Brown — Sat, 04 Nov 2017 17:41:08 -0400

I think there are aspects to it, but it is over played. There are always people who get breaks, born to connections, born to wealth etc. they have priviledge also. Take what you are given and do what you can with it. Some soar beyond what we can imagine and some sit and feel sorry for themselves. Opportunities exist regardless. Tell me what her priviledge is other than loving parents. http://www.lifenews.com/2014/09/03/mother-was-forced-to-abandon-her-daughter-with-no-legs-now-shes-a-gymnast/

Mother Was Forced to Abandon Her Daughter With No Legs, Now She's A Gymnast | LifeNews.com

Mother Was Forced to Abandon Her Daughter With No Legs, Now She's A Gymnast

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 4 at 2017 6:09 PM

1SG Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 04 Nov 2017 18:09:45 -0400

I think it exists but as has been said, is over played. Still...

http://www.nber.org/digest/sep03/w9873.html

Employers' Replies to Racial Names

"Job applicants with white names needed to send about 10 resumes to get one callback; those with African-American names needed to send around 15 resumes to get one callback."

Response by CSM Michael J. Uhlig made Nov 4 at 2017 6:13 PM

CSM Michael J. Uhlig — Sat, 04 Nov 2017 18:13:07 -0400

No such thing, it's called American privilege!

Limousine liberals are peddling the convoluted construct of “white privilege” to explain unequal achievement. This misguided notion fosters complacency and exacerbates inequality, preventing pursuit of something much more powerful – American privilege.

This quote is from the American Thinker article.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 4 at 2017 7:09 PM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 04 Nov 2017 19:09:37 -0400

Maybe at one point in time it did. I think that in today's world it's a handicap.

Response by SPC Erich Guenther made Nov 5 at 2017 12:04 AM

SPC Erich Guenther — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 00:04:57 -0400

Some people are afraid to try to succeed and look for environmental excuses to not even make the effort it is not race specific but across the board of all ethnicities and races. That's what I think. I am sure I will get slammed for that opinion but I find it to be true. Case in point, I am really good at investing money on the NYSE and earning a lot of money per year doing that. I try to teach others to do it over the internet and in person and 85-95% of the people I try to teach either do not want to make the effort to learn or are too tight fisted with their money to take any risk or invest any sizeable amount of money. Thats primarily where I form my conclusion from BUT it also is formed by looking at who enlisted in the Armed forces and who did not. There is risk in that decision. Look around the people you know, who took the risk who said no thanks. Same with starting a small business. So I kind of view the "white privilege" thing as racially charged term but think it through and apply my comments. Some people regardless of race or ethnicity just do not want to take specific risks that would lift them up economically. A lot of time the opportunity is there they either do not see it or refuse to take the risk.

Response by Maj John Bell made Nov 5 at 2017 5:49 AM

Maj John Bell — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 05:49:27 -0500

All kinds of "undeserved" privileges exist. What unearned advantage would you not offer your child? The question is not "Are the turkeys holding me down?" OF COURSE THEY ARE. They hold you down because you are the minority, or are the majority, or are poor, or are rich, or you wear glasses, or have acne, or are a nerd, or are a jock, or are a liberal, or are a conservative, or are religious, or are an atheist, or are skinny, or are fat... ad nauseum. There is no shortage of people that want to, and will, hold you down and/or back. The only thing that matters is when you decide to stop rising back up. I have no sympathy for those who lie there and accept it. They should spend their life eating dirt. I have the utmost respect for those that yell "BULL SHIT" and get back up again. They should spend their life wiping the blood away from their mouth and eat King Crab Legs, Corn on the Cob, Cornbread - all dripping with butter; and for desert Baklava with Vanilla Ice Cream.

Forgive me as I wax poetic:

I who have lived my life,
My years of hot-blood roving, in the sun--
Now that my course is run,
Is it for me to die Hemmed from the sapphire sky,
Scene of my joy and strife-- Die here--where the pale chilling blood can just Stain my wan lips
As the soul slips
Into the darkness? Shall I die in bed,
Lost in the shadows of a dimming room,
Unutterably sordid? Give me dust
Sweeping across the barrens, choking down
The feeble death-gasp till the red stars reel
In a weird dirge-dance round my sinking head,
Rather than see through gloom
The specter-pallid nurse in white and gray,
The ice-nerved doctor with his black-browed frown,
Stealthily steal
To fend the last light of the dying day
With close-drawn blinds from my light-thirsty eyes--
Ye sunset skies!
I used to know your splendor! Let me die
Like any dog, but let it be away
Under the open sky!

Give me to die like a beast, afar, alone
With but the hawk and crow
To watch beside me while I cast my soul,
And but the sky to know
What my racked lips have uttered, what last groan,
Or curse or prayer, I breathed to heaven above--
And this the whole
Boon that I ask of you--to split in twain
With your wild night-winds, for the ancient love
I bore you, O ye Sunset-flames, the smother
That rides like some dire curse upon my chest,
And let me feel again
The blessed western breeze--my restless brother
On many an endless road--that knew me best
Of all the winds that sweep around the world.
--Give me to drown, in the dark, where, tempest-hurled,
The black ship wavers down through soundless sea;

GIVE ME TO DIE IN A GOOD FIGHT!!! FOUL OR FAIR!!!,

With but a heart to stab, a throat to clutch,
And once again to see
That gay red haze of madness veil my sight--
To feel the hot breath and the blood-stiff hair--
I ask too much?
I am a beast, they say?
Then let me die,
By all the gods, just as a beast should die--
Out in the flaming sunset, far away
Under the open sky!

Kenneth Rand 1891-1918.

OOOOH RAHHHHHHHH!!!

Got melodrama?

Response by SSG Jessica Bautista made Nov 5 at 2017 5:52 AM

SSG Jessica Bautista — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 05:52:43 -0500

So this is one of those subjects where white people get super defensive and argue down the importance of race and social privilege. You even admit yourself that you don't know what it is, but you've already determined that it's "fake". Privilege is not always overt, and most times you won't see it because it's not what is currently happening, it is what already happened. These aren't excuses for failure, it's just one facet of our society. Stuff happened, and now we're dealing with the aftershocks.

So we're going to start with slavery because, let's face it, it was a pretty awful time for black people. We're not assigning blame, so it doesn't matter if your family owned slaves or voted a certain way. It's not about any one group or family. It's easy to say "slavery is over, get over it", but we're still fighting over Confederate monuments, so...

Anyway, slavery didn't just abruptly end with emancipation. Slaves started with nothing. The newspapers were filled with ads of family members who were separated as slaves (remember, they weren't "people"). So there were a whole crap ton of single parents, orphans, and other disadvantaged family groupings. Finding family takes time and money, which most probably didn't have.

To justify enslaving a people, they had to be viewed as sub-human. This is true in all cases of human rights violations. White people weren't inherently evil, obviously. Slavery gave America the free labor that allowed our economic growth spurt. These attitudes didn't go away. Without slaves, their previous owners likely made less profit. This is where resentment started. Imagine someone who wasn't even seen as full human being, and suddenly they were expecting to be equal to their owners. How do we know resentment existed? Segregation, lynchings, stereotyping, etc. Again, not placing blame, it is what it is.

So, imagine generations later, the majority of the country and, more importantly, people in positions of power were white. All things being equal, what explains that? Lynchings often targeted successful men, who may or not have had families to provide for. Black families who moved into decent neighborhoods were often chased out with violence and often losing their material possessions. Note that most wealth is inherited. If you started with less than nothing in a society that actively hindered successful black people, you will likely leave nothing for your family.

Remember, not assigning blame, but also note that when a black person doesn't act in a certain socially acceptable way, a common insult is "ghetto". Remember why ghettos existed. It was a way to maintain segregation.

Recall that the Civil Rights movement was not that long ago in America's history. There are still people alive today who experienced it. Compare that with the time it took from emancipation to desegregation. There are other signs of integrated racism (again, not overt, and not assigning blame), but I'll leave it at that for now.

Also, that is not how affirmative action works, and white women benefit from it the most.

Response by SSG(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 5 at 2017 10:55 AM

SSG(P) Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 10:55:57 -0500

SSG Jessica Bautista it’s not bias when we both outscored him in every aspect of the application process. We were more qualified and he got the job because of “minority privilege”. And I treat everybody equal regardless of color which is something liberals and democrats never do in regards to whites. I’ve never killed anyone nor do I want to and as I said I treat everyone equally so if I arrest more blacks than whites than obviously they are commiting more crime than anybody else.

Response by Susan Foster made Nov 5 at 2017 11:21 AM

Susan Foster — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 11:21:45 -0500

Of course it does, and it's always been that way, especially in this country. It didn't go away with EEO rules. And no, explaining it off on "only liberals think so..." isn't very thoughtful, and doesn't explain the research I've done on it. But I will probably get a lot a flak anyway as I see the other opinions.

It's a long and complex subject, but here is a good article on it. http://www.yesmagazine.org/peace-justice/10-examples-that-prove-white-privilege-exists-in-every-aspect-imaginable-20170724

10 Examples That Prove White Privilege Exists in Every Aspect Imaginable

Lessons people of color have taught me that changed my life—and could change yours too.

Response by Sharon Lee made Nov 7 at 2017 6:21 PM

Sharon Lee — Tue, 07 Nov 2017 18:21:54 -0500

Of course it does.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 20 at 2021 9:44 PM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 20 Jan 2021 21:44:06 -0500

If someone tells me in my unit that I have white privilege and are getting hostile with it. I’m going straight to EO