Did I get your attention with this post’s title?
Do you believe in white privilege? I kind of thought everyone did, because here in America the Anglo-Saxon white people (those who came here from Europe) have always been in control. All of our nation’s founders came from Europe. (Yes, the native Americans were here first. I’m not disputing that.) The people who arrived on the Mayflower and those who followed came across the Atlantic Ocean from Europe and settled here. Pull out any history book and you can read about that. We all learned it in school.
I’m a proud descendant of German people who did just that. I have what is called white skin – I’m Caucasian. I’m a European American. Proud to be. My great great grandparents came here through Ellis Island and they eventually settled in Ohio. The family back then cleared land, and they farmed. I had a great grandfather who ran the small town’s store. They came by choice – for a new challenge, for a better opportunity, and to settle with their family.
As time went by the family’s children went to schools that were built. I had one grandparent that went to college and on to the seminary. My dad did too. By the time my generation came along, it was common: white kids went off to college. White people could move anywhere. They could go for a job anywhere. They could make choices from lots of options given to them. Suburbs bloomed for the white families. No white person was ever held back for his or her color.
Lately, we have been looking back at history a little more carefully, and we are trying to make a point that it is important to include everyone in history who came to live in this land, by choice or not. White, black, and all colors of brown have history in our country. The people who came to America from Africa were forced, or coerced, to come by the white men. They were brought over on ships to be ‘property’ of whites. At one point they were considered to be 3/5’s of a person. Again, we know the story: the civil war, and Abraham Lincoln, the Emancipation Proclamation… and the end of slavery.
But, we know it has taken decades upon decades for African Americans to slowly earn equal status – And they are not there yet. By any means. The Civil Rights movement is back because more work needs to be done. Blacks were not given the same rights coming here (voting, owning property, attending schools, and more) as the European Caucasians. They have catching up to do. Their stories were left out of most of the history books.
Please, tell me. You know this, right? I’m not telling you anything new.
Well, today, in a Facebook post I saw someone write that they were not able to ‘get’ why ‘everyone’ doesn’t totally respect the police, and why people want to run from an officer with a gun. It bothered me – enough to respond. Oh, yep. I did it. I responded with a comment about how this Facebook person has “white privilege” and therefore does not get the kind of fear a black person can have when even stopped for a simple traffic violation. I tried (unsuccessfully) to state that we have ‘white privilege’ and we don’t get treated the same way. I personally have never had my car searched when I have been stopped for a traffic violation… which I can also say, hasn’t been very often. I have never had a gun drawn and pointed at me by a police officer. I am a white woman driving a family car. Now, if I was a black woman, Or a black man…. or a teenage black man wearing a hoodie – will the traffic cop act the same? Most likely yes. Truly – I believe that most cops are good.
But, we have known for a long time, and now with video we have seen, that some cops do not treat white and black the same. It’s called ‘systematic racism.’ It comes from having ‘white privilege.’ It’s deep. It’s been carried down from generation to generation. It takes effort to change.
Let me just say that I got some mean spirited comments from what I wrote. I was called names. Someone said I ‘spewed’ out my own racism by telling someone they had the luxury of whiteness.
That post and the thread Of comments that followed scared me. It saddened me too, as it seems so much does these days. To not even acknowledge that white people have been given a better chance to succeed, and to choose what they want to do with their lives just seems like an ostrich with it’s head in the ground. And, to not have a little empathy for the pain and the fear African-Americans feel even today – STILL today – because of systematic racism…. well, it’s just sad. Without understanding it, and calling it out, and looking for ways to continually improve the situation, it can never get better.
Yes. I was told I was wrong for thinking there is ‘white privilege.’
Really? Yes, really.
PS: As with all my musings, this is my opinion. This is my place to write. This is my therapy.
Marla’s Musings 