To be slightly fed up of white people doing this

[TacoLover]

Every time there is a thread discussing racism, there will be a mention of white privilege. Cue a flurry of hurt posters writing essays about how stupid the idea of white privilege is and how it doesn't exist, because their lives are so hard and they grew up on a few pieces of bread and a Red Bull

This really gets on my tits because after seeing this shit time and time again, THIS ISN'T WHAT WHITE PRIVILEGE MEANS. It doesn't mean your life isn't hard, it doesn't mean you don't face barriers in your life. What it does mean is the barriers in your life will never or hardly ever be a result of the colour of your skin. It doesn't mean you live in a mansion because you're white.

Just needed to get that out,sorry. I'm sure my only replies will be white people telling me how racist I am for only targeting them(Even though this is something that only white people do)

YANBU OP!

And how sodding predictable that the first response to this thread was “yeah, but, what about...?”

YANBU of course white privilege is a thing.

It’s good that there’s so many white people on here saying that they understand it. I think they will be the ones to help make the change and improve things as time goes by. It means they might be a positive influence in situations in the future.

I don’t think using the term “black disadvantage” works. It cuts out other non white people who are affected by white privilege and it makes it seem like it’s just a ‘black thing’, something for black people to fix alone. Yes, it takes the focus of white people and might make them feel better about the label, but it also makes it less effective.

I think you contradicted yourself there, Laughingtreeknight

they state clearly that the main cause of homelessness for Black people in America is drugs, whereas the cause for whites is socio-economic

and then

Black people in America, because of their socio-economic status, are far more likely to become addicted to extremely destructive drugs

So one group is homeless because of their low socio-economic status, whilst the other group is homeless because they have addictions caused by their low socio-economic status. Does this mean that poor black people would be better off than poor white people if only they could stay off drugs? Very confused now.

Again deathgrip do you have any figures or statistics from the United Kingdom? As I stated earlier, the UK and the US are very different places. I'm sure you wouldn't accept me producing statistics or anecdotes from Australia or S Korea to back up my points.

There are no bars to receiving healthcare or charitable support in this country for people based on their race.

I can tell you this not only because its true, but from personal experience.

Yes agree that the term black disadvantage is wrong.

Divide et impera my friends.

Yes, yes, yes.

No contradiction Annie, I'm quoting form the articles that were posted by deathgrip

I probably didn't describe clearly enough the causes of homelessness for white people. My fault for typing to fast.

The main cause of homelessness in white homeless population is economic and other issues such as mental health. The main cause for black homeless people is drug use.

Those statistics refer to percentages of the homeless population, not total figures.

I understand Op.

There was a study done recently on job applications using a traditional Muslim name and a traditional White English name and it revealed how the traditional White English named person was much more likely to get an interview even when the skills and experience in the CV was exactly the same.

I think you need to think further as that comment certainly is not an 'interesting point'. Privilege is not something passed around... it's not the case that in some areas White people have "the privilege" and in some Asian people have "the privilege". "Ooo who's got the privilege in this area? Let's see"
White Privilege is a way to name the benefit of being white. It's a unique global privilege - and yes in some instances people of colour also have "power" or "influence" which is what you are alluding to there - but it is not the same thing.
The simple fact is that all of history has benefitted white people so if you are white you come with a shit load of benefits. That's it.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-38751307

Interesting point there. With the Rotherham sex gangs et al. Who has the privalige there? The white girls/children or the Asian men?

Once more, for the hard of hearing: THAT’S NOT HOW PRIVILEGE WORKS!

Here’s some actual statistics on the ethnicity of victims of child abuse: www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/aboutus/transparencyandgovernance/freedomofinformationfoi/childabuseandethnicity/extracttable.pdf

I'm white and I think you have a fair point, OP. Not read the full thread.

Yup

I notice it a lot since I have a black dh and mixed children. You can't deny that class privilege interacts with how, in the UK, we view different ethnic minorities. Not to mention adding religious prejudice to muddy the waters. I couldn't begin to list all the covert racism that I have witnessed my children and dh being subject too. My dd is probably treated the most favourably, at school and in her sports clubs, teachers and coaches like her because she is bright and good at sports, they push her and give her lots of attention. Ds is a bright, well behaved boy, but him and his black friends seem to receive harsh punishments for comparatively minor misdemeanors like chatting. I feel my dc can't just be like the average white child, they have to prove themselves more academically able or sporty or they'll just fall by the wayside.

We are all human beings.

Splitting us into tribes by race, sex, class or whatever and then talking about the one group as though they are a homogeneous mass and comparing them to another group as a homogeneous mass is only going to lead one way: arguments and division.

Likewise when a member of one of these “factions” does something another person doesn’t like, then someone from another “faction” attributes the problem to their race, sex, class etc, people start arguing.

Argue, argue, argue...forever!

I mean we could just all exist and treat everyone around us with respect?

Yeah, no problem whatsoever with white privilege in the U.K.

www.theguardian.com/housing-network/2017/jul/06/britain-housing-crisis-racist-bme-homelessness

www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/housing/homelessness/statutory-homelessness/latest

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/homelessness-ethnic-minorities-rise-conservative-tory-government-theresa-may-david-cameron-welfare-a7502126.html

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/black-boy-tied-lamppost-whipped-12180662

www.tes.com/news/more-60-cent-uk-school-staff-have-witnessed-racist-bullying

In one of the areas where I used to live white boys in particular were viewed with suspicion, to be kept away from, bad influence etc. I have a feeling that black people would also have come into this category although there were very few living in the area.

White women were treated with respect on the whole as long as the asian women didn't actively socialise with them. But the day to day people we came into contact with such as health professionals, shop workers, teachers etc treated white women well, the only prejudice I encountered was lack of social opportunities for white women such as mother and baby groups (I had pnd at the time)

Asian girls there seemed to be two attitudes. In some families they were the most disadvantaged group, not educated properly (by which mean sent to a very cheap girls only private school that I don't know how it wasn't shut down). Or the other extreme with academic pressure to achieve. Perfection was expected. (A neighbour who married into the area from a much more westernised family gave me a unique insight into the lives of these women.

Asian males were exalted. They were seen as not being able to do any wrong, superior in every way. All positions of authority seemed to be held by people from this category. However despite this, the majority that I came across were lovely people although I did find some of the younger generation quite intimidating in their superior attitudes.

I understand white privilege as far as I can. I've read John Scalzi's excellent explanation of it as the lowest difficulty setting. I get it. I try and analyse it, see it in my own actions and reactions. I remember my first 'introduction' to it when a black friend of mine was talking about going to Prague with his mum and having to check what the local attitude to black people was - I never had to do any such thing.

But so what? I don't really understand what all this privilege talk does except draw the battle lines even thicker. Millions of white people are not suddenly going to go 'whoops! The playing field has been severely un-level for hundreds if not thousands of years, I better do something about it!' because, among other things, that something is ill-defined and nebulous, and would probably involve an awful lot of sacrifice from people who already have very little.

It may well be my white privilege talking, but I feel it divides rather than brings together. Same as all this stuff about cultural appropriation. It feels like rings are drawn around people, cultures, skin colours, practices, all sorts and You Shall Not Pass if one of your attributes doesn't match a pre-determined set of criteria. In these times of extremification and entrenchment across society, what good is this doing?

If we're talking systemically rather than personally, then I'm with you 100%. But on a personal level, I don't get how it helps. Ditto male privilege.

As a mixed race man, I'm seen as unusual in my workplace because I've argued against measures which are promoted in the name of 'diversity and inclusion' which actually when you boil them down are just racist.

The upper management of my organisation are routinely referred to as 'pale, male and stale' thus instantly making three biased slurs at the same time.

When I have argued against preference being given to BAME candidates, I'm told that the reason it has to happen is because of 'white privilege'. This kind of thing is divisive and ultimately undermines all the good work people have done through the years to overcome racism. It just replaces one injustice with another.

I also feel personally offended by it, as it implies that I cannot possibly be as successful as a white man without some kind of outside assistance.

Divide et impera my friends.

Yes, yes, yes.

No, no, no.
Recognising something and putting a name to it is not creating the division. The division is already there, and if you can't name it you can't change it.
Also, to whoever was waffling on about recognising WP as being "identity politics"?
Nope. Black and brown people don't identify as black and brown. They just are.
It's not about a competition to see who has it worse. The white woman complaining that the only senior woman in her company is in HR? Sure, that's sexism. If she was a black woman she would likely find it even harder to rise in the company. That's the point! That's white priveledge.

It doesn't mean there are no poor white people or that sexism doesn't exist. It's just naming a thing that most non white people experience to some extent.

THIS ISN'T WHAT WHITE PRIVILEGE MEANS. It doesn't mean your life isn't hard

There is no such thing as 'white privilege' in the UK.

There is something called 'social class privilege' though.

A middle class son or daughter of a Nigerian surgeon in Hertfordshire would have significantly brighter future than a white working class boy or girl growing up on a council estate in Sunderland.

These threads are always painful to read but so necessary. As a white woman thwarted by male privilege and class privilege it is difficult to allow that you yourself benefit from some kinds of discrimination/default setting. But if you stop and think and push aside those natural 'but! But!' feelings, you can't help but see it's true.

Every social exchange you make is affected by the colour of your skin (along with other things) and those exchanges are generally less troublesome if you are white.

I'm white and I think you have a fair point, OP. Not read the full thread.

Deathgrip I agree that it’s not how privalige works overall. And yes white privalige is a terrible and real thing. But is it dangerous to say that all white people have privalige over all others regardless of situation? Do we then miss situations such as the Rotherham sex gangs because white girls are privaliged and this could never happen to them? I just just think that life isn’t this simple.

Again though deathgrip you are answering the question you want to answer, not the one I posed.

Do any of those article show that a black homeless drug addict would have a harder time getting out of their situation than a white homeless drug addict in a similar situation?

Because that was your original claim and its the one I'm challenging you on.