It's important for everyone to call out bigotry when they see it. The problem of course is that those of privilege have a hard time seeing how prevalent the problem really is. I know some people hate the term privilege, but it's apt. Privilege is simply the power to avoid. Avoid consequences, avoid risks, avoid unpleasantness, etc.
Privilege is at the heart of both incidents in the news right now; the Central Park drama queen and the police killing in Minn. Both are appalling to watch. But at the heart of both is the same sense of privilege - the ease in which a person's ethnicity became an excuse for the worst of human behavior. Behavior so racist that the individuals don't even seem to recognize it.
And that is the world in which I imagine our fellow citizens of color have to walk every second of every day. Waiting for the next person who isn't a racist to do something appallingly racist.
It's important for everyone to call out bigotry when they see it. The problem of course is that those of privilege have a hard time seeing how prevalent the problem really is. I know some people hate the term privilege, but it's apt. Privilege is simply the power to avoid. Avoid consequences, avoid risks, avoid unpleasantness, etc.
ReplyDeletePrivilege is at the heart of both incidents in the news right now; the Central Park drama queen and the police killing in Minn. Both are appalling to watch. But at the heart of both is the same sense of privilege - the ease in which a person's ethnicity became an excuse for the worst of human behavior. Behavior so racist that the individuals don't even seem to recognize it.
And that is the world in which I imagine our fellow citizens of color have to walk every second of every day. Waiting for the next person who isn't a racist to do something appallingly racist.