White Privilege Is Real

[LondonTown]

Been thinking hard on this, and in gonna try and share my thoughts, though I'm probably gonna convey this in a messy way. Here goes...

White People; quit sleeping and wake up.

Been following this whole Ferguson thing from the UK, as it's been brought to my attention as I follow a lot of CHH artists on Twitter, and something that's been on my heart. I've been following the news and activists closely, and one thing that has stood out glaringly to me is; white people and their privilege.
Where are you? Sure there's some of us about, but the majority are quiet.

Saying white privilege exists, or accusing someone of it does not mean that person is being racist themselves. They are just pointing out the obvious, and the privilege that comes with being white.
Just because your blinded by white privilege, does not make one a racist. So don't get defensive over it. Equally black people, this does not make people blinded by privilege, racist.

Speaking as a white person, and one who too was blinded by white privilege, I know how it feels.
I've never been a racist. I've never seen in colour. Even my dad, brother and grandmother aren't white!
Race is not an issue to me.
And there lies the problem.

It's not an issue. I've never, or rarely encountered racism. I haven't been racially profiled.
I don't know how it feels, for it to be an issue.

Black people encounter racism daily/often. White people don't.
But to my white brothers and sisters, we need to open our eyes to the suffering of our black brothers and sisters.
We all know racism is wrong. We get that. But what about the racism that isn't as visible to the naked eye? Do we notice that? We need to.
Why about when it comes to the people we trust?

And that's another point. Trust. I've always trusted the police (and still do), but it's slightly different in the UK than in the US. But as an outsider looking in;
The police are their to protect us, and they do. So we trust them. We don't get followed by them, we don't get arrested without much cause, and we don't get killed.
So that trust isn't broken. But black people's trust is broken, because they experience the opposite.

I mean white people in the USA- you have that Open Carry movement.
Imagine if black people started doing that in Florida.
I bet half of them would get shot at by a cop, and the other half shot at by a hundred Zimmermans.

So where am I going with all this?

White people: your not racist. But you are blind. Open up those eyes and see.
Black people: Continue your patient education of white people, and patiently explain their white privilege to them. Remember most of these folks aren't racist/ they just can't see the racism.

Edit:
And White People; get out there on the battlefield and protest too. This your battle too. It's your friends, your neighbours and your fellow humans who's rights are being tramped on.
Get our and show your support, show that you won't tolerate it.

Written by a white guy, formerly blinded by White Privilege.

[faylor]

Race is not an issue to me.
And there lies the problem.

It's not an issue. I've never, or rarely encountered racism. I haven't been racially profiled.
I don't know how it feels, for it to be an issue.
.

Well put.

[The Light Within]

I don't think it should be termed "white privilege " though, because it almost sounds somewhat like it's unfairly demonizing white people, and people associate privilege with wealth and life being a cake walk, which it doesn't mean in this context.

Who of us can do anything about what race we're born to? Even more, all white people aren't responsible for the way a country's hierarchy is set up when it's been this way before most of us were even in existence. We have the founding fathers and colonists to thank for that. A lot of white people don't understand that privilege doesn't mean that we're exempt from having a hard lot in life, struggles, or that everything has been handed to us by default of whiteness. It DOES mean that we have a degree of immunity from disparate treatment by society at large.

I will say that Canada as a whole is one of the most fairest countries in the world and one may not experience racism to an extent they would in other countries. I've asked many a minority if they feel theve been treated fairly and they usually say yes. In fact I was just talking about this with a black friend of mine today at work. A question that does pop up in my mind from time to time is: Does black privilege in predominantly black countries exist, or asian for that matter, or even arab privilege?

Some people think the whole "white privilege" mantra is just anti-white racism and hatred in its purest form (which may very well be for some people), but I think the ones who don't think it exists a lot of times are very out of touch with the reality of others unlike themselves, or would rather be oblivious to a truth that makes them uncomfortable.

[Deadmanwalking]

I don't think it should be termed "white privilege " though, because it almost sounds somewhat like it's unfairly demonizing white people, and people associate privilege with wealth and life being a cake walk, which it doesn't mean in this context.

I can see that. What term would you suggest be used? Because white privilege makes perfect sense to me despite some people's sensitivity to the term.

Who of us can do anything about what race we're born to? Even more, all white people aren't responsible for the way a country's hierarchy is set up when it's been this way before most of us were even in existence. We have the founding fathers and colonists to thank for that. A lot of white people don't understand that privilege doesn't mean that we're exempt from having a hard lot in life, struggles, or that everything has been handed to us by default of whiteness. It DOES mean that we have a degree of immunity from disparate treatment by society at large.

All white people are responsible for the way the country is working. Sure things were set up a certain way, and it's up to everyone to work together to make a change. Every single person.

A question that does pop up in my mind from time to time is: Does black privilege in predominantly black countries exist, or asian for that matter, or even arab privilege?

White privilege exists everywhere. You may not get the same treatment as a native Japanese in Japan, but you will still be treated better than a black person. Fact.

Some people think the whole "white privilege" mantra is just anti-white racism and hatred in its purest form (which may very well be for some people), but I think the ones who don't think it exists a lot of times are very out of touch with the reality of others unlike themselves, or would rather be oblivious to a truth that makes them uncomfortable.

People who think that are racists who want white supremacy to continue as is.

[LUPE]

White privilege in the United States is the fruit of institutionalized racism. It will never go away. Our country will never be free of it. I'm just keepin' it real. I do think efforts to educate white people who are oblivious to the reality of white privilege can be a good thing though. I do think it's a lot tougher for racial minorities to bring white people around on the issue though.

[seal]

Yo,

White Privilege is BULL CRAP.

You ask the immigrants who came over here and didn't speak a lick of English if they were privileged!!!

I tell you what..... I am getting pretty fed up with these worldly heathens acting like Christians.

If you don't Love your Brother who you see....Stop claiming to Love the Invisible Non White Non Black God.

If you Pagan be Pagan.


Grace and Peace,
seal

[EgoVanEgo]

[outsider's point of view so please put away your guns]
I agree that white people should get involved in the cause to call for a change but I wonder how fair it is to make every white person feel they are responsible for the ongoing products of a broken society. (while this case exposes the social and racial divide it still isn't proven that the killing was because of racism)
How should we as Christians react to all of this? Are we TRULY seeking to see communities healed by the gospel of Christ or is this a time to bring up our deep-seated grievances? How much does this constitute a major prayer item for us? Clearly this is a heart issue so should we not turn to God's word for the solution? Is it us vs them or sinful man vs holy God?

[Deadmanwalking]

Yo,

White Privilege is BULL CRAP.

You ask the immigrants who came over here and didn't speak a lick of English if they were privileged!!!

I tell you what..... I am getting pretty fed up with these worldly heathens acting like Christians.

If you don't Love your Brother who you see....Stop claiming to Love the Invisible Non White Non Black God.

If you Pagan be Pagan.


Grace and Peace,
seal

So, what do you call it when a white guy shoots up a theatre, but gets taken into custody unharmed, but an unarmed black man get shot up? What do you call white getting better mortgage rates and more approvals than blacks? What do you call it when minorities are given more toxic loans? What do you call it when blacks are imprisoned at an insanely disproportionate rate? Or when they receive harsher sentencing for the same crimes?

White privilege is real. I would expect better from you seal. You gotta do some research beyond just the scripture.

[Deadmanwalking]

[outsider's point of view so please put away your guns]
I agree that white people should get involved in the cause to call for a change but I wonder how fair it is to make every white person feel they are responsible for the ongoing products of a broken society. (while this case exposes the social and racial divide it still isn't proven that the killing was because of racism)
How should we as Christians react to all of this? Are we TRULY seeking to see communities healed by the gospel of Christ or is this a time to bring up our deep-seated grievances? How much does this constitute a major prayer item for us? Clearly this is a heart issue so should we not turn to God's word for the solution? Is it us vs them or sinful man vs holy God?

I don't see a conflict. Your world view can be Christian and you can still believe in equality. Why can't we benefit the community with the gospel AND services? Retrace your steps through James 1. What good it is to tell a man be fed if you don't feed him? We're not responsible for salvation. We're responsible to preach the gospel. Our second greatest commandment is to love our neighbor as ourselves. So if you're in need, would you want lip service or would you want help as well? I think it works together with Christ at the core.

[Deadmanwalking]

You ask the immigrants who came over here and didn't speak a lick of English if they were privileged!!!

Whether or not they felt privilege doesn't change the fact that they still had more rights and privilege than black people. THAT's white privilege.

[seal]

Yo,


If the Light in your eyes are darkness then how great is that darkness.

Repent


Grace and Peace,
seal

[EgoVanEgo]

I don't see a conflict. Your world view can be Christian and you can still believe in equality. Why can't we benefit the community with the gospel AND services? Retrace your steps through James 1. What good it is to tell a man be fed if you don't feed him? We're not responsible for salvation. We're responsible to preach the gospel. Our second greatest commandment is to love our neighbor as ourselves. So if you're in need, would you want lip service or would you want help as well? I think it works together with Christ at the core.

But once you've labelled all white people as responsible for the system I think that's not a good place to begin

[Deadmanwalking]

But once you've labelled all white people as responsible for the system I think that's not a good place to begin

It's everyone's problem. EVERYONE. White people included. And so yes, all white people are responsible. They're responsible for keeping racists in power. They're responsible for buying into racism. They're responsible for laughing at racist jokes. All white people are responsible to be better than racism and not support it. That's a great place to begin. Because people think it's more charitable to feed kids overseas but don't have any issue with schools being stripped of resources...or plain shut down....while prisons get built based on the test scores of children and young teens. Yes, ALL white people are responsible. And only when we can get a majority of white people to realize that and contribute their voice, then we can see some more changes that need to be made.

[Deadmanwalking]

Yo,


If the Light in your eyes are darkness then how great is that darkness.

Repent


Grace and Peace,
seal

Not sure how that's relevant. You didn't answer anything. What do you call it if it's not white privilge?

If you're saying the gospel is of first importance, that's obvious. That's like saying, who cares that this person has a broken heart? All they need is water food and shelter. First, that only true for immediate survival. Second, it's only ONE part of the big picture. Yes, people need the gospel. But the body needs to serve the people.

James 2:15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

People are being killed, impoverished, brainwashed, undereducated, imprisoned, treated unfairly, etc. If we have an opportunity to change that, why not? Wouldn't that be loving our neighbor as ourselves? I mean, if all we did was worry about the gospel then we'd just have a bunch of Christian slaves in 2014 unable to read the bible for themselves unless they were lucky enough to have a master who permitted it.

[The Light Within]

We must remember that racism, in varying forms and to various degrees, has been a plague on humanity for thousands of years. This isn't simply a new concept that just arose in the last few hundred years.

[Deadmanwalking]

We must remember that racism, in varying forms and to various degrees, has been a plague on humanity for thousands of years. This isn't simply a new concept that just arose in the last few hundred years.

Who's forgetting this?

[The Light Within]

Who's forgetting this?

It's something to ponder on while we tackle this issue. While we must strive to help those around us in a temporary sense, we must also strive to tell people about a lasting eternal solution. Heaven on earth seems like a great idea, but the hearts of men are so vile. How do we tame the heart of men? With programs to educate? How many educated people still commit crimes and have a deep seeded hate for others?

[LUPE]

[outsider's point of view so please put away your guns]
I agree that white people should get involved in the cause to call for a change but I wonder how fair it is to make every white person feel they are responsible for the ongoing products of a broken society. (while this case exposes the social and racial divide it still isn't proven that the killing was because of racism)
How should we as Christians react to all of this? Are we TRULY seeking to see communities healed by the gospel of Christ or is this a time to bring up our deep-seated grievances? How much does this constitute a major prayer item for us? Clearly this is a heart issue so should we not turn to God's word for the solution? Is it us vs them or sinful man vs holy God?

I think as Christians we need to be realistic about how we react to all of this. While the Gospel is the answer to man's evil hearts the Gospel will not be accepted by those who are racist to the extent that it will usher in an era free from white privilege. The deep-seated grievances that are all-too-real will require radical answers that realistically bring radical change. I think Christians have every right to advocate for radical changes in race relations be that in inter-personal relationships or from institutions in our society. I don't see that call for radical change is something that constitutes a major prayer item necessarily.

[EgoVanEgo]

It's everyone's problem. EVERYONE. White people included. And so yes, all white people are responsible. They're responsible for keeping racists in power. They're responsible for buying into racism. They're responsible for laughing at racist jokes. All white people are responsible to be better than racism and not support it. That's a great place to begin. Because people think it's more charitable to feed kids overseas but don't have any issue with schools being stripped of resources...or plain shut down....while prisons get built based on the test scores of children and young teens. Yes, ALL white people are responsible. And only when we can get a majority of white people to realize that and contribute their voice, then we can see some more changes that need to be made.

I'm not sure I share that view...but as I said I'm neither American nor in the US so I'll just watch from the sidelines and pray. Bless you

[EgoVanEgo]

I think as Christians we need to be realistic about how we react to all of this. While the Gospel is the answer to man's evil hearts the Gospel will not be accepted by those who are racist to the extent that it will usher in an era free from white privilege. The deep-seated grievances that are all-too-real will require radical answers that realistically bring radical change. I think Christians have every right to advocate for radical changes in race relations be that in inter-personal relationships or from institutions in our society. I don't see that call for radical change is something that constitutes a major prayer item necessarily.

My point not whether we should respond but HOW we should respond as Christians. Shouldn't the gospel inform our actions? Why should deep-seated, sensitive issues not constitute a major prayer item?

Anyway that was just my thought from the sidelines. We should be careful not to discard the gospel in such trying times, no matter how sensitive the issue.