—
Systemic racism/societal racism does not exist against white people in this country and never has. There is no hardship (outside of an individual we may encounter who is prejudiced against whites) we face because of being white. Jim Wallis in, “America’s Original Sin,” says that racism is defined as “Prejudice PLUS power.” Thus, we as whites can experience a prejudice, but can never experience racism.
Is there such a thing as a powerless white person?
Powerless? I’d say not. Are there whites who are disadvantaged and poor? Absolutely. Are there whites who have worked hard for what they have and come from the bottom? Absolutely. No doubt about it, but they, nay, we, all have benefited and are benefiting from being the dominant culture and from white privilege.
My friend Isaac Birkins summarizes these matters perfectly:
Two terms:
Intersectionality and mutual exclusivity.
How do these two relate? Mutual exclusivity says that two things CANNOT happen at once. For instance, you can’t make one coin land on heads and tails at the same time. Another example is that you can’t turn left and right at the same time. This ties into intersectionality because they are factors working simultaneously. One can have racial privilege yet still lack class privilege. The two are not mutually exclusive as they can happen simultaneously. Intersectionality explains that one can have privilege in some areas and lack privilege in others, this is why there are also poor whites who still benefit from white privilege and the hegemonic culture.
Wallis speaks of racism as a systemic issue here, a macro-level oppressive force that is inherent in all our societal structures, especially the justice system.
The dominant culture has the power, which in this country is white. As Jim writes in “Racism: America’s Original Sin”:
The United States of America was established as a white society, founded upon the genocide of another race and then the enslavement of yet another.
Hence why the dominant culture has “prejudice PLUS power,” and why even disadvantaged, poor white folks, still benefit and are in essence, at the micro-level, not powerless.
I did not have anything given to me nor have I gained anything I’ve achieved easily, but I would say that as a white male, a Christian one at that, I have vastly benefited from my skin color and that I’ve received a position of being ahead based solely on that skin color.
|
I’m a white, Christian male living in a dominantly white country with a festering wound of racism yet to be repented of and reconciled. I grew up disadvantaged, poor, living on food stamps in a broken home filled with physical and emotional violence and abuse with drug abuse as a latch key kid who was removed from that situation and received into a private, non-profit Christian school.
I did not have anything given to me nor have I gained anything I’ve achieved easily, but I would say that as a white male, a Christian one at that, I have vastly benefited from my skin color and that I’ve received a position of being ahead based solely on that skin color.
The whole point, in short, is that racism is only reinforced and sustainable, inherent or not, through power. The minorities in this country have never had the socioeconomic and sociopolitical means to have that power, and it takes speaking truth to that power, which is consciously and subconsciously used, for it to come to an end and for racism to continue to be tackled and repented of.
Millennials are misguided when we say things like, “Racism ends if we just stop talking about it,” or, “Acknowledging privilege is itself racist.” It doesn’t work that’s why, and I refuse to accept that my speaking out about it is pushing some pendulum the other way or enabling return racism against whites by acknowledging my privilege and lack of hardship due to my being white.
Acknowledging the racism a set of people experience isn’t exacerbating racism, it’s revealing it for what it is, which is a wound still festering in our society and culture that we must speak truth about and continue to dialogue about if we want to see meaningful change occur in racial relations. Not speaking out about the injustice of racism still prevalent in our lives, often unintentionally and subconsciously, accepting our privilege, and acting to remedy these social ills is truly exacerbating the problems and making them worse. It’s time we get to work continuing the conversation those before us started.
“It is a beautiful thing to be on fire for justice… there is no greater joy than inspiring and empowering others––especially the least of these, the precious and priceless wretched of the earth!”― Cornel West, “Black Prophetic Fire”
Originally published on A Daring Existence
—
Discuss issues like this in our Conscious Intersectionality
Social Interest Group on Sundays at 9pm EST!
RSVP to join weekly calls on Conscious Intersectionality
—
Get the best stories from The Good Men Project
delivered straight to your inbox, here.
—
Photo Credit: Getty Images
This is bullshit. For years I have had to deal with blacks starting fights and or looking like they want to kill me because I’m white. Racism against blacks? I don’t think so. White people have it way harder when it comes to race relations.
What a load of poppycock. Sure there is a majority norm in this country. That doesn’t mean non Whites can’t hold power and spheres of influence in certain pockets or arenas. Furthermore, individuals can hold positions power of power to harm or be physically able or armed to harm others in the ultimate power of life and death over another person. To claim Whites can’t be powerless or that non Whites can’t be raciss is absolute rubbish.