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If this isn't enough to scare recruits from uga
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<blockquote data-quote="Northeast Stinger" data-source="post: 590457" data-attributes="member: 1640"><p>Yes, your comments were respectful and I appreciate that. </p><p></p><p>The challenge of white privilege which I alluded to earlier is that it likes to deflect responsibility. What other groups have done in other cultures at other times, though interesting and perhaps even informative about human nature, is entirely off the topic of white privilege as it is used by the social sciences to describe a particularly American phenomenon. </p><p></p><p>I don't want to give a lecture so forgive me while I shorthand a few historical points. </p><p></p><p>The Catholic Church in its doctrines of discovery decreed that non white people encountered in new lands were not really human. Therefore they could be treated in any way necessary in order to gain riches for the church and the privileged classes of Europe. </p><p></p><p>In the conquest of the Americas settlers survived by confiscating the cultivated lands of natives as well as stealing from their storehouses. This was helpful since clearing old growth forest was not possible for the first settlers. </p><p></p><p>Christopher Columbus used dogs to hunt down natives in his quest to find gold as well as bringing some natives back to Europe as slaves. Thus the pattern was set for America that white people would not only survive by robbing people of color but would actually begin to build their wealth on the backs of other people. </p><p></p><p>In the time of African enslavement in this country tremendous wealth was built off the labor of people of color. The nation's capital in Washington D.C. was all built by slave labor. At the end of the American Civil War it was determined that a fair payment for blacks having created tremendous wealth for this country was to give every family 40 acres and a mule. This was a modest payment given the horrors of slavery but it was entirely realistic and doable. Unfortunately, after Lincoln's assasination, and Johnson becoming president, the mood slowly shifted toward not doing anything that would anger the south or compromise the process of further wealth creation by the ruling oligarchy. Thus slaves remained slaves (though euphemistically called share croppers) and continued to work on plantations and in mills with their pay limited and their housing provided for a rental fee. </p><p></p><p>From that time forward many onerous laws were passed limiting the rights of people of color, further exploiting them for economic gain, and creating a legacy of strong subconscious feelings that dark people are inferior and white people are superior. </p><p></p><p>It is those subconscious feelings that make our societal issues so intractable. Here is a kind of sloppy illustration of what I mean. Almost all serial killers are white. Almost all mass shooters are white. Almost all child molesters are white. Most rapists are white. But I dare say we don't normally think of those things as racial characteristics of white people. And we shouldn't. But turn to a category where blacks are more heavily represented and, when polled, whites will admit that they think of those things as a racial characteristic of being black. Sadly, even a significant number of blacks will buy into negative racial profiling of other blacks. </p><p></p><p>All of that is the effect of one race having a dominant cultural position. Why do we call that privilege? Because, if you are white like I am, you have advantages that you don't even know you have, advantages built over generations of economic exploitation and cultural domination. You use those advantages every day just by virtue of the color of your skin. </p><p></p><p>Reparations may be another topic but I assure you it is possible to do. The problem is that as long as white people don't want to do it it will never happen. So in that sense it may be impossible. Rarely have I heard a white person say, "I'm in favor of it, I just think it is impossible because of ...." and then fill in the blank. The deeper reason is that most white people don't want to feel guilty for something they feel like they didn't do. Understandable. But if our knee jerk reaction is to decide we are just against reparations then it shuts down a conversation that might help us unravel centuries of systemic racism. </p><p></p><p>It might even turn on a light bulb so that we finally get why so many police officers make a split second decision under stress to shoot an unarmed black citizen.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Northeast Stinger, post: 590457, member: 1640"] Yes, your comments were respectful and I appreciate that. The challenge of white privilege which I alluded to earlier is that it likes to deflect responsibility. What other groups have done in other cultures at other times, though interesting and perhaps even informative about human nature, is entirely off the topic of white privilege as it is used by the social sciences to describe a particularly American phenomenon. I don't want to give a lecture so forgive me while I shorthand a few historical points. The Catholic Church in its doctrines of discovery decreed that non white people encountered in new lands were not really human. Therefore they could be treated in any way necessary in order to gain riches for the church and the privileged classes of Europe. In the conquest of the Americas settlers survived by confiscating the cultivated lands of natives as well as stealing from their storehouses. This was helpful since clearing old growth forest was not possible for the first settlers. Christopher Columbus used dogs to hunt down natives in his quest to find gold as well as bringing some natives back to Europe as slaves. Thus the pattern was set for America that white people would not only survive by robbing people of color but would actually begin to build their wealth on the backs of other people. In the time of African enslavement in this country tremendous wealth was built off the labor of people of color. The nation's capital in Washington D.C. was all built by slave labor. At the end of the American Civil War it was determined that a fair payment for blacks having created tremendous wealth for this country was to give every family 40 acres and a mule. This was a modest payment given the horrors of slavery but it was entirely realistic and doable. Unfortunately, after Lincoln's assasination, and Johnson becoming president, the mood slowly shifted toward not doing anything that would anger the south or compromise the process of further wealth creation by the ruling oligarchy. Thus slaves remained slaves (though euphemistically called share croppers) and continued to work on plantations and in mills with their pay limited and their housing provided for a rental fee. From that time forward many onerous laws were passed limiting the rights of people of color, further exploiting them for economic gain, and creating a legacy of strong subconscious feelings that dark people are inferior and white people are superior. It is those subconscious feelings that make our societal issues so intractable. Here is a kind of sloppy illustration of what I mean. Almost all serial killers are white. Almost all mass shooters are white. Almost all child molesters are white. Most rapists are white. But I dare say we don't normally think of those things as racial characteristics of white people. And we shouldn't. But turn to a category where blacks are more heavily represented and, when polled, whites will admit that they think of those things as a racial characteristic of being black. Sadly, even a significant number of blacks will buy into negative racial profiling of other blacks. All of that is the effect of one race having a dominant cultural position. Why do we call that privilege? Because, if you are white like I am, you have advantages that you don't even know you have, advantages built over generations of economic exploitation and cultural domination. You use those advantages every day just by virtue of the color of your skin. Reparations may be another topic but I assure you it is possible to do. The problem is that as long as white people don't want to do it it will never happen. So in that sense it may be impossible. Rarely have I heard a white person say, "I'm in favor of it, I just think it is impossible because of ...." and then fill in the blank. The deeper reason is that most white people don't want to feel guilty for something they feel like they didn't do. Understandable. But if our knee jerk reaction is to decide we are just against reparations then it shuts down a conversation that might help us unravel centuries of systemic racism. It might even turn on a light bulb so that we finally get why so many police officers make a split second decision under stress to shoot an unarmed black citizen. [/QUOTE]
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