Tim Wise, a White guy who speaks and writes about racism and social justice, recently spoke at California State University, Northridge and I wrote all these gems down to share...
"White folks have the luxury to not know the experience of people of color. It's a systemic problem - White people are not supposed to know - they are being kept from the truth. That is White privilege - being oblivious. The problem is when we see it and refuse to learn or do something about it."
"It's a privilege to be oblivious. People of color are taking that privilege away."
"For anyone who asks, 'why are black folks so angry at the police?' I wonder, 'what world do you live in that you have to ask that question?' What kind of education did you get?"
"the history of law enforcement is traced back to oppression. it was cops that pulled people of color off restaurant stools to enforce White man segregation."
"The zoot suit riots are another example of oppression by law enforcement. If you don't know about it then google that shit."
"Its a privilege to be blind to the consequence of the Black & Brown experience with law enforcement."
"Half of all White people (in a Gallup Poll survey) refuse to believe that people of color are worse off than them in every category of well-being."
"Black college grads are 2 times more likely to be out of work than White college grads - black engineers vs. white engineers, black psychology grads vs. white psychology grads. This debunks the nonsense about reverse discrimination."
"There are 6 people who own Wal-Mart and they have the same amount of wealth as 27 million people (40% of the poorest folks)." Wealth shared by 6 vs. wealth divided between 27 million.
"What I'm saying is not racist, just descriptive."
"Are you on the blue pill or the red pill?" (The Matrix movie reference about taking the blue pill to close your eyes to reality or dive into the truth.)
"Be humble enough to acknowledge that you've been misled and learn the truth to overcome White privilege."
"White people said, "All men are created equal" and didn't mean that shit."
"When we say, 'Black lives matter," we are just trying to reclaim what has consistently been denied."
"Your people came to the US for the same damn reason as everybody else - for reasons like food and they felt they had no choice. Nobody likes to move."
According to Gallup poll, 50% of White people don't believe that people of color are worse off in terms of employment, housing, health access, etc. Good for you if you get it. 50% of white people dont get it. So it has got to be said. If I am preaching to the choir, then just say amen, sister. If you are White today, then you are privileged. Just like men walk around privileged not to worry about rape culture. White parents don't have to statistically, realistically worry on a daily basis that their unarmed son will be shot by police. That's what Tim Wise means by White privilege. If your son gets caught with marijuana then he is far less likely to be arrested or jailed than if he was black and caught with marijuana. That's what it means to have White privilege today.
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