FOLIO
Let’s retire the term ‘white privilege.’
A privilege is a benefit afforded to some to the exclusion of others; in today’s parlance, when we say ‘white privilege,’ we mean that whites are “privileged” to experience less discrimination and prejudice in our daily lives.
Before we go any further, this isn’t some broad-stroke attempt to deny that white skin affords certain advantages — that’s an endeavor better failed at by walking ethical voids of Ann Coulter’s ilk — but a request that instead we focus on the disadvantages suffered by our fellows on the basis of skin tone and ethnicity. For when we decry white privilege, it is doubtful that we’re advocating for all people to be treated discriminatorily, unfairly and with suspicion, for all children to be taught the mantra “hands up, don’t shoot!” at their elders’ knees.
It is not a privilege to escape a traffic stop without harassment or assault, or to be judged by the quality of one’s character rather than the color of one’s skin, or to be held to the same standards as all others regardless of race. These are not privileges: These are rights.
So instead of white privilege, let’s talk about minority disadvantage.
For the more the conversation about racial inequality turns toward white privilege, the less the recipients of said privilege are willing to listen. Love it or hate it, the majority of Americans are white, and we’re not going to change as a nation without the participation and cooperation of the majority. It is true that demographics are changing and white people will become a minority in a few short decades, but we’re not going to make measurable progress on rectifying racial disparity without white people at the table, minds and ears open to the real scourge: minority disadvantage.
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Speaking of scourges, some of the most entertaining reading available today can be found online in the comments’ sections that dot the Internet landscape like landmines of bigotry, outrage and vitriol. Just as the words we publish appear on the top on the webpage, we in the news business tend to feel above the fray of the comments’ section, where petty squabbles and hatred are on display for all the world to cringe over. A colleague who shall remain unnamed dished out the business end of media elitism on First Coast Connect some months ago, all but sneering at those who comment on articles online. As someone who has received plenty of less-than-reasoned comments and criticisms, including one from a gentleman who wrote that I should be waterboarded for daring to express an opinion that differed from his, it’s tempting to believe that we in the media are better positioned to comment on society and culture with authority, that our opinions are somehow more credible and valid than LibertyWatchDog99 and AllLivesMatter53 (not real commenters — as far as I know).
But we’re not. We in the media, who write the stories, along with the commenters in the slushy yellow piles below them, are all individual citizens of the world — and our opinions are weighted like votes: equally, one per person.
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All commenters may have been created equally, but all comments aren’t. Spend enough time on social media and in the comments cesspool and you could easily become convinced that the balance of good v. evil is weighing more heavily on the side of Coulter, er, evil. I refuse to believe this is true, perhaps naïvely preferring a narrative in which it just seems like good is losing because hate and fear are more motivating than love and compassion to those who sound off on the Internet. Like Donald J. Trump.
While human beings are by far the most destructive and cruel creatures to ever walk, swim or slither the Earth, we are also the most empathetic, compassionate and loving. Have you ever seen a chicken protest the poor treatment of turtles? A pack of dogs climb into a sewer to save a family of ducklings (for something other than lunch)? A cat rescue a kitten from its abusive parents?
Yes, we maim, murder and abuse, but we’re not defined by only the wicked.
It’s easy to have hope in human nature when you consider that every single day, millions, perhaps billions, of humans go out of their way to do something good for one another for no particular reason, that ethics have been meticulously defined and refined throughout the whole of human history, that we love quadrupeds like they’re our flesh and blood, that we weep at the suffering of others and dedicate our considerable mental prowess to eradicating diseases and afflictions that none in our line will ever suffer.
We are without a doubt the worst the world can offer. We are also the best. Don’t forget that. No matter what people write below this online.
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