One of the spin offs of colonialsim has been what is called 'white privelege'.
Of course, white privilege tends to apply when a white person is treated better than someone of 'colour', presumably because they are white and/or rich.
Try explaining that to the descendants of the Irish and other white races that were used in the White Slave Trade and taken here as convicts just over 2 centuries ago, they will ask, 'What White Privilege'?
Or when a woman gets sexually harassed (or worse) by someone of another nationality (is it not 'racist' to complain about it)? How is that 'white privilege' when it happens to white people by non-whites?
What about when that sort of harassment happens between white people (whether of the same race or different ones) or amongst black people (i.e. black on black crime) or Asians? Where does 'white privilege' come in then? Or if it did in the past, how is 'white privilege' relevant now?
Or when an English-speaking person (or another language) is working with a group of people whose first language isn't English (or the same as that person who has to work with them), and they speak their language the whole time and totally ignore the person who is supposed to work with them? How is that not racism (it's reverse racism as in the case of 'whites' vs 'non-whites')?
Or when 'lower class' whites are labelled as 'white trash'? And even white people who try to be like the 'cool' African Americans or other racial groups are called wiggers? Is that a derogatory name given to these white people who like African American stuff (particularly hip hop music) by the African Americans or other whites?
However, I also found out that 'white niggers' are also the Irish and Catholic immigrants to the USA - even though there was no such thing as 'hip hop' back then (or maybe it was simply by another name)? How does 'white privilege' apply to them when they weren't treated much better than someone of colour?
Of course I can go into 'psychological wages' and the like, but since this is a very long post, I will save it for another time. But unless one knows exactly how white privilege has come about, there are many 'white' people who are not entirely convinced that there are 'privileges' that come with being 'white'.
cheers,
Night Owl
Of course, white privilege tends to apply when a white person is treated better than someone of 'colour', presumably because they are white and/or rich.
Try explaining that to the descendants of the Irish and other white races that were used in the White Slave Trade and taken here as convicts just over 2 centuries ago, they will ask, 'What White Privilege'?
Or when a woman gets sexually harassed (or worse) by someone of another nationality (is it not 'racist' to complain about it)? How is that 'white privilege' when it happens to white people by non-whites?
What about when that sort of harassment happens between white people (whether of the same race or different ones) or amongst black people (i.e. black on black crime) or Asians? Where does 'white privilege' come in then? Or if it did in the past, how is 'white privilege' relevant now?
Or when an English-speaking person (or another language) is working with a group of people whose first language isn't English (or the same as that person who has to work with them), and they speak their language the whole time and totally ignore the person who is supposed to work with them? How is that not racism (it's reverse racism as in the case of 'whites' vs 'non-whites')?
Or when 'lower class' whites are labelled as 'white trash'? And even white people who try to be like the 'cool' African Americans or other racial groups are called wiggers? Is that a derogatory name given to these white people who like African American stuff (particularly hip hop music) by the African Americans or other whites?
However, I also found out that 'white niggers' are also the Irish and Catholic immigrants to the USA - even though there was no such thing as 'hip hop' back then (or maybe it was simply by another name)? How does 'white privilege' apply to them when they weren't treated much better than someone of colour?
Of course I can go into 'psychological wages' and the like, but since this is a very long post, I will save it for another time. But unless one knows exactly how white privilege has come about, there are many 'white' people who are not entirely convinced that there are 'privileges' that come with being 'white'.
cheers,
Night Owl
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