"For me, whiteness is not an identity but a moral problem. "
As long as humans continue to measure the world through the prism of skin color, we will continue to be slaves to racism. The author's self flagellation over the moral problem of being white only continues and enhances the divide.
Demographic trends indicate that time will render the numerical "race" advantage of whites meaningless in the not too distant future, but I feel assured that racism will continue. The question is do concepts like white privilege really improve anything or is it detrimental (self-loathing based on race)? Will the new racial majority be castigated for its privilege too? Will classic human behavior hold to historical form? Will the new majority demand that the "debt" of social justice be satisfied with a pound of racial flesh?
No racism is wrong in any form and rest assured it will not be solved by utilizing a Hammurabi-like code of racial guilt.
As long as humans continue to measure the world through the prism of skin color, we will continue to be slaves to racism. The author's self flagellation over the moral problem of being white only continues and enhances the divide.
Demographic trends indicate that time will render the numerical "race" advantage of whites meaningless in the not too distant future, but I feel assured that racism will continue. The question is do concepts like white privilege really improve anything or is it detrimental (self-loathing based on race)? Will the new racial majority be castigated for its privilege too? Will classic human behavior hold to historical form? Will the new majority demand that the "debt" of social justice be satisfied with a pound of racial flesh?
No racism is wrong in any form and rest assured it will not be solved by utilizing a Hammurabi-like code of racial guilt.
11
This article really hits the nail on the head (or through the heart) for me. Eula Biss unpacks and articulates the troubling combination of power, privilege, and complacency that "whiteness" confers in America, Her article leaves me with this: What does it mean to look at yourself in the mirror in America? How can white Americans look in this mirror and, using Eula Biss' really honest and personal critique, develop strategies to unpack and dismantle the legacy of America's original sin - slavery - and the corrosive racism it begot? This article and the comments are worthwhile to read and reflect upon.
17
Eula Biss, white guilt only hides the real and devastating facts of drastic income inequality. Don't tell people that they are "privileged" to be white when they can barely make ends meet. You also say that "white" has no ethnic or kinship meaning. Well, neither does "black." Both were created as "honor" and "dishonor" categories, respectively. You also try to point out the absurdity of "race" when you say that white women can give birth to "black" children. You don't say that it is black and black-identified American elites who are keeping forced hypodescent and the "one drop" myth alive. Witness their hysterical reaction to even the modest request that multiracial identities be recognized.
10
The case for European Americans owing African Americans is well documented in this discussion. But I wonder: do Africans owe anything to Europeans? If Africans and Europeans had never interacted on a social, political, economic or any other basis, who would be better or worse off or in between? Are these fair questions?
5
All the wealth invested in slaves vanished on Dec. 6, 1865, the date the 13th Amendment was ratified, abolishing slavery throughout the United States, except on Native American reservations.
3
Thank you Eula Biss. This is a great article with many thoughtful insights and opportunities to reflect. I will continuing to learn through reading many of the writers you listed. I honour your determination, courage and bravery.
14
Am I to be riddled with guilt for being born a white male?
What am I guilty of? Of working my way through college, paying every dime of tuition myself? Of taking charge of my life by setting goals and working to achieve them?
I've built a career on my own merit, earned every dollar I've ever had, and never has being white gotten me a dime more than anyone else.
In fact, in corporate America today, being black immediately elevates any employee to a higher level of promotability.
What am I guilty of? Of working my way through college, paying every dime of tuition myself? Of taking charge of my life by setting goals and working to achieve them?
I've built a career on my own merit, earned every dollar I've ever had, and never has being white gotten me a dime more than anyone else.
In fact, in corporate America today, being black immediately elevates any employee to a higher level of promotability.
17
I made a comment here a few days ago that was just published about 13 hours ago. Now, that it's been published, I want to clarify my point.
As quiet as it's kept, Mark Zuckerberg's, Bill Gates', Warren Buffet's, even Donald Trump's unconscionable wealth is possible because of the hundreds of trillions of dollars of land wealth taken from native Americans and the labor wealth stolen from AfrAmericans. So you'd think that these presumably fairly well educated, fairly decent men would at least acknowledge their debt to the original American golden goose by giving even some token funds to try to "make whole" the first sources of their current fortunes. Without "indian removal" and slavery, there's be no Microsoft, no FaceBook, no Trump Towers, no Berkshire, Hathaway...no nothin. In fact, all of America's "self-made" successes are built of this foundation.
And as I said before, even poor "whites" (I call them EurAmericans) whose labor has been exploited by our system should be among the first recipients of
these moguls' "charity". Instead, they guide their largesse to pet charities and personal obsessions all over the globe.
To coin a phrase, "Charity begins at home". So should paying off long overdue debts.
Right?
http://BrandNewRace.com
As quiet as it's kept, Mark Zuckerberg's, Bill Gates', Warren Buffet's, even Donald Trump's unconscionable wealth is possible because of the hundreds of trillions of dollars of land wealth taken from native Americans and the labor wealth stolen from AfrAmericans. So you'd think that these presumably fairly well educated, fairly decent men would at least acknowledge their debt to the original American golden goose by giving even some token funds to try to "make whole" the first sources of their current fortunes. Without "indian removal" and slavery, there's be no Microsoft, no FaceBook, no Trump Towers, no Berkshire, Hathaway...no nothin. In fact, all of America's "self-made" successes are built of this foundation.
And as I said before, even poor "whites" (I call them EurAmericans) whose labor has been exploited by our system should be among the first recipients of
these moguls' "charity". Instead, they guide their largesse to pet charities and personal obsessions all over the globe.
To coin a phrase, "Charity begins at home". So should paying off long overdue debts.
Right?
http://BrandNewRace.com
6
Your historical inaccuracies here are too numerous to list and I see others are taking you to task on that so I will let them do that job however you act as though whites invented slavery, war and colonization. On the contrary not only did we not invent it but we were the first race to agree to pass laws to end it. In the meantime white scientists have saved billions upon billions of lives through their brilliance and we have never hesitated to share medicine and vaccines with the world. All the major humanitarian efforts both current and historical, world wide, were founded and are headed by Christian, white people. You are condemning whites for their sins without pointing out that our sins are not unique while not mentioning our great virtues which have saved far more lives than our sins ever took and ARE in fact unique to our race. Be proud to be white, love your white family. There'a nothing wrong with white people and we owe no apologies. I don't ask the Moores to apologize for enslaving my ancestors for a thousand years and raping my great grandmothers. Europeans have a beautiful culture, we've done wonderful things. We don't systematically oppress anyone, in fact we are the ONLY race to be so charitable and giving, to a fault. You don't see the Chinese or the Asains using their resources and intelligence to head up global aide agencies do you? Or letting in millions of refugees into their countries? Let go of the hate.
13
The author is proceeding under the assumption that White America is one, homogeneous monolithic block, which it assuredly is not. Under the White umbrella fall numerous ethnic groups which originated in Europe that suffered discrimination and second class status back in Europe, and for some time, here in the US as well. I think of the now deceased Jewish Superior Court judge I knew who told me a developer sought to deny him a house in a new neighborhood back in the 1940s. And I think of my own family, with its roots in western Ireland, where the native Irish were consigned after being driven off more fertile land in the east. In the early 1970s I returned to Ireland with my mother, who wanted to see "the house we paid for" Westport House, the grand estate of the local landlord paid for by the toil of my ancestors.
I feel the author's assertions here are prelude to the argument that she is assuredly setting the groundwork for: reparations. But America is a collection of aggrieved groups of all colors who have been historically wronged, and that will be a messy endeavor.
I feel the author's assertions here are prelude to the argument that she is assuredly setting the groundwork for: reparations. But America is a collection of aggrieved groups of all colors who have been historically wronged, and that will be a messy endeavor.
13
I feel very sorry for the author's five year old son who the author seems to be trying to make as neurotic as she is. And by her own words, she seems to be succeeding. Pity.
25
This is the most ridiculous piece I have ever read. She feels guilty because she is white? She feels guilty because white cops kill black citizens? Did she kill them? Do all black people feel guilty when other black people kill whites? No they don't. As for so called white privilege, OJ didn't need to be white to get away with murder, he just had to be rich. Black or white if you have tons of money, all kinds of privileges will be bestowed on you. Poor white kids will be struggling to get into and pay for college. Obama's kid certainly won't have those worries.
20
Odd isn't it, that no one correlates the concentration of wealth with the browning of America and the declining, ever aging whites. Time. It has often, though not always, been the best weapon of the preyed upon. You'll feel better when that Mexican/Asian couple buys the house your son will need to sell to pay for your hospice Ms. Biss.
1
Professor Skip Gates demonstrated in his work how the more powerful African tribes sold his ancestors, from a weaker tribe , to white slave traders. When Eric Garner was killed (murdered?) last year vis a vis an illegal NYPD administered choke hold, the infamous video bears a black woman police officer standing by witnessing the event. Eula Biss is playing up to the entrenched cliches of her left wing faculty at Northwestern where she teaches so she can enlarge and cement her position there. A good writer performing a manipulatively shameful act.
14
How is it even possible to have close friends of other races built on love and mutual respect if you share these beliefs? How could one sustain an interracial marriage if you don't start off on equal footing?
Sadly this road does not lead to mutual love and respect. Only endless bitterness and war.
You are defined by your own actions, not your sister's, your brother's, your grandfather's, or your great-great grandmother's.
If you want to help correct the errors of the past, please do it from a place of love and respect for others- not misplaced guilt.
Sadly this road does not lead to mutual love and respect. Only endless bitterness and war.
You are defined by your own actions, not your sister's, your brother's, your grandfather's, or your great-great grandmother's.
If you want to help correct the errors of the past, please do it from a place of love and respect for others- not misplaced guilt.
14
I do not "buy" into whiteness. I barely even buy into Jewishness, which is the identity in which I was raised. However, I know that I have been the beneficiary of white privilege. When I applied for an apprenticeship, I was accepted immediately but told not to register because the union was under a legal order to limit white registration until a certain number of non-whites were registered. I was young and did not understand what was happening until a Native American apprentice told me a couple of years later
.
Should I feel guilty about this? I did not create the discrimination; I simply applied for a job and got it. My predecessors did not create the discrimination, because they migrated here in the late 19th century and were themselves the victims of discrimination. However, I know that the discrimination was real, and by the time I understood how deep it went in the trade I was in, I had become part of the trade.
Nevertheless, I do not accept guilt for what happened. If I was guilty of anything, it was accepting a job when I needed to make a living. IMHO, the answer is not guilt, but attacking discrimination because of the evils it is doing today and providing equity to its victims. We should not impose guilt on people until they actively recreate discrimination in their own lives.
.
Should I feel guilty about this? I did not create the discrimination; I simply applied for a job and got it. My predecessors did not create the discrimination, because they migrated here in the late 19th century and were themselves the victims of discrimination. However, I know that the discrimination was real, and by the time I understood how deep it went in the trade I was in, I had become part of the trade.
Nevertheless, I do not accept guilt for what happened. If I was guilty of anything, it was accepting a job when I needed to make a living. IMHO, the answer is not guilt, but attacking discrimination because of the evils it is doing today and providing equity to its victims. We should not impose guilt on people until they actively recreate discrimination in their own lives.
5
I think this is a brave and honest article.
12
I'm trying to get my mind around the notion that whites are no more genetically related to one other whites than they are to blacks. Caucasians and Africans lived completely apart for 50,000 years with no intermating. This is a huge time frame, and the result is that whites are substantially more genetically related to other whites than they are to blacks, or vice versa.
I can't understand why someone would write something that is so obviously false in an essay, and why the NYT would publish it.
I can't understand why someone would write something that is so obviously false in an essay, and why the NYT would publish it.
11
I think the upper class focus on "white privilege" - itself coming across as an intensely privileged concept that we working or middle class people do not feel - allows upper class whites to continue to reap the benefits of actual class privilege while having to do nothing to change it.
As millions of middle & working class people lose their jobs & watch their future become even more insecure, the upper classes beat themselves on the breast---not for being in the elite top 5% & enjoying that privilege, but for 'being white.' Because they reframe it this way, they conveniently don't have to change a thing because they can't; they are white by birth.
This way, they don't have to feel guilty when they enjoy privileges middle and working class Americans are no longer enjoying. Jobs are exported/imported, the middle class is hollowed out with its future no longer secure, young people are in debt up to their eyeballs just for daring to go to college, etc.
The privileged classes can continue to send their kids to elite privates & elite universities, send their kids to unpaid internships (taking jobs from middle class adults), have doors opened in jobs through cronyism, openly mock the lower orders for being stupid ignorant rubes--& not have to change anything.
As millions of middle & working class people lose their jobs & watch their future become even more insecure, the upper classes beat themselves on the breast---not for being in the elite top 5% & enjoying that privilege, but for 'being white.' Because they reframe it this way, they conveniently don't have to change a thing because they can't; they are white by birth.
This way, they don't have to feel guilty when they enjoy privileges middle and working class Americans are no longer enjoying. Jobs are exported/imported, the middle class is hollowed out with its future no longer secure, young people are in debt up to their eyeballs just for daring to go to college, etc.
The privileged classes can continue to send their kids to elite privates & elite universities, send their kids to unpaid internships (taking jobs from middle class adults), have doors opened in jobs through cronyism, openly mock the lower orders for being stupid ignorant rubes--& not have to change anything.
11
This essay is too abstract. It wasn't hard for me, a white guy, to come to a concrete understanding of race relations. From an early age, I was interested in the nearby black community with which I had little contact. So I took a teaching job in a poor black district in the North Carolina Bible belt. In a couple of years of teaching there, I learned that most working class Southern blacks think of slavery as a remote evil. It is barely present in their thinking, but if you bring it up they'll give you an earful. They assume white prejudice from Southerners, but are willing to give a white Northerner a chance. They like being black and they think of whites as richer, but not better. Moreover, they feel no more affinity with wealthy blacks than blue collar whites feel toward wealthy whites. Above all, they think their culture is superior to white culture, making their black identity a point of pride. Whites who familiarize themselves with black culture will generally be included, but when important discrimination issues arise, they want to solve their own problems, and it is a rare white, indeed, who they will work with. Whites intrude occasionally with acts of discrimination, but they play no more important a role in black lives as vice versa.
I'm sure these rules aren't the same everywhere and they change over time. But learning the rules, rather than theorizing about them, leads to superior understanding.
I'm sure these rules aren't the same everywhere and they change over time. But learning the rules, rather than theorizing about them, leads to superior understanding.
8
I find this article to be very thought-provoking. I don't feel that the author is "wallowing" in guilt, as someone said. Rather, she is trying to come to terms with the dilemma of realizing she lives a privileged, white life, and wanting to address the fact in some effective way, especially to be a role model for her son. The take away, for me is reinforcement of my own long-held belief that I was just lucky to have been born white. I know I am unfairly privileged because of that and also struggle with how to best assist the quest for true equality for all.
6
At first, I thought this was an elaborate hoax, a clever joke. Surely, I thought, no writer would spend thousands upon thousands of words on sophomoric soul searching that ended with a clarion call to white guilt. Surely, I thought, no editor would foreground such an embarrassing bit of self-flagellation. But I came to realize, no, this is for real, an excruciatingly earnest white writer being aided and abetted by excruciatingly tone deaf Times editors.
Perhaps next try, both writer and editors might realize the irony of their effort and instead, give the space for those thousands of words to one of the many gifted and creative non-White writers who have been waiting their entire lives for the species of white privilege that allowed Ms. Biss to be published in one of our nation's most read magazines. But I'm not holding my breath.
Perhaps next try, both writer and editors might realize the irony of their effort and instead, give the space for those thousands of words to one of the many gifted and creative non-White writers who have been waiting their entire lives for the species of white privilege that allowed Ms. Biss to be published in one of our nation's most read magazines. But I'm not holding my breath.
12
White Debt: The article is profound. A major American distortion was presented in a scholarly, well researched and "spot on ". It is the product of long and personal refection and a pathway to a better future for cultural diversity. If America/Americans can somatatize this spirit, the sins of the past can be recognized without triggering the echoes of hate in that continue to rumble through our society. Those echoes have and do only meet the power needs of the manipulative and ignorance of the "player".
Race is an antiquated term. Behavior of individuals and cultural groups is now the measure. Science has erased race to classify/describe what is human.
Race is an antiquated term. Behavior of individuals and cultural groups is now the measure. Science has erased race to classify/describe what is human.
3
How very sad for you!
Perhaps the therapy isn't working!
Perhaps the therapy isn't working!
5
The more I think about this essay, the more annoyed I get (especially by the part where she shows off just how awesome she is - reading Little House to her SON! That makes her SO open). Not because white privilege is not real, but because this meditation on white guilt is so utterly self-indulgent. And it seems she was so deep in thought that she did not notice the irony sitting right on top of her essay: being able to speak through the NYT is an example of just how privileged she is. Now, if Ms. Bliss would like to put her privilege to work, she could come teach at the urban community college where I work. Then she could give working class students of all backgrounds a great weapon against injustice - an education. But she would lose some prestige and not have much time to write. And why would she do that when she could have a great career at Northwestern teaching upper-middle class kids to feel better about themselves by cherishing their guilt?
18
"I’m more compelled by a freedom that would allow me to deserve what I have." If I believed that I deserve what I have, then I'd need to feel that others deserve what they (don't) have. I don't believe either of these things.
"But why not imagine guilt as a prod, a goad, an impetus to action? Isn’t guilt an essential cog in the machinery of the conscience?" When I hand it to others, I suppose that I want to believe that guilt is an impetus to action. But when I take in on myself, I find it too depressing, since no action can assuage it. As an impetus for action, I'd vote for empathy.
"But why not imagine guilt as a prod, a goad, an impetus to action? Isn’t guilt an essential cog in the machinery of the conscience?" When I hand it to others, I suppose that I want to believe that guilt is an impetus to action. But when I take in on myself, I find it too depressing, since no action can assuage it. As an impetus for action, I'd vote for empathy.
6
Vain and vacuous thoughts from a self-indulgent guiltmonger praying at the latest Church of ignorance. at least we didn't have listen to global warming fearmongering for a few minutes. The author has obviously never traveled beyond tourist enclaves and seen how others in the world live.
4
Not all white people have had a life even remotely as privileged as yours. Poor people get screwed regardless of color.
12
Eula, I can only wonder how you managed to become so hosed up in so little time. I am white. I have never had privilege in my life. I have had opportunities which largely presented themselves through my interest, my abilities and my skills. My parents were married. They were interested in my future and that of my sister. They were home evenings. They went to PTA meetings and meetings with my teachers. They were involved in our lives and they gave us opportunities as they could. All parents should do these things and no people should blame others for things they have not done to better themselves.
12
Hats off to Eula Biss for this important essay. I see by the comments that many of you missed what she was saying (either purposely or due to ignorance), as expected. There's no crime committed for not knowing what you don't know. But shame on you for not realizing it after all these years of injustice towards, and disenfranchisement of anyone who isn't white or wealthy.
Eula, thanks for posting all of those Bomb The Suburbs posters to announce Upski's speaking engagement decades ago. I'm one of the subjects in that book and he inspired me with his vision. Just as you have here with this article. I totally get what you are saying. Kudos for saying it, teaching it to your son, and most importantly: living it. You rock! You give me hope. Thank you...
Eula, thanks for posting all of those Bomb The Suburbs posters to announce Upski's speaking engagement decades ago. I'm one of the subjects in that book and he inspired me with his vision. Just as you have here with this article. I totally get what you are saying. Kudos for saying it, teaching it to your son, and most importantly: living it. You rock! You give me hope. Thank you...
7
In Batavia NY a white guy broke into a house and killed another white guy as he was laying in bed asleep. He then went home and set fire to his house. (Obviously the guy had some mental problems!) When the police came he was waving his shotgun that was used to kill the neighbor. The police were at his place for 4 (?) hours as he menaced,approached a police car at one point,refused to drop his gun etc. The white guy finally was taken alive.
In the meantime a black teenager in Chicago was shot 16 times by a white policeman in a situation that lasted only a few moments. Did I mention in story one that the KILLER was a white guy???
In the meantime a black teenager in Chicago was shot 16 times by a white policeman in a situation that lasted only a few moments. Did I mention in story one that the KILLER was a white guy???
6
The way to deal with the injustices of life is to make sure that one does not contribute to them. It is an overwhelming mountain to overcome to believe that something as uncontrollable as what race someone is born into is something one can control. What you can control is your thought and conduct and what you pass on to the next generation. A life sunk into an abyss of guilt lifts no one, improves no one's lot, and renders the future as bleak as if you did not exist at all. Raise a good son, imbue him with good values, and support his good efforts while you set a positive example.
4
To get an idea of where the author is coming from, it is important to note that the Noel of whom the author speaks is Noel Ignatiev. Among other things, Mr. Ignatiev views the white race as morally defective and in need of wholesale transformation. He maintains that that “white people must commit suicide as whites in order to come alive as workers, or youth, or women, or whatever other identity can induce them to change from the miserable, petulant, subordinated creatures they now are into freely associated, fully developed human subjects.” (From ‘The Point Is Not To Interpret Whiteness But To Abolish It’, a Talk given at the Conference “The Making and Unmaking of Whiteness”, University of California, Berkeley, April 11-13, 1997
There is nothing new or earth shattering about this essay with the exception of one thing: the harm she is/has caused her son. I pray (not literally), that she gets some therapy for her some to help undue some of the damage she has done.
There is nothing new or earth shattering about this essay with the exception of one thing: the harm she is/has caused her son. I pray (not literally), that she gets some therapy for her some to help undue some of the damage she has done.
9
Being White is what sentient humans naturally long for. This is natural, understandable. Who would not want to be more intelligent, more beautiful? However, evolution and nature bestows benefits with disparate impact. Think of the different ethnic/racial attributes and human evolution in terms of distilling refined fuel from source oil, i.e., geographic human evolution recessive distribution and distance from African origin..
1
"For me, whiteness is not an identity but a moral problem."
Since you brought up your personal experiences I'll share mine with you. We lived in Detroit from the 1950's through the 1980's. Our neighborhood which was lower middle class was transformed from a modest blue collar environment to what was referred to as a "ghetto". As the social programs and school bussing programs took effect we had more African-Americans both poor and lower middle class move in. And I'm sorry to say we experienced an increase in crime and violence. Being loyal Democrats we thought we could get some relief from our local politicians. They accused many of the white folks of "being afraid of the unknown" and "not wanting to lose power". Progressives, who generally lived in better and safer neighborhoods chastised us for being vocal about crime As things became worse many people moved out of the city with liberals at the lead. Things became worse but we were accused of wanting the Black administration to fail. As we voiced our concerns many of the same liberals said "why don't you just move already?". When we did, the same folks exclaimed: "see, white flight! that caused all the problems". Our two family flat was worth about $26k in 1989.
The schools were bad because of the violence and yes the resources were limited.
So forget about the liberal narrative about white folks making money over the generations in real-estate moves.
The guilt account is closed.
Since you brought up your personal experiences I'll share mine with you. We lived in Detroit from the 1950's through the 1980's. Our neighborhood which was lower middle class was transformed from a modest blue collar environment to what was referred to as a "ghetto". As the social programs and school bussing programs took effect we had more African-Americans both poor and lower middle class move in. And I'm sorry to say we experienced an increase in crime and violence. Being loyal Democrats we thought we could get some relief from our local politicians. They accused many of the white folks of "being afraid of the unknown" and "not wanting to lose power". Progressives, who generally lived in better and safer neighborhoods chastised us for being vocal about crime As things became worse many people moved out of the city with liberals at the lead. Things became worse but we were accused of wanting the Black administration to fail. As we voiced our concerns many of the same liberals said "why don't you just move already?". When we did, the same folks exclaimed: "see, white flight! that caused all the problems". Our two family flat was worth about $26k in 1989.
The schools were bad because of the violence and yes the resources were limited.
So forget about the liberal narrative about white folks making money over the generations in real-estate moves.
The guilt account is closed.
8
I've never once felt guilty for "racial privilege." Why should I? I wouldn't expect a gay person to feel guilty for being gay, or a disabled person to feel guilty for being disabled. There's nothing wrong with being white, and I'm proud of my European ancestry.
Do I feel bad about the injustices of the past? Yes. Do I wish that black people and other minorities could expect the same treatment from the police that I can expect as a middle-class white woman? Of course. But I don't have to hate my whiteness to feel either of these things.
It's a major problem in this country when the main "solution" given for racism is for middle- and upper-class white liberals to engage in public self-castigation about every drop of non-white blood that has ever been spilled on American soil.
It's magical thinking: if white people all just felt a little bit worse about slavery, the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Trail of Tears, Jim Crow, the plane wreck at Los Gatos, Executive Order 9066, Indian boarding schools, and every other injustice, then racism would finally end.
This self-castigation doesn't do anything to strengthen families, challenge the prison-industrial complex, build functional inner-city schools, reduce gang violence, or otherwise better the lives of actual poor black people.
It just makes middle- and upper-class white liberals feel smug, and what's a better example of white privilege than a system that rewards white people for their smugness?
Do I feel bad about the injustices of the past? Yes. Do I wish that black people and other minorities could expect the same treatment from the police that I can expect as a middle-class white woman? Of course. But I don't have to hate my whiteness to feel either of these things.
It's a major problem in this country when the main "solution" given for racism is for middle- and upper-class white liberals to engage in public self-castigation about every drop of non-white blood that has ever been spilled on American soil.
It's magical thinking: if white people all just felt a little bit worse about slavery, the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Trail of Tears, Jim Crow, the plane wreck at Los Gatos, Executive Order 9066, Indian boarding schools, and every other injustice, then racism would finally end.
This self-castigation doesn't do anything to strengthen families, challenge the prison-industrial complex, build functional inner-city schools, reduce gang violence, or otherwise better the lives of actual poor black people.
It just makes middle- and upper-class white liberals feel smug, and what's a better example of white privilege than a system that rewards white people for their smugness?
10
This article is timely. I am a white middle age Last night, I was in a private parking garage in Boston looking for a parking space after dropping my husband and son off at the attached movie theatre. The parking garage had been converted from an old warehouse space. The lanes are narrow and twisted. I spotted a car leaving and I turned up a lane and around a short corner to go to the space. Unfortunately, the lane behind the space was narrow and there was little room for both of our cars. Before I could back up, a white Boston police officer appeared. Immediately, the police officer began yelling at me to back up. I did so - backing my car to the corner. There, I planned to do a three-point turn and drive off down the lane heading in the appropriate direction. Doing so would have been safer than backing up the fifty yards. Apparently, this is not what the officer wanted me to do. I asked him quietly to 'please be patient' as I was in the process of turning. He yelled that if I did not back up he would 'drag me' out of my car. He wanted me to back down the entire lane. Suddenly, though, he walked away to the attached movie theatre. I guess he saw the painted arrow on the floor and realized that I was right. However, he left me shaken. A man armed with a gun threatened me with bodily harm though my provoking act did not rise to any level that could have justified this response. These few minutes left me with an inkling of the injustice experienced by the black man everyday.
3
Grappling with identity and race is a difficult thing - no matter what your race - and the comments on this page just make that fact all the more apparent. I don't think the writer should be applauded for her bravery in discussing how, as she puts it, "Being white is easy, in that nobody is expected to think about being white, but this is exactly what makes me uneasy about it." We all need to consider how race affects everyone for better or worse - and how our own awareness of our own race shapes such a dialogue. These are not just black/white issues - they are issues that affect our common humanity.
3
To those who wonder if it's worth the pain to read through the whole piece, here's the short version:
"Guilty white people try to save other people who don’t want or need to be saved, they make grandiose, empty gestures, they sling blame, they police the speech of other white people and they dedicate themselves to the fruitless project of their own exoneration."
The rest is just filler aimed at reinforcing the Liberals' taste for self-loathing, inventing issues to blame oneself for, and pointing fingers at others.
"Guilty white people try to save other people who don’t want or need to be saved, they make grandiose, empty gestures, they sling blame, they police the speech of other white people and they dedicate themselves to the fruitless project of their own exoneration."
The rest is just filler aimed at reinforcing the Liberals' taste for self-loathing, inventing issues to blame oneself for, and pointing fingers at others.
2
Nothing wrong here. Always right to acknowledge evil where it was and where it is. Maybe more time should be paid to the genocide of the indians. Or the white on white and black on black genocides in ancient wars. Or wonder if the descendants of blacks who delivered slaves to the ships feel the same guilt in Africa today. Or wonder if successful blacks in America look at privation in Africa and feel guilty that they are here, that their ancestors delivered them away from that through misery to this privileged land. Maybe this feeling is the source of what Christians call original sin, and I'm sure other religions have similar concepts. The source of charitable impulse wherever it can be found, knowing that whatever we have is partly from luck that others did not have. Humans are terrible to each other whenever they feel threatened, or even just to get more stuff, and we will see more of that as depletion of resources and climate change makes privilege more rare. If the machines die, slavery will make a comeback, no matter what color, the master and the slave. There will be those, like Ms. Biss, who will feel guilty about it, but it will only end when we do.
2
Well historically, my family were white tenant farmers and I struggle to hold down a relatively low paying job. Sorry, don't feel guilty. There is an economic divide that needs to be closed and all of us on this side are the same ---black and white.
If you feel you have an advantage then be a big brother/sister to a disadvantaged kid. Teach them how to build wealth.
If you feel you have an advantage then be a big brother/sister to a disadvantaged kid. Teach them how to build wealth.
5
I fail to see why race should be singled out as a reason to feel guilty any more than the other privileges some of us are born with or born into. We can just as easily have guilt over our intelligence, looks, lack of disabilities or mental illness, family education and wealth and on and on and on. A similar argument can be made for every one of these. I feel this focus on race is itself a type of mental illness, a reverse color-blindness where you see only color when theres far more to picture. I'm actually quite embarrassed or the people who espouse this nonsense and wish more people of color would speak out and them to shut up.
4
Eula Biss has written a brilliant essay. An essay that demonstrates almost incredible honesty and self examination. An essay that throws important light on the question of race in America, in our time. She is to be praised for her immense courage and intellectual integrity. She manages quite well to describe the position of white privilege and its consequences in American society. And I, and I would maintain, all white Americans must be thankful for her hard and difficult work, a task that will be met with derision from the many in denial of their almost unconscious acceptance of privilege.
I did find myself asking a question after finishing her essay, however. I wondered whether or not a white person operating from a position of guilt was in the best position to confront a difficult problem and solve it. Could it be that guilt, and its acceptance, is only the first step? Perhaps the guilt, like the privilege, is to blame. Perhaps we need to realize we were not born racists, but were tricked into the patterns of racism by our privileged society. Perhaps it is our original innocence, the innocence we shared with all human beings at birth, that is the key to ending racism, to ending those denials of privilege, those endless proclamations of the justice of injustice. Perhaps our righteous anger--an anger shared with the oppressed--at a society so flawed by the privilege of its dominant citizens would be a better place from which to redress its wrongs.
I did find myself asking a question after finishing her essay, however. I wondered whether or not a white person operating from a position of guilt was in the best position to confront a difficult problem and solve it. Could it be that guilt, and its acceptance, is only the first step? Perhaps the guilt, like the privilege, is to blame. Perhaps we need to realize we were not born racists, but were tricked into the patterns of racism by our privileged society. Perhaps it is our original innocence, the innocence we shared with all human beings at birth, that is the key to ending racism, to ending those denials of privilege, those endless proclamations of the justice of injustice. Perhaps our righteous anger--an anger shared with the oppressed--at a society so flawed by the privilege of its dominant citizens would be a better place from which to redress its wrongs.
3
Analysis paralysis intersecting with some kind of white guilt. Do you have a plan? Or do you feel content just talking about it? And, by the way, there are parts of this country that are overwhelmingly white in population and overwhelming poor, unhealthy and stuck. A rising tide lifts all boats. What do you suggest we do to help raise the tide?
4
Ms. Biss writes: "That the penalty for disowning whiteness appears to be more severe than the penalty for killing a black person says something about what our culture holds dear."
It's a clever point and a provocative proposition. Unfortunately it's wrong. Ms. Dolezal's transgression wasn't "disowning whiteness." She was legitimately fired for being an imposter in a high-profile position for an organization whose culturally imperative mission demands, among other qualities authenticity in its leaders and standard bearers.
It's a clever point and a provocative proposition. Unfortunately it's wrong. Ms. Dolezal's transgression wasn't "disowning whiteness." She was legitimately fired for being an imposter in a high-profile position for an organization whose culturally imperative mission demands, among other qualities authenticity in its leaders and standard bearers.
7
There is both racial and class oppression. It has always been true in America that minorities are more oppressed, and face a set of circumstances that white people never do. Most white people don't want to own up to that simple fact, and therefore contribute to the continuation of institutional racism. I'm familiar with the white skin privilege theory. But is less oppression a privilege? Can we build racial and class unity on the basis of guilt? Or is a better approach recognizing both forms of oppression stem from the same social and economic system, and that the 1% are the truly privileged. Race and class are the Gordian knot of American society. Racial oppression has its own conditions, and at the same time overlaps with class oppression. Fighting, in unity, against racial oppression lays the basis for class unity -- the only way to untie that knot of inequality for the 99 percent.
3
How lovely it must be for one to contemplate such high-minded, self-indulgent philosophies for a living. Reading this article while riding the 4 train in to my doorman job this lovely Sunday morning, I must admit that I couldn't muster up much guilt of my own.
4
I want to thank you. I had enjoyed many long minutes reading your article. Seldom is it possible to witness a fully developed and well written delusion.
Which white culture are you claiming owes you a debt? Scots Whites, those people forced off their land and then deported to America against their will. Irish Whites, also thrown off their land, deported to America and then sold as slaves. German white fleeing starvation for the new world. English Whites, taken from debtors prisons and deported. Nothern Whites, that left their farms and families to free the negro slave. Southern Whites, the 97% that never owned a slave. Baptist Whites, that provided free education to black children. Methodist Whites, who along with Quaker White operated the Underground Railroad. Russian, Polish, Ukraine, Cossack and Itialian Whites that didn't arrive until after slavery had ended. Please tell me that you really don't think that all white are the same and equally guilty?
No, if you want to look at the cause of the black cultural problems don't bring up an issue 150 years dead. Look at your own culture. Babies raised in single parent families seldom achieve their full potential, yet single mothers with multiple baby daddies are the norm in your culture. Babies raised on welfare seldom escape poverty, yet it is not unusual to find children growing up in the 4th generation on the dole.
Want to place the blame on your issues? Look in the mirror.
Don't even lay the lie of white debt on me.
Which white culture are you claiming owes you a debt? Scots Whites, those people forced off their land and then deported to America against their will. Irish Whites, also thrown off their land, deported to America and then sold as slaves. German white fleeing starvation for the new world. English Whites, taken from debtors prisons and deported. Nothern Whites, that left their farms and families to free the negro slave. Southern Whites, the 97% that never owned a slave. Baptist Whites, that provided free education to black children. Methodist Whites, who along with Quaker White operated the Underground Railroad. Russian, Polish, Ukraine, Cossack and Itialian Whites that didn't arrive until after slavery had ended. Please tell me that you really don't think that all white are the same and equally guilty?
No, if you want to look at the cause of the black cultural problems don't bring up an issue 150 years dead. Look at your own culture. Babies raised in single parent families seldom achieve their full potential, yet single mothers with multiple baby daddies are the norm in your culture. Babies raised on welfare seldom escape poverty, yet it is not unusual to find children growing up in the 4th generation on the dole.
Want to place the blame on your issues? Look in the mirror.
Don't even lay the lie of white debt on me.
3
If race isn't real but being white generates all these benefits, why do most mixed race people self-identify as black? This has been true for decades. For example, Barry Obama was raised by white parents and grandparents, he could have chosen to be white, as multi-ethnic Hawaii circa 1980 was not anti-mulatto. Clearly those who can choose their race, choose to be black, which would be perverse if that designation was as damaging as the author suggests.
1
If some clever person could put an actual dollar price tag on the advantage I get for being white, I would be glad to pay it, just to be done with this whole thing.
2
After a lifetime of being comfortable talking (and teaching) about race, I’m finally uncomfortable. (A funny sort of progress?) Being a white knight, riding in on a white horse was a feel-good endeavor in the 60s and 70s, when I grew up. Being an ally in 2015 (or, as the younger, trendier term would have it, an accomplice) is messy. At the risk of "hijacking the podium," I think we all need to keep talking… maybe putting our feet in our mouths... and listening. Power to the self-immolating Ms. Biss.
5
My ethnic ancestors in the United States were lynched, subject to mass arrests, sent to interment camps during World War 2, denied jobs, and refused places to live. Others directly on the family tree were the targets of genocide.
I have experienced plenty of bias against who I am and where I came from. I have heard plenty of nasty remarks. It hasn't been a magic carpet ride.
I do not have a moral problem with who I am. I am not in a state of denial. I do not have guilt.
I have experienced plenty of bias against who I am and where I came from. I have heard plenty of nasty remarks. It hasn't been a magic carpet ride.
I do not have a moral problem with who I am. I am not in a state of denial. I do not have guilt.
6
Ms. Biss reminds me of a man I once hired as a grant writer at a college. He had worked in the lower rungs of the not for profit world afor years.What we offered him was a decent but not extravangant salary, medical benefits for his family and security. He had a spouse and two pre-teen kids.
He quit after two months. He felt guilty. The salary - not quite $40,000 a year - was more than he had ever made and the benefits were too good to be true. He truly felt that with so much suffering in the world that he couldn't justify doing this well. He was sure that he was privileged in a way that was unjust. He thought he was setting a bad example for his kids by keeping the job.
He quit after two months. He felt guilty. The salary - not quite $40,000 a year - was more than he had ever made and the benefits were too good to be true. He truly felt that with so much suffering in the world that he couldn't justify doing this well. He was sure that he was privileged in a way that was unjust. He thought he was setting a bad example for his kids by keeping the job.
3
This piece is full of trenchant observation, but unfortunately, we've passed the point in this debate where trenchant observation makes any difference at all. What we need are solutions, and I'm not sure that for most of us, there are any good ones. Slavery and its legacy is a stain on this country, and it's worth examining the pain of it if it helps us be better to one another going forward. The lack of concern some white folks feel about being arbitrarily executed by the police is also worth considering, if it helps us reduce or eliminate police violence. Now, there's something to be said for the power of art or raising awareness or the aggregate effect of millions of think-pieces but I tend to think these things are more self-congratulatory than transformative, especially on subjects that have been so well covered already. The question, as Dr. King put it, is "what are you doing for others?" Ultimately, the answer for everyone about what their duty is in that regard is different, and that means that no one really gets to judge anyone else for what they choose to do (with the exception of harming other directly, etc). So if you feel called to start a movement, do that. If your version of racial justice is just to invite your neighbor's kids of a different ethnicity to play with your kids, that's cool, too. But telling people what they need to do is holding yourself out as somehow better, and that, when you get down to it, is how we got into this mess in the first place.
2
I am so lucky; I inherited that white racial privilege. And now, having been re-educated by the new left "Red Guards," I can feel really bad about the all the unfair advantages it has given me.
Way more important however, the "privilege" concept has also given me claim to a laundry list of grievance mongering and excuses that I never knew I was even entitled to. Here are all the genetically conferred privileges that I am missing and am apparently "owed something" by those who, through no work of their own, possess these gifts:
1- the "extreme good looks" privilege. Entitles one to lots more sex, self-esteem, success at job interviews, etc.
2- the "great athlete" privilege. Entitles one to admiring attention, easier college admissions, etc.
3- the "perfect health" privilege. Entitles one to live to 100 without every seeing a health care provider or taking any prescription medicine.
4- the "7 foot tall" privilege. Entitles one to play in the NBA and earn millions of dollars per year.
5- the "sunny disposition" privilege. Entitles one to be free of depression and anxiety.
I can't even begin to explain how angry I am at everyone possessing any of the above traits. They did nothing to attain these privileges- just the luck of the gene pack. And just to be clear,- I am angry at Tom Brady, in particular. He should be forced into the stocks for a daily rite of repentance. How dare he be so privileged. Question- concept of 'white privilege'- just trite, or idiotic?
Way more important however, the "privilege" concept has also given me claim to a laundry list of grievance mongering and excuses that I never knew I was even entitled to. Here are all the genetically conferred privileges that I am missing and am apparently "owed something" by those who, through no work of their own, possess these gifts:
1- the "extreme good looks" privilege. Entitles one to lots more sex, self-esteem, success at job interviews, etc.
2- the "great athlete" privilege. Entitles one to admiring attention, easier college admissions, etc.
3- the "perfect health" privilege. Entitles one to live to 100 without every seeing a health care provider or taking any prescription medicine.
4- the "7 foot tall" privilege. Entitles one to play in the NBA and earn millions of dollars per year.
5- the "sunny disposition" privilege. Entitles one to be free of depression and anxiety.
I can't even begin to explain how angry I am at everyone possessing any of the above traits. They did nothing to attain these privileges- just the luck of the gene pack. And just to be clear,- I am angry at Tom Brady, in particular. He should be forced into the stocks for a daily rite of repentance. How dare he be so privileged. Question- concept of 'white privilege'- just trite, or idiotic?
4
All white debt ended the day Obama was elected.
2
White privilege, and the guilt associated with it, will fade over time as the 'white guy in charge' model (so intrinsic that it became deified as a 'white guy god' (how convenient!)), that has been the absolute norm since the country's inception, continues to shift and fade. My parents generation was so different - unlike me they had no black co-workers, no black friends, no 'mixed race' nieces and nephews. (Highlanders looked down lowlanders for heaven sake.) Rather than dissect the the unearned benefits and apparent guilt conferred upon me by my 'whiteness', I accept that life is complicated and I look around, at the world my kids are fitting themselves into, and feel hope that things do change.
1
So according to the author there is no such thing as a white race but there is white debt. Logic is not her forte.
6
Scanning these comments, I recognize a number of attitudes and rationalizations of non-black people who have little or no concern about the plight of blacks in a society that demonstrably, to varying degrees, fails adequately to address the disadvantages that black people in general suffer from birth.
5
I recall Hawthrone's extensive feeling of guilt for his family's sins of Salem in the intro to Scarlett Letter, but remember feeling perplexed by it. What guilt do we have for our ancestors? Is guilt just a product of history and memory? Are all humans, whether black or white products of similar histories?
Most of this history is only recorded a few hundred years back, but is used as a bludgeon. Putin now uses history to build his counties great past rather than great future. Many other counties, like the Phillipines, China, Africa, Indonesia formed through varies forms of human migration, colonialisation and Slavery. Go even further back and humans all came out of Africa (are whites the original immigrants?).
History is always a battleground--but to say race doesn't exist is equally naive and serving of agendas. Sanitizing history isn't the same as understanding it--the Jews were also vilified as priveledged debtors through history. Not saying it's the same, but just interesting to think about.
Most of this history is only recorded a few hundred years back, but is used as a bludgeon. Putin now uses history to build his counties great past rather than great future. Many other counties, like the Phillipines, China, Africa, Indonesia formed through varies forms of human migration, colonialisation and Slavery. Go even further back and humans all came out of Africa (are whites the original immigrants?).
History is always a battleground--but to say race doesn't exist is equally naive and serving of agendas. Sanitizing history isn't the same as understanding it--the Jews were also vilified as priveledged debtors through history. Not saying it's the same, but just interesting to think about.
1
"White privilege" is a racist guilt trip directed at all white people for things other white people have done. It is also little more than whining about the result of western civilization, who's white skin is merely a coincidence, having better armies and the ability to conquer other tribal societies.
If black Africans or any other tribal group had developed a superior military, they'd have done the same thing to lesser white societies. And indeed they did so in the past, when the Arab Muslims conquered much of southern Europe, which sparked the Christian Crusades in response and when the Mongols Ghengis and Khublai Khan conquered much of Asia, including China and was only stopped from conquering Japan by the "kamikazi" typhoon.
As long as black activists and guilt ridden white liberal fools use racist language like this towards whites that aren't racist, they will get nowhere.
If black Africans or any other tribal group had developed a superior military, they'd have done the same thing to lesser white societies. And indeed they did so in the past, when the Arab Muslims conquered much of southern Europe, which sparked the Christian Crusades in response and when the Mongols Ghengis and Khublai Khan conquered much of Asia, including China and was only stopped from conquering Japan by the "kamikazi" typhoon.
As long as black activists and guilt ridden white liberal fools use racist language like this towards whites that aren't racist, they will get nowhere.
4
This article is an excellent example of the farcical "two wrongs make a right" hypothesis. Being a first generation American, whose parents were German/Austrian refugees from Europe after WWII, I am very sad to see how some supposed intelligent, open-mined Americans are very quick to spread their own brand of negativity and hate. No one should be advocating that certain segments of society should be given more or less based on the color of their skin or the hardships faced by their ancestors. This is nothing more than playing God. I grew up in a small town where many people treated me differently, because I came from a German background. It was very common for fellow students to insult and tease me. I was often called Hitler, Nazi, and Kraut. Children, who did not even know me, would shout out "Heil Hitler" and aggressively give me the Nazi salute. For me, getting into physical fights was a common occurrence. It took me 7 years of conflict and degradation to finally realize that, even when I won most of the individual fights, I was still losing the overall war. I realized that only with patience and quiet courage could I change my sad state of affairs. To this day, I have many nightmares about my first 7 years in elementary school. (My elementary school had grades 1-8.) If people want to help end discrimination and hate, more of us need to focus on the human condition, not the racial divide.
3
If, as you say, "whiteness" is not an identity, then neither should "blackness" or any other race. It is precisely those identities that are what divide us even further. It is precisely articles like yours that are what divide races even further. Being white is not a crime. Neither is being black. Or Hispanic. Or whatever race or identity someone may be. But you are the one who is "grouping" whites by giving "them" blame for things that are out of people's control. Let's transcend our racial tension and work towards healing, not further division.
3
I'd like to reply to this thread, but expressing myself in a way that runs contrary to the writer's views, or to the people the writer envisions as perpetual victims, with no responsibility for their position in society or their actions, may well run me afoul of the thought police and free-speech opponents sitting in college campuses nationwide. I cannot--and should not--be expected to feel guilty about having attended school, going to work every day, paying my taxes, and not committing 'non-violent drug crimes', or any crimes for that matter. And neither should anyone, regardless of their race, creed or color. Doing good, day to day, is not something to be applauded or derided. And yet, it is, regularly, by different groups.
3
Dr. Bliss--When presented with a HR or census form, which box do you check? While I see the moral side of your article, I am wondering about how this awareness of morality impacts other daily acts. Imagine if Whites refused to check that one simple box.
"For me, whiteness is not an identity but a moral problem."
This is an example of racism straight up. A judgement of someone based solely upon the color of their skin. Yes you are a racist.
This is an example of racism straight up. A judgement of someone based solely upon the color of their skin. Yes you are a racist.
6
"Whiteness is... a moral problem". That is all you need to read. This is absolutely ridiculous.
5
I 100% agree with the thrust of this article but "White people are no more closely related to one another, genetically, than we are to black people" is a highly questionable claim. Ethnic groups tend to be more closely related based on geographic proximity, and so not surprisingly Europeans/people of predominately European ancestry are closer to each other genetically than they are to people with significant Sub-Saharan African ancestry. If this weren't the case it would have massive implications for our understand of human historical migrations.
Giving the author the benefit of the doubt, maybe the thinking was that if you compare the broadest definition of "white" (including North African people) with the broadest definition of "black", you could find a lot of individual cases to support the claim, but I still think it's a little disingenuous and will give people an easy out to dismiss the article as a whole, which would be unfortunate.
Giving the author the benefit of the doubt, maybe the thinking was that if you compare the broadest definition of "white" (including North African people) with the broadest definition of "black", you could find a lot of individual cases to support the claim, but I still think it's a little disingenuous and will give people an easy out to dismiss the article as a whole, which would be unfortunate.
1
Lord, I'm sorry; but I just can't finish reading this drivel.
The Osage, the Comanche, and the Sioux all knew that they made war on their rivals and were unforgiving in victory. They expected the same from the white men.
As a first generation, Caucasian US citizen, I feel no guilt that other people owned slaves in this country, 150 years ago. I expect no recompense from the masters who held my ancestors in bondage in Ukraine. Everybody has oppression somewhere amongst their ancestors.
Please sir, try to get over yourself. Be nice to other people, move on.
Geez!
The Osage, the Comanche, and the Sioux all knew that they made war on their rivals and were unforgiving in victory. They expected the same from the white men.
As a first generation, Caucasian US citizen, I feel no guilt that other people owned slaves in this country, 150 years ago. I expect no recompense from the masters who held my ancestors in bondage in Ukraine. Everybody has oppression somewhere amongst their ancestors.
Please sir, try to get over yourself. Be nice to other people, move on.
Geez!
1
At this point are there really any arguments that will convince an atheist-elite like Biss that she is sunk in a personal morass of guilt and is looking for a way of explaining herself out of it? What better way than to create a collective guilt for her whole race, one that she can share with all, and hold all to account. It puts her in a place that is a level playing field with all other "whites". But her own, personal, specific guilt never need be addressed. But she will live with the penumbra of a guilty conscience because she holds her fist in the air at the God who made her. This is her real legacy as a disciple of Nietzsche the Nihilist. This isn't about race. It's about a human being who has no idea who she really is. As much as she would like to think that it is true of everyone who shares her shade of skin colour; she is grossly mistaken.
2
The only proper way to atone for the sins of your ancestors is reparations. The rotten Nazi's gave the Jews reparations. With only 13 months and change left of a colored man's presidency, I don't see reparations happening. I am 42 years of age and I do not see or never have seen a even playing field for colored people in the U.S. . I see the majority of colored people trying to assimilate and talk with white American accents -aka white speak, (as if this denotes intelligence) but fail to see that the people in this country speak a dialect of an English language far removed from England by time and space. College is the new plantation. Stay in servitude and look at your degree in a picture frame every night while your life sucks and your in debt.
1
This idea of approaching the problem of race as an ongoing exercise in guilt and/or debt is absurd. Consider the author's son, at age five he is already wracked with guilt and anxiety over who he is.......and what "team" he is on. Thanks Mom!....for pre-packaging my existence in your struggle with Nietzsche.
Here is what I tell my adult daughters today: The world does, and always has, serve as home to a number of jerks. Jerks can, and do, come in every size and color.....spring from every strata of society. It is likely that this will continue to be the case. Jerks, being the flawed individuals they are, unable to elevate themselves by other means, often seek that elevation by bringing others down; racism is an easy means of doing this. Don't be a jerk. Shun the jerks. There are wonderful people in this world. Beware the crusader, they are, generally, a variety of jerk.
In no way has this article convinced me that I need to amend my advice to my girls. In fact, I am hard pressed to think of any worse advice that I could give, than to suggest they begin a life long journey of exploring their existence from a standpoint of what they can do to pay back the debt associated with the poor behavior of the jerks of history. What a way to spend your life!
Here is what I tell my adult daughters today: The world does, and always has, serve as home to a number of jerks. Jerks can, and do, come in every size and color.....spring from every strata of society. It is likely that this will continue to be the case. Jerks, being the flawed individuals they are, unable to elevate themselves by other means, often seek that elevation by bringing others down; racism is an easy means of doing this. Don't be a jerk. Shun the jerks. There are wonderful people in this world. Beware the crusader, they are, generally, a variety of jerk.
In no way has this article convinced me that I need to amend my advice to my girls. In fact, I am hard pressed to think of any worse advice that I could give, than to suggest they begin a life long journey of exploring their existence from a standpoint of what they can do to pay back the debt associated with the poor behavior of the jerks of history. What a way to spend your life!
3
Take a trip to rural America and then tell talk about white privilege - - -
4
Good Lord, another long think piece in which the elite-educated writer bemoans the guilt she feels for being white! Complete with mention of Nietzsche (several times, in fact), and quoting Mr. Coates! (The writer might take not that, just as not all white people are alike, the opinions of Coates do not represent those of all black people.)
She mentions that being white is not a culture. Yet she seems to assume that every black person is part of some community -- even though in a place like NYC there are blacks who've lived in the U.S. for generations, & others who have come here recently from Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Surinam, or any of many African countries. Does she really think they are all the same simply because their ancestors emerged from the African continent at some point during the last few hundred or thousand years?
Maybe the writer should examine not her "white privilege," but her upper-middle-class privilege. How convenient it must be to own a home & furniture and a piano, then bemoan the guilt & lack of freedom she feels for having these things! (If she wants more "freedom," perhaps she should consider living in a yurt on a vacant lot.)
If the writer wants to feel that being white is a "moral problem," she is welcome to do so. But please leave me out of that feast of guilt and self pity. Since she says that being white is not a culture or identity, I see no reason why I should feel guilty for what other white people may have done in past centuries.
She mentions that being white is not a culture. Yet she seems to assume that every black person is part of some community -- even though in a place like NYC there are blacks who've lived in the U.S. for generations, & others who have come here recently from Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Surinam, or any of many African countries. Does she really think they are all the same simply because their ancestors emerged from the African continent at some point during the last few hundred or thousand years?
Maybe the writer should examine not her "white privilege," but her upper-middle-class privilege. How convenient it must be to own a home & furniture and a piano, then bemoan the guilt & lack of freedom she feels for having these things! (If she wants more "freedom," perhaps she should consider living in a yurt on a vacant lot.)
If the writer wants to feel that being white is a "moral problem," she is welcome to do so. But please leave me out of that feast of guilt and self pity. Since she says that being white is not a culture or identity, I see no reason why I should feel guilty for what other white people may have done in past centuries.
6
This article should have been titled "White Guilt" rather than "White Debt."
Half way into this long article, I get tired of it. The writer is feeling this white guilt, of the privilege of enjoying being white and having this love/hate relationship between the comfort of it and how that came about. I don't, for one moment, buy into that story about his very worldly response of his 5yo about race relationship, which is more like a make-up story that he tries to illustrate a grow-up guilt through the eyes of an innocent child, as To Kill A Mocking Bird did. Unlike Mocking Bird, this article gets tiresome.
I'm a minority and I'm not white. It's a good thing for white folks to feel guilty this way, and to become progressive to change the system. But talk is cheap, just writing articles about it without any actions achieves little to no purpose. Even if the writer tries to dispel that notion, the article does come with this smugness (see how easy it is for a white guy to get loans in the bank!), the kind of passive-aggressive smugness that is supremely annoying.
Sorry to break the news to you, but these days, the divide for most people is more economical and racial (although I don't doubt that in some regions, racial discrimination is still very real). Banks are just as reluctant to lend to you if you're poor (unlike the redlining practice in days yonder), no matter your skin color.
Half way into this long article, I get tired of it. The writer is feeling this white guilt, of the privilege of enjoying being white and having this love/hate relationship between the comfort of it and how that came about. I don't, for one moment, buy into that story about his very worldly response of his 5yo about race relationship, which is more like a make-up story that he tries to illustrate a grow-up guilt through the eyes of an innocent child, as To Kill A Mocking Bird did. Unlike Mocking Bird, this article gets tiresome.
I'm a minority and I'm not white. It's a good thing for white folks to feel guilty this way, and to become progressive to change the system. But talk is cheap, just writing articles about it without any actions achieves little to no purpose. Even if the writer tries to dispel that notion, the article does come with this smugness (see how easy it is for a white guy to get loans in the bank!), the kind of passive-aggressive smugness that is supremely annoying.
Sorry to break the news to you, but these days, the divide for most people is more economical and racial (although I don't doubt that in some regions, racial discrimination is still very real). Banks are just as reluctant to lend to you if you're poor (unlike the redlining practice in days yonder), no matter your skin color.
3
Throughout history the dominant culture always ruled the less dominant. Ming Dynasty, Egyptian, Greece, Roman etc. Right down to the local level. Modern Western Society has been dominating for the last 600 years. The writer has expressed this as "white debt" because the dominant tribe of western culture is from white European and Asian countries. What I have experienced living in Africa is the adoption of Western culture but at the same time realizing that many of the negative human attributes don't need be white prejudice, racism, power and control are human issues.
1
So I owe a debt because of the color of my skin? Sounds racist. So much for judging people by the content of their character. Racists. Every one of you.
2
The line about whites not being more closely related to one another than they are to blacks is completely false and is a line repeated in sociological circles. It's basically reverse racial propaganda. It's analogous to saying that a great dane is just as closely related to a dalmation as it is to another great dane. Absurd and scientifically incorrect.
2
The past cannot be changed and the debt cannot be quantified. White people from Europe stole the country and its riches from the indigenous people, enslaving or murdering millions in the process. That's the history of America.
The problem is that the future is what continues to be stolen from people of color and the future is what remains to be fixed. Oppression continues to be institutionalized. We can't even begin to fix Detroit or the Bronx. That's not a question of debt; that's a question of the here and now.
The problem is that the future is what continues to be stolen from people of color and the future is what remains to be fixed. Oppression continues to be institutionalized. We can't even begin to fix Detroit or the Bronx. That's not a question of debt; that's a question of the here and now.
2
Katherine Johnson, a retired NASA mathematician who is black, just turned 90. She said she never felt unequal to anyone because,
"I didn't have time for that," said Johnson in her Hampton home. "My dad taught us 'you are as good as anybody in this town, but you're no better.' I don't have a feeling of inferiority. Never had. I'm as good as anybody, but no better."
Being black never meant your fate was sealed, especially these days. A person decides if they are going to succeed in life or not. The opportunities are there and have been, especially in the last few decades. You just need to decide whether or not you throw in the towel.
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/langley/news/researchernews/rn_kjohnson.html
"I didn't have time for that," said Johnson in her Hampton home. "My dad taught us 'you are as good as anybody in this town, but you're no better.' I don't have a feeling of inferiority. Never had. I'm as good as anybody, but no better."
Being black never meant your fate was sealed, especially these days. A person decides if they are going to succeed in life or not. The opportunities are there and have been, especially in the last few decades. You just need to decide whether or not you throw in the towel.
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/langley/news/researchernews/rn_kjohnson.html
1
Let's stipulate that it is easier to be born a white person than a black person in North America. Let's further stipulate that the reasons that make it so are connected to past racist behavior on the part of the white majority. And therefore...what? It is not at all clear why a white person must surrender any rights to carry out their lives in the pursuit of every advantage they can ethically obtain. The notion that there is something inherently punitive -- from a moral point of view -- in the color of their skin is both offensive and laughably irrelevant in the real world. It is fair that argue that white should be aware of past racism and should work to further tolerance and equality of opportunity. It is idiotic, as well as delusional, to argue that they can or will forfeit their pursuit of a higher quality of life for themselves in order to expiate sins with which they had nothing whatsoever to do. If the author wishes to parade her boundless self-absorption and self-righteousness and the New York Times chooses to provide a platform, that's fair enough. It's a stretch, however, to ask anyone to take this remotely seriously.
5
Quote: "Welcome to capitalism, I thought when I learned of this system, which produced, that week, a yo-yo that remained stuck at the bottom of its string."
Your son's yo-yo was probably perfectly OK. Most likely it stayed in the sleeping position because the string was too loose: all you have to do is spin the yo-yo around to tighten or loosen the string.
I think this article could have benefited by your by being less quick to draw overly sweeping, condemnatory conclusions that aren't warranted by the premises, correct as those premises are.
Your son's yo-yo was probably perfectly OK. Most likely it stayed in the sleeping position because the string was too loose: all you have to do is spin the yo-yo around to tighten or loosen the string.
I think this article could have benefited by your by being less quick to draw overly sweeping, condemnatory conclusions that aren't warranted by the premises, correct as those premises are.
2
Passing judgment on "whiteness" is just as stupid and destructive as passing judgment on "blackness," or on "Muslims" or "Catholics" or "Jews." Confused and destructive derangements like this article should not be disseminated by any responsible news organization. This damges the credibility of the New York Times.
7
Ok...I am an expert in Estate Wealth. ( Estate Tax) The vast majority of people who pontificate about wealth and privilege almost always die broke!
Sadly, the people who most need to understand what is being said in this piece will never, ever let its message enter their minds.
3
You really need to get over yourself. If your logic holds, then white people are owed a debt for curing chicken pox and malaria and tuberculosis and small pox and the myriad other diseases that have caused the death of infinitely more "people of color." But your logic doesn't hold up. You have no guilt for the choices of your ancestors any more than you can derive credit from their successes. So quit your whiney bleating and make a contribution to society.
3
Am I the only one here that thinks Eula needs to first pay down her student debt before taking on further obligations?
4
How are these ideas even publishable? I am unashamed to be white and feel no sense of guilt due to my background. The only sense of privilege I feel is that I was born into a loving family with parents who cared deeply for me. Only a few generations back, my relatives were poor immigrants who worked in factories and mines. Due to my irish background it is more likely that someone from my lineage was a slave than a slaveholder. Only a wealthy few in early America were privileged enough to be in the slaveholding class and the vast majority of white americans are people like me: people with mixed backgrounds who have to work hard to get by.
Please stop perpetuating the idea that white people should feel guilty for their ethnicity which they have no control over.
Please stop perpetuating the idea that white people should feel guilty for their ethnicity which they have no control over.
3
the nytimes and other corporate media push anti-white race guilt propaganda down our throats and then reap the profits from the depressed wages that results. White Guilt facilitates mass immigration...which helps corporations depress wages....which increases corporate profits,....and some of those profits go to advertising purchases in the corporate media....white working class people almost never owned slaves...slavery was a privilege of the rich...per the 1860 census only 1.5% of all american whites owned slaves, and about 4% of slaveowners were nonwhites...also, it took at least two years of the income for the average white males to even buy a slave...no credit, cash or collateral...and now the rich upper class and its lapdog media want to push white race guilt on working class whites, many of whom are descendants of white slaves who were sold at auction in the 1600s...quit pushing white race guilt on us, corporate media....
2
This article makes an O.K. point or two, but overall is typical in that it discounts the fact that there is much violence in black neighborhoods and that blacks and other non whites see race in everything which puts the whites who do want to get along in a defensive position. You cannot have any sort of relationship with another human being as long as someone is keeping score. Sorry. We are not built that way. The only way to pull yourself out of the thinking is to make a success of yourself regardless of the ills of society. Booker T. Washington said it in, "Up from Slavery," and it still holds true today. It's sad, but society cannot pull anyone up and out without committing the same sort injustice decried in this article. That can only be done by an individual. Society should attempt to curb injustice, but what this article is saying is those who built this country should be guilty that they built it for themselves and their progeny which is a steaming load. Whites have spent the last 150 years trying to figure a way to help bring blacks and others into a society by pushing their race down and building up the other races on T.V., in the media, at work, with government jobs, and with other forms of affirmative action and yet we are still asked to hold collective guilt by folks like this author. My question is this...like the home in his article that unpaid. When does our bill get to be considered paid?
1
I find the conspicuous lamentations of liberals over their "white guilt" as absurd and narcissistic as the ostentatious declarations of Evangelicals of their guilt before God.
"Look at me, and see me as the Sinner that I am!", both declare. But most importantly, "Look at me!"
"Look at me, and see me as the Sinner that I am!", both declare. But most importantly, "Look at me!"
1
Is no one concerned about the child being used for the purposes of the author's career advancement? What happens to this guilt ridden boy when he realizes a parent, for her own gain, was creating a stock character out of him--the very picture of innocence soiled by Original Sin and predestined to sink to (white) humanity's lows. Yet, with mommy's manipulation (kindergarten protests!) he might be, what?, saved? The author's method of demonstrating adult corruption is as trite as it is abhorrent, especially if the author does in fact have a precocious child.
This is the greatest "crime" evident in the article: a child being used and manipulated by a parent rather than being brought up with love, trust, happiness, and independence (of behavior and thought) as his parent's goal for him as an adult. There are other and better ways to help a child discover the concept of justice, to nurture an ethical independent thinker. The author can't help being white, but she can avoid being a bad parent. Why don't we all start there?
The child-character in the article is a slave of his parent's intellectual biases and guilt. And he will pay for it for the rest of his life, just as all future generations seem destined to be bound to this author's thought process and the NYT's willingness to publish low quality writing In the name of "justice." To the child: Son, if mom archives this article and all its comment for posterity and you come across this post, remember, it's not your fault.
This is the greatest "crime" evident in the article: a child being used and manipulated by a parent rather than being brought up with love, trust, happiness, and independence (of behavior and thought) as his parent's goal for him as an adult. There are other and better ways to help a child discover the concept of justice, to nurture an ethical independent thinker. The author can't help being white, but she can avoid being a bad parent. Why don't we all start there?
The child-character in the article is a slave of his parent's intellectual biases and guilt. And he will pay for it for the rest of his life, just as all future generations seem destined to be bound to this author's thought process and the NYT's willingness to publish low quality writing In the name of "justice." To the child: Son, if mom archives this article and all its comment for posterity and you come across this post, remember, it's not your fault.
3
The transformation of the world over the last 300 years from one in which life was nasty, brutish and short to one in which a major problem of poor people is being obese has largely been the result of white northern European males. For those who decry their influence, or who are not of white northern European ancestry and are upset about cultural appropriation, there are plenty of places where you can escape most of the influence of that evil group of people. Try the Central African Republic or the Papua New Guinea highlands, for starters. But beware, Sidwell Friends doesn't have a branch in either place.
2
Heh. Insert the word 'black' for 'white' and vice-a versa and see if the article still makes sense. :) (Hint: sixteen members of my family fought for the North and didn't move south of the Mason-Dixon line until the mid-late 1900's.)
An incoherent column which misses the point of today's multi-race America, for starters. Where do Latinos rank on the 'guilt' scale? What about Asian-Americans?
Has the columnist looked at the enrollment mix of the University of California lately? It's no longer just a white/black dynamic nowadays in terms of who is getting ahead and who is being left behind.
Has the columnist looked at the enrollment mix of the University of California lately? It's no longer just a white/black dynamic nowadays in terms of who is getting ahead and who is being left behind.
1
As a non-white immigrant and now US Citizen, I really don't understand why whites feel they have to apologize for what their great great grandparents may have done.
More than any other country, the US allows people to succeed regardless of their race. My father came to the US more than 40 years ago with little more than a suitcase and a willingness to work hard. We didn't see him for two years while he saved up money to bring us to the US as well. When we finally came, we had 7 of us in a two bedroom apartment.
Fast forward 20 years, and he owned 7 homes and that was after fully funding college for his children. Why people who are born here and who are fluent in English cannot succeed here is beyond me.
More than any other country, the US allows people to succeed regardless of their race. My father came to the US more than 40 years ago with little more than a suitcase and a willingness to work hard. We didn't see him for two years while he saved up money to bring us to the US as well. When we finally came, we had 7 of us in a two bedroom apartment.
Fast forward 20 years, and he owned 7 homes and that was after fully funding college for his children. Why people who are born here and who are fluent in English cannot succeed here is beyond me.
3
We need to remember that about 750,000 soldiers, mostly white from both North and South, gave their lives during the Civil War. Trying to make sense of the bloodshed, Abraham Lincoln in his Second Inaugural Address viewed the war as a saying of paying the debt for the sin and suffering of slavery, writing "The Almighty has His own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."
Forgive me, but this is very messy piece with little sense of flow to the writer's thoughts -- not least because it's been unnecessarily bulked-up with Nietzsche references that only distance us from the epiphanies at its core. Those are interesting to me and I wish Ms. Biss had focused on the personal rather than trying to dazzle us with her intellect.
1
No guilt or repayment from me. I worked for everything I have achieved and dealt with something worse than racism - sexism. it's about time that we told the truth that 52% of the population is consistently kept down due to their gender.
3
This article is the epitome of political correctness. Like political correctness it is flawed and leads to a badly flawed outlook on life. Those who use political correctness to bully others is as disgusting as any other form of bullying. Somebody who chooses to diminish themselves by combining various philosophies is to be pitied.
3
When I was ten years old what was left of my family moved to Berkeley in 1971. My father had died of a heart attack after suffering a major blow to his career and left nothing; my mother, who didn't learn to drive until after her husband's death, got into a car accident with three children in the car (including me) and flew through the windshield, resulting in major brain damage that made it impossible for her to work. I was the youngest; my older siblings found other places to live, and by the time I was eleven I was living alone with my mother on government checks in a roach-infested apartment.
The racial mix of the school I attended was equally divided between black and white, enforced by busing. My 5th grade teacher was black and my class was mostly black. There was a lot of racial tension, and I was constantly made to feel guilt about my whiteness. My mother and I received a box of free canned goods from a drive run by the school district; I tried to thank the class and was instead criticized by my teacher and classmates for taking something that should have gone to a black family. One day I was beaten and robbed by three older black boys; when I reported the incident to my teacher and the principal they both told me that I deserved to be mugged because my ancestors owned slaves. I was a good student and had more black friends than white ones, but the hostility directed toward me was unrelenting.
As a result it took me a long time to understand my white privilege.
The racial mix of the school I attended was equally divided between black and white, enforced by busing. My 5th grade teacher was black and my class was mostly black. There was a lot of racial tension, and I was constantly made to feel guilt about my whiteness. My mother and I received a box of free canned goods from a drive run by the school district; I tried to thank the class and was instead criticized by my teacher and classmates for taking something that should have gone to a black family. One day I was beaten and robbed by three older black boys; when I reported the incident to my teacher and the principal they both told me that I deserved to be mugged because my ancestors owned slaves. I was a good student and had more black friends than white ones, but the hostility directed toward me was unrelenting.
As a result it took me a long time to understand my white privilege.
4
As the Catholic Church will tell you, we are all born in original sin, and only patient, selfless, suffering can even begin to atone for that sin. That reflection you will find, was as helpful to you and to the world as is your own helpless and unnatural extension of that guilt. What has happened in the past and what is happening now, is only human nature. You are only responsible for your own, personal, part of it. Get well soon.
2
I'm thrown by so many comments here, especially as quite a few seem to think she's Black and also, they ignore the fact she addresses their attitudes up front and throughout--and many seem to have missed that.
Even the comment that "In the real world, none of us are privileged enough to feel guilty about it" is exactly her point. So many of us don't begin to see our privilege even as we live and breathe it. That is her starting point and end point. Her invocation of Baldwin and Alexie, among others, suggests the history of denying privilege is long and takes multiple forms. What to do about it, whether it's productive, and how angry so many White folks get over anyone acknowledging it, is what is in the middle.
If more understood this as common rather than something for "elite (white) liberals" or people of color to engage with in all its messiness and discomfort, it wouldn't begin to evoke the sort of thoughtless comments here. Her association of White Debt with financial debt, which so many don't see as a privilege but as a norm of life, seems to have been overlooked by tons of people here, whom I have to wonder whether they actually read the whole thing.
Even the comment that "In the real world, none of us are privileged enough to feel guilty about it" is exactly her point. So many of us don't begin to see our privilege even as we live and breathe it. That is her starting point and end point. Her invocation of Baldwin and Alexie, among others, suggests the history of denying privilege is long and takes multiple forms. What to do about it, whether it's productive, and how angry so many White folks get over anyone acknowledging it, is what is in the middle.
If more understood this as common rather than something for "elite (white) liberals" or people of color to engage with in all its messiness and discomfort, it wouldn't begin to evoke the sort of thoughtless comments here. Her association of White Debt with financial debt, which so many don't see as a privilege but as a norm of life, seems to have been overlooked by tons of people here, whom I have to wonder whether they actually read the whole thing.
3
There is no "racial privilege", only bias, and whether or not you're on the wrong end of it. The idea is a farce perpetuated by people too self-absorbed to go out and actually make a difference in someone's life. Yes a white guy is more likely to get a loan, yes the justice system has it out for african americans. Yet the best way to fix this is to get off your butt and go help.
Interestingly enough, slavery should have taught this country the value of the human being. Unfortunately today, we see that human beings have no value, whatsoever. Black lives, white lives, red lives, other lives have no value when consideration is given to eliminating Social Security, Food Stamps, Medicaid or Obamacare, etc. We think nothing of incarcerating adolescents or adults for ever, simply because we demand retribution. We all need to re-think ourselves and our contribution to the inequalities and money driven but thoughtless reliance upon counting beans before the value of a human being. Kindness over privilege ought to become our mantra. I hear and understand her frustrations with its explanation.
1
Bravo! To emphasize the essential point--even the poorest White people in America benefit from more privilege in American society that the wealthiest, most educated Blacks in our society. The simple fact that any Black person can be picked up on the side of the road by a police officer, then questioned, subjected to humiliation, hate, disrespect, and abuse proves this. We are essentially in the same place we were 150 years ago, and cell phones and technology are capturing it. While lynching by rope is not as common, lynching through police brutality, unjustified arrests, incarceration, and even murder happens frequently. As an educated African American, I live my days in fear that I or my children can be subject to this privileged use of power at any time, regardless of my family’s education or money.
If you are White—can you even imagine what that would feel like? Can you imagine the subtle and continuous daily burden of being held to a different standard? That you and your family can be threatened by racism and hate in little and big ways at any moment? Probably not. The effects of this daily reality are so far reaching. When I talk to my own young children about race, I can see the disappointment in their eyes as they slowly realize they belong to a group of people who have been continually discriminated against and disenfranchised for generations. They will be burdened by being Black their whole lives, and so will their children.
If you are White—can you even imagine what that would feel like? Can you imagine the subtle and continuous daily burden of being held to a different standard? That you and your family can be threatened by racism and hate in little and big ways at any moment? Probably not. The effects of this daily reality are so far reaching. When I talk to my own young children about race, I can see the disappointment in their eyes as they slowly realize they belong to a group of people who have been continually discriminated against and disenfranchised for generations. They will be burdened by being Black their whole lives, and so will their children.
2
I am a first generation Black American who has been fortunate enough get an great education due to hard working parents and supportive adults. Some comments pointed out the plight of poor White families and they are absolutely right. Minorities are disproportionately poor, not the majority of the poor. Poor White families are ignored and more supports and help should be provided for these families.
However, class is not only the issues, race is as well. I have had racial slurs yelled at me. A friend went to a job interview where the interviewers would not shake her hand and she received a weak apology for racist coworkers. A friend was arrested for "walking while Black" Things are better than Jim Crow but racism is alive and kicking.
As I read the article, I felt mixed about it. Guilt is not the answer and being White is more than privilege and atonement. I think there should be more discussion on what it means to be White as a culture and race. Every race has a part of their history which is dark. Negative does not cancel out the positive. The problem is the focus on privilege only means few are willing to acknowledge that everyone does not start on a even playing field in life and despite accomplishments and hard work, the playing field may never become equal for those are not White. To progress as a society, we need to focus on decreasing the disadvantages of not being White and/or being poor and changing attitudes about people viewed as different.
However, class is not only the issues, race is as well. I have had racial slurs yelled at me. A friend went to a job interview where the interviewers would not shake her hand and she received a weak apology for racist coworkers. A friend was arrested for "walking while Black" Things are better than Jim Crow but racism is alive and kicking.
As I read the article, I felt mixed about it. Guilt is not the answer and being White is more than privilege and atonement. I think there should be more discussion on what it means to be White as a culture and race. Every race has a part of their history which is dark. Negative does not cancel out the positive. The problem is the focus on privilege only means few are willing to acknowledge that everyone does not start on a even playing field in life and despite accomplishments and hard work, the playing field may never become equal for those are not White. To progress as a society, we need to focus on decreasing the disadvantages of not being White and/or being poor and changing attitudes about people viewed as different.
4
Wake up America. We are losing our way. In my suburban town which is middle to high class, we have a growing population of Asians, which includes of course East Indians (India). First generations come to this country well educated and stress education. They work hard and it shows from their growing presence in the economy. They don't worry about guilt or what past aggressions has done to their cultures, they live in the now. You educate yourself, carry yourself properly and from that you gain respect.
I see it like this. If some people don't get what they want, they company that it's a racial issue and that past aggressiions are the root cause. In today's America, everyone has the chance to succeed. It's not easy and it won't be handed to you unless your born with the proverbial silver spoon in thy mouth. Work hard educate and stop whining.
Micro aggressions.....what a joke. White guilt? Unless your lineage leads back to the fore fathers.....you shouldn't even entertain the thought.
I see it like this. If some people don't get what they want, they company that it's a racial issue and that past aggressiions are the root cause. In today's America, everyone has the chance to succeed. It's not easy and it won't be handed to you unless your born with the proverbial silver spoon in thy mouth. Work hard educate and stop whining.
Micro aggressions.....what a joke. White guilt? Unless your lineage leads back to the fore fathers.....you shouldn't even entertain the thought.
1
I could swear I just watched a video on the New York Times website a few minutes ago of a bunch of mostly white cops shooting a shirtless white man with a straight razor in his hand to death on the street somewhere in America while somebody recorded it on their phone. If we cared we might find out that happens a lot more often than most people seem to think. But that doesn't fit the right narrative.
I also seem to remember a war about 150 years ago in which around 400,000 white Yankees gave the last full measure of devotion that helped bring about the emancipation of the slaves. Even if very few of those men actually fought to free the slaves, banks don't care who makes the payments and I'd say those men and boys made a mighty big payment on somebody's mortgage. Dead is dead and free is free.
A good bit of money has been spent on various social programs since the 1960s as well. Trillions, actually. And since that time births out of wedlock in the black community have gone from 20% to 80%, 55% of all murders are committed by blacks (who make up 13% of the population), and 90% of black homicide victims are killed by black murderers. Those neighborhoods are war zones and not anywhere remotely just because of the police.
I'd say the national account book is too messed up to make much sense of anymore. Who can say who owes what to whom? Not I.
But I can say this-- No reparations without repatriation.
I also seem to remember a war about 150 years ago in which around 400,000 white Yankees gave the last full measure of devotion that helped bring about the emancipation of the slaves. Even if very few of those men actually fought to free the slaves, banks don't care who makes the payments and I'd say those men and boys made a mighty big payment on somebody's mortgage. Dead is dead and free is free.
A good bit of money has been spent on various social programs since the 1960s as well. Trillions, actually. And since that time births out of wedlock in the black community have gone from 20% to 80%, 55% of all murders are committed by blacks (who make up 13% of the population), and 90% of black homicide victims are killed by black murderers. Those neighborhoods are war zones and not anywhere remotely just because of the police.
I'd say the national account book is too messed up to make much sense of anymore. Who can say who owes what to whom? Not I.
But I can say this-- No reparations without repatriation.
3
As a white person who grew up very poor and as a member of a minority group, I do not feel all that privileged. Never did have the benefit of affirmative action, either.
5
I'm fairly liberal, but refuse to apologize for being born white. Recently I read "Negroland" and my takeaway was that this particular African-American had a much more sheltered and privileged upbringing than I, and has a much more privileged life than most white people. There are all kinds of problems and setbacks people have, but let's don't make it a competition on who has it the worst.
5
I kept on reading in vain hope that the author would make his point. After countless references to various works, philosophers, concepts expressed by others; I still don't get it? We're supposed to be guilty about being white? Emphasize more with the black man considering his unfortunate history here? Okay; if that's the point I get it. Somewhere in his wanderings, the author states: "I have written and erased a hundred sentences here, trying and failing to articulate something that I can sense but not yet speak." He should add and not write and leave it at that.
Has it crossed your mind, in the rare intervals between self-flagellation and chest-beating proselytism, that learning lessons from history does not mean wallowing in guilt, nor making your children do it?
Don't you know that all conditions that made slavery desirable, or even feasible, have now changed? The Barbary Coast pirates no longer need to empty entire English fishing villages to sell their population as slaves to the Ottoman. That's Decatur out of a job, then.
Has it occurred to you that racism - rather, hostile feelings towards people with more melanin on their skin - these days is more in reaction to contrived tribalism than to an outdated sense of frustrated ownership?
If the sanctimonious do-gooders and malcomeksers stopped with the hair-shirts and raised fists, if we all forgot the obscenity of "affirmative action," if we let go of carpetbagging and underground-railroading and focused on taking full responsibility for our acts - but only for our acts, not those of our predecessors - we could move on and all be friends together. This guilt of generations thing is so biblical that it makes me smell the cloying frankincense, see the candle and hear the bells of Inquisition.
Oh, and stop reading Nietzsche, would you? Unless you want your accusing right arm to stiffen and point to the heavens, palm downwards.
Don't you know that all conditions that made slavery desirable, or even feasible, have now changed? The Barbary Coast pirates no longer need to empty entire English fishing villages to sell their population as slaves to the Ottoman. That's Decatur out of a job, then.
Has it occurred to you that racism - rather, hostile feelings towards people with more melanin on their skin - these days is more in reaction to contrived tribalism than to an outdated sense of frustrated ownership?
If the sanctimonious do-gooders and malcomeksers stopped with the hair-shirts and raised fists, if we all forgot the obscenity of "affirmative action," if we let go of carpetbagging and underground-railroading and focused on taking full responsibility for our acts - but only for our acts, not those of our predecessors - we could move on and all be friends together. This guilt of generations thing is so biblical that it makes me smell the cloying frankincense, see the candle and hear the bells of Inquisition.
Oh, and stop reading Nietzsche, would you? Unless you want your accusing right arm to stiffen and point to the heavens, palm downwards.
Beautifully written and thoughtful. My only criticism is it doesn't address which whiteness though, that it neatly eludes the layers of privilege in white hierarchy. It very lightly touches on her privileged level within whiteness, that she is a college professor. Looking on Wikipedia I learn she was able to attend an elite undergraduate school (Hampshire College), etc. I don't know what her parents income was to afford that or perhaps her brilliance carried her without special privilege within the white power structure. The same could be written about being an American in comparison to some other cultures on a global level, anyone in this land is privileged. I get tired of arguments that whiteness is a mono-culture, to be from an elite white family is different than being white in an Appalachian trailer park, just like there are layers of being Black, being black can be the child of a wealthy person, or being black in a ghetto. It breaks my heart the centuries of genocide on this continent that led to the civilization that we live in and I am confused by it. I remember seeing a large Chinese wedding party in Schenley Park in Pittsburgh and I felt happy for them, it also hit me that this day of joy for them also came at the expense of the original human inhabitants of the area and I wondered, do affluent people who are not "white" also feel the same guilt with their joy as it is all in this nation built on the deaths and enslavement of others as whites do.
3
How about the black privilege/debt of those who sold the slaves to the slave traders in the first place. Do all these platitudes still apply?
2
I grew up in a multi racial community and white kids were often bullied fairly viciously by blacks. Sounds corny but my very best friend was black. It's so crazy, so complex this human thing and yes My first love was also black. The great religions teach love and yet become vehicles for the most ruthless behaviors. There is this capacity for love, but at the same time we are evolved from tribalism, and I am so sure it runs very deep. looking at the world we see it manifesting itself in utter brutality day in and day out. So how do we overcome this rotten core wired within us; a seed of fear and mistrust based on superficial differences when fundamentally we are all human
4
Here is the trap that the concept of white privilege sets for us. It is purported to provide the answer to that forever-sought "national discussion on race." That means any such discussion has a predetermined outcome for white people - racial inequity is your fault, you are inevitably guilty if only as a recipient of privilege. At the same time, the emphasis on white guilt tends to obscure, even deny, the agency of minorities, especially blacks, except to point out examples of white guilt. Is it any wonder that national discussion seems to always fade into the distance?
We long ago realized that collective guilt is morally reprehensible. All the invocation of "white privilege" is trying to accomplish is to establish a rhetorical dodge by which a group of people may be safely isolated, accused, and punished due to their membership in that group.
The ethical and moral debts we accrue are those generated by our actions alone.
The ethical and moral debts we accrue are those generated by our actions alone.
2
This article reminds me of the shock I felt when a black friend told me how much her family pays for car insurance, despite having never had an accident. While I consider myself aware of my white privilege, it is impossible to contemplate the innumerable pervasive and insidious ways that privilege - or lack thereof - plays out in the lives of black Americans.
3
Meanwhile, black on black violence goes ignored in America. A witch-trial mentality pervades college campuses against males in America. Homosexuals are thrown off tall buildings in the Middle East. Honor killings continue unabated by Muslims. Anti-semitism is on the rise in Europe (and America) once again. This article is pure drivel, but, then again, it's the New York Times.
2
The concept of "white privilege" as expressed in this article is a fallacy: It's just "privilege", and "guilt" should attach to privilege, and not to skin color. Lots of "white" people coming to the US have faced harsh discrimination because of how they look. Irish and Italian immigrants, for example. While they weren't enslaved, many were fleeing starvation or under indentured contracts. They were bound to sweat shops, subject to sexual abuse, shaken down by their bosses, and fired without recourse for no reason. Despite being “white”, such people did not enjoy equality before the law if accused of the same crime as a wealthy individual -- assuming, of course, that the wealthy individual was even prosecuted. Disparate treatment by the courts still goes on today, of course, but it has more to do with wealth and power than with skin color: Rich people of color get the same sweet treatment before the courts that rich white people do, while poor whites get shafted in much the same way as poor people of color. And, in the "non-white" nation (e.g., Asian, African, or Arab countries), there is a non-white privileged class that, without any sense of guilt, abuses the poor and powerless and free of any legal consequences. In fact, just for being a foreigner, you will not have equal standing in their courts, regardless of your skin color. This has been the way of the world forever. The US is actually a leader in at least trying to give justice to the poor and powerless.
1
Biss is conjuring up a secular version of Original Sin. Apropos of fundamentalist religion, her worldview's detachment from scientific evidence is quickly announced with the bizzare claim that whites as a group are not more genetically related to one another than blacks as a group. That's just flatly wrong. For example non-Africans have Neanderthal and/or Denisovan ancestry absent south of the Sahara. An ethnic Korean like myself is more closely related to white people and vice-versa than any sub-Saharan African group. its just our Evolutionary history expressed as geographically varying gene frequencies; it's not a racist conspiracy. Biss also stands puzzled by recessive phenotype, which explains why features associated with European ancestry are generally lost rather than gained.
The added irony is that I see in this essay an insufferable narcissism that amounts to a white woman using injustices experienced by non-whites to endow her life with some transcendental meaning. In other words it's an act of appropriation, abetted in her political and social milieu by non-whites whose own careers rest on a similar narrative.
The added irony is that I see in this essay an insufferable narcissism that amounts to a white woman using injustices experienced by non-whites to endow her life with some transcendental meaning. In other words it's an act of appropriation, abetted in her political and social milieu by non-whites whose own careers rest on a similar narrative.
2
I don't owe you anything, white people are not in debt to anybody. If it weren't for Europeans, black Americans would still be traded as slaved between other African nations to this day. No other people more has been done to end the institutional slavery, which was a global and interracial institution, than white Europeans. The insecurity is strong in this article.
1
"White people are no more closely related to one another, genetically, than we are to black people."
That's obviously not true on average, and decades of population genetics have proven it false. A copy editor should have blue-penciled that absurd urban legend.
That's obviously not true on average, and decades of population genetics have proven it false. A copy editor should have blue-penciled that absurd urban legend.
1
The first task of culture is to make most things invisible.
What is culture? It is a deep, unconscious pattern of shared beliefs about what exists and what has value.
Whiteness, like most things in the human universe, is an invention, a thing constructed out of ideas that people have the marvellous ability to think of later as *natural* and inevitable, you know, like money or status or civilization.
In a nation which set as one of its founding motivations *the pursuit of happiness* most of us experience extreme reluctance to take on long term obligations whose substance both in the real world and in our consciousness might interfere with said happiness. As Daisy Buchanan, a true avatar of whiteness and privilege, illustrates for us in this subtle satire, much of happiness CONSISTS of not knowing. As she declares about her newborn daughter, *I hope she'll be a fool - that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool!* I think Daisy stopped one gender too soon.
It appears that what the writer here wants is that most American of things - freedom. But the freedom we as citizens born into the exceptional ranks imagine, is freedom FROM obligations, freedom to forget, to unsee, to systematically misconstrue, to construct reality itself as we need it to be. To imagine a world into existence custom designed, and then dis-remember that we even performed such an act. Just like we do with the Law, a thing we insist on confusing with justice. Silly us.
What is culture? It is a deep, unconscious pattern of shared beliefs about what exists and what has value.
Whiteness, like most things in the human universe, is an invention, a thing constructed out of ideas that people have the marvellous ability to think of later as *natural* and inevitable, you know, like money or status or civilization.
In a nation which set as one of its founding motivations *the pursuit of happiness* most of us experience extreme reluctance to take on long term obligations whose substance both in the real world and in our consciousness might interfere with said happiness. As Daisy Buchanan, a true avatar of whiteness and privilege, illustrates for us in this subtle satire, much of happiness CONSISTS of not knowing. As she declares about her newborn daughter, *I hope she'll be a fool - that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool!* I think Daisy stopped one gender too soon.
It appears that what the writer here wants is that most American of things - freedom. But the freedom we as citizens born into the exceptional ranks imagine, is freedom FROM obligations, freedom to forget, to unsee, to systematically misconstrue, to construct reality itself as we need it to be. To imagine a world into existence custom designed, and then dis-remember that we even performed such an act. Just like we do with the Law, a thing we insist on confusing with justice. Silly us.
"White people are no more closely related to one another, genetically, than we are to black people. "
This statement is completely and objectively false. White people, espcially genetically 100% white people would share many common and much more recent ancestors with other genetically 100% white people. Only much, much further back in time would a genetically 100% white person share a common ancestor with a 100% African person.
And yes, as 23 and Me studies show, the vast majority of white people in the US are 100% of European origin and on AVERAGE people considered white were 98.6% genetically white.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/25/science/23andme-genetic-ethnicity-stud...
This statement is completely and objectively false. White people, espcially genetically 100% white people would share many common and much more recent ancestors with other genetically 100% white people. Only much, much further back in time would a genetically 100% white person share a common ancestor with a 100% African person.
And yes, as 23 and Me studies show, the vast majority of white people in the US are 100% of European origin and on AVERAGE people considered white were 98.6% genetically white.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/25/science/23andme-genetic-ethnicity-stud...
1
Why should I, a white person, be responsible for something (slavery) that I had nothing to do with and then be required to feel guilty to a race (blacks) that never lived under slavery?
1
Read Michelle Alexander's "The New Jim Crow" - you'll find the answer to your question there.
2
I would suggest that Bliss' definition of Whiteness (it's absence of culture, and it's root in societal advantages gained from colonial slavery), as well the essay by James Baldwin to which she refers, are becoming increasingly indefensible in our ever globalizing world.
Sometimes the wisdom within an issue is clouded by a surfeit of details.
Bought a house but not paying off your student debt... just a question: are you planning on paying it off, or just waiting for it to be "forgiven?"
2
No one owes anything to anyone. No one's race makes them responsible for the actions of others. Martin Luther King said we should stop judging people by the color of their skins but by the content of their character. MLK stood on the mountain top and looked into the promised land. We're living in the promised land now. It's time to build a community and stop looking for people to blame.
2
Quite frankly, an ignorant and disgusting screed.
3
Has there ever been a successful bi-racial society? What are the prospects for a tri- or quadri-racial society, such as the US is becoming? Have human beings evolved to live in a multi-racial milieu? And given the realities of human biodiversity, which modern genomic research is steadily and unmistakably revealing, what are the chances we are headed in the direction of a racially-stratified caste society ruled by endogenous elites? What, if anything, can be done to prevent it? These are all uncomfortable questions we will all have to face. Talk of white privilege is merely one of the symptoms.
To some extent I agree with some commenters that one cannot be held hostage to the guilt of what one's forefathers did or did not do. But one should take the time to study and understand how previous generations' decisions impact the generation we live in now. There are too few people in my opinion who are willing to do this honestly, but it is increasingly important as our societies become more diverse. Even if one wants to forget about history or deny its contemporary implications, a discerning person will (frequently) be able to spot examples of the abuse of power or privilege being exercised with a simultaneous unfounded bias against a person or group typically excluded from those power circles or privileges. It does and will make a difference when people call out slights, injustices or abuses when they see it playing out in very obvious ways, or when one intentionally refuses to participate in the same by complicit silence. It also makes a difference if one walks as a friend with someone from outside a privileged group. It's much different than reading an abstract discussion. One is much less likely to notice how privilege or the lack of it impacts others otherwise.
4
"This was, I now see, a somewhat unhinged response to the first week of kindergarten." No kidding. Could you cut your little son a break? Some of this seems tantamount to child abuse. I think you are in danger of ingraining in him the idea of thinking in terms of categories and collective guilt rather than in looking for ways simply to lead a good life. See Primo Levi for a different set of metaphors to the ones you seem to have absorbed. He rejected the idea of categories, even for his tormentors. I think you -- and your son -- would do better for now wallowing, however poetically, in an exquisite sense of guilt.
4
Ghod, yet another hand wringing liberal white guilt article. If your white guilt bothers you so much, go kill yourself! I don't feel guilt, what I do feel is anger at the black crime rate. How the Jew controlled media has an agenda and how they are demanding you think. Maybe we do need a race war?!?
Unlike another reader, I had no sense of the gender of the author (though, with what I guess is my own fatherly/male bias, I passively presumed I was listening to the voice of a father when she initially spoke of her 5 year old).
That said, while the author insists there is no such thing as "whiteness", with each paragraph and new idea it seemed to me that this piece could only ever have been written by a "white person."
For me, the definition of whiteness can't be fully deconstructed as claimed here.
That said, while the author insists there is no such thing as "whiteness", with each paragraph and new idea it seemed to me that this piece could only ever have been written by a "white person."
For me, the definition of whiteness can't be fully deconstructed as claimed here.
1
In light of her commitment to exposing the historical problem of whiteness, perhaps our author might delve into the depths of origin and evolution of the trilateral slave trade with her academic mentor Noel Ignatiev. Noel might identify for Biss the particular ethnic origins of many the slaveholders of the Dutch Nederland's - a mercantile group which remarkably remains unnamed in many public and academic discussions of reparations and the righting of historical injustices against people of color.
I've fewer years as a parent than does the author, but I would still advise caution regarding how much of your complex "moral outlook" you drill into your child. Such efforts can backfire at adulthood.
-And always good to consider for whose benefit you are doing it...
-And always good to consider for whose benefit you are doing it...
1
This is a very honest, searching and thoughtful piece on issues most white people (and I am one) would rather not consider. Interesting to look at the readers' comments, which seem to contain anger toward, almost a wish to shame and punish, the author for having engaged in this process. She's condemned as a self-aggrandizing, self-flagellating, hypocritical liberal do-nothing. Huh? Do we know that she does nothing in her personal life to address injustices -- that's hardly the impression I get. So hard to start a thoughtful conversation when you are so quickly told to shut up.
3
Thank you for your opinion. The majority of comments I'm reading here precisely make the authors point, whether the writers realize it or not. The ugly reminiscence of slavery is all around us. The fact that the majority of whites don't see this makes the point in my opinion. And yes the writers are hostile. Me thinks the writers deny too much.
2
Whites benefit little from white privilege because most of the people they compete with for jobs, housing, college admissions, etc. or also white. African Americans are disproportionately poor, but there are nearly three times as many poor whites as poor blacks. A disproportionate number of blacks are killed by police, but blacks also commit a disproportionate percent of violent crimes. In raw numbers, police kill and in raw numbers, police kill far more whites than blacks. So far this year, according to the running tally kept by the Guardian, police have killed 525 whites and 266 blacks. Interracial murders are relatively rare, but blacks are much quicker on the interracial trigger finger than whites. The 2014 FBI Uniform Crime Report (Expanded Homicide Data Table 6) shows that 409 blacks murdered whites while 189 whites (including Hispanics) murdered blacks in 2014.
The legacy of slavery and Jim Crow is said to trump the horrors that other immigrant and minority groups experienced — the Irish who were declared to be inhuman by mid-nineteenth-century essayists, the Asian exclusionary laws and the Japanese internment, the Holocaust and the deliberate polices of the State Department and War Department to refuse entry of Jews fleeing the gas chambers, the Native Americans who lost their tribal landscapes, my own grandfather who came from Italy in the early 1900s and experienced unparalleled discrimination.
I truly feel articles like this one further drives the races apart. Indeed, A recent New York Times/CBS News poll just revealed that about 60% of Americans feel race relations are not good. Some 40% think that they will become even worse. Yet when Obama was elected, 66% of those polled felt race relations were generally OK. All racial groups, according to recent polling, believe that Obama’s handling of racial relations has made things worse since 2009. Another recent Pew poll confirms these tensions, and suggests whites are now about as pessimistic as blacks.
I truly feel articles like this one further drives the races apart. Indeed, A recent New York Times/CBS News poll just revealed that about 60% of Americans feel race relations are not good. Some 40% think that they will become even worse. Yet when Obama was elected, 66% of those polled felt race relations were generally OK. All racial groups, according to recent polling, believe that Obama’s handling of racial relations has made things worse since 2009. Another recent Pew poll confirms these tensions, and suggests whites are now about as pessimistic as blacks.
1
It is troubling it is President Obama's "handling" of racial relations which shows up in polls as the major factor in the "worsening" of those relations. I am convinced that the lack of respect shown to Mr. Obama by Congressional leaders has had a major influence on the ugly language used against him in many media forums (including to a lesser degree these moderated comments.) Nothing is said about the "privilege" displayed when the Joe Wilson-types in Congress felt able for the first time to yell out "You Lie" during a State of the Union speech. And nothing is said about the increasing attacks on public and private programs trying to "level the playing field of access to opportunity". And nothing is said of the comments of Chief Justice Roberts who declared "racism in voting" no longer exists while choosing to ignore all evidence to the contrary. To blame Mr. Obama (whose chosen identity group is African-American, Christian, male) for the current state of "racial relations" in the US is another example of claiming "white privilege" to deny any share of responsibility for the barriers which objectively exist and prevent access to opportunity for many groups who have in common the inability to change through applied work the characteristics they were born with: skin color, gender, height, physical ableness.
I remain very sorry for those who were unable to understand Eula Bliss's essay or who gave up without trying to understand the complexity she describes.
I remain very sorry for those who were unable to understand Eula Bliss's essay or who gave up without trying to understand the complexity she describes.
1
There is something huge that Ms Biss ignores: there are more then two races in the US. This makes all of her logic suspect. The idea of White Debt holds a lot less water when you realize that Asians and Hispanics are doing very nicely without it. White privilege is used to explain the lack of Black success. But, if other groups succeed without White Privilege that means it doesn't explain White success or the lack of Black success. In fact it argues that White Privilege doesn't actually exist. Something else shared by Whites and Asians but not Shared by Blacks exists.
Being married into an Asian family very quickly makes something clear, White Debt is a vanity.
Being married into an Asian family very quickly makes something clear, White Debt is a vanity.
My family tree includes people who were discriminated against in the United States by being barred from jobs and places to live; and being subjected to mass arrests and lynchings. Abroad, they were the targets of genocide.
Many in the family tree served in the armed forces of the United States during World War II and other wars. Some did not come back.
In summary, I do not have a moral problem with who I am and where I come from. I do not have guilt.
Many in the family tree served in the armed forces of the United States during World War II and other wars. Some did not come back.
In summary, I do not have a moral problem with who I am and where I come from. I do not have guilt.
1
For once, my opinion and those of the seemingly infinite parade of racist New York Times commenters collide: Stop it with the white guilt charade already. Nobody is interested in this nonsense and it doesn't make you a better person, nor does it do anything to solve the problem. If the author actually feels that bad about it (I think she doesn't), then she should write (here's a thought) a pro-reparations article (there's a debt that could actually be repaid), or go be a human shield at a Black Lives Matter rally, or donate to a worthy cause that benefits racial justice, or do something - anything - besides sitting around marinating on her over-privileged white identity all day only to conclude (against all logic and reason) that there's nothing practical she can do about it. The archaic Judeo-Christian notion that guilt will absolve her of her sins is incredibly misguided. The space should have been given to a black journalist who is actually qualified to explain to white readers what is happening on the "racial justice" front in our country. I don't think the author even understands the concept of "white privilege" because this article in and of itself is a prime example.
4
What a bunch of mush.
"Our police, like Nietzsche’s creditors, act out their power on black bodies." Tell that to the cop who escorted people out of the San B facility the other day, assuring them he would take the first bullet.
"Our police, like Nietzsche’s creditors, act out their power on black bodies." Tell that to the cop who escorted people out of the San B facility the other day, assuring them he would take the first bullet.
1
Forgive, but what a provincial mindset. I'm not one who feels guilt for the actions of strangers, past or present, color be what it may. I'm fully capable of outrage at injustice, but denying parts of one's heritage and pointing the finger at hidden baddies is silly and completely beside the point. Get on with your life, be a good and treat other good people with kindness. Travel this world - you'll come to realize just how important America is to civilization - but first pay off your student debt.
"Whiteness is not a kinship or a culture. White people are no more closely related to one another, genetically, than we are to black people."
This is just plain not true.
23 and me and Ancestry.com offer services that analyze your DNA and evaluate your relatedness to others, and you are definitely more related to your own race.
Anyway, if I go ahead and run with the author's strange assertion that I am not really any more related to whites than blacks, then I am feeling pretty much 100% off the hook for any white guilt.
The only folks I owe a debt are my own forbears who so diligently worked to make this a better world.
This is just plain not true.
23 and me and Ancestry.com offer services that analyze your DNA and evaluate your relatedness to others, and you are definitely more related to your own race.
Anyway, if I go ahead and run with the author's strange assertion that I am not really any more related to whites than blacks, then I am feeling pretty much 100% off the hook for any white guilt.
The only folks I owe a debt are my own forbears who so diligently worked to make this a better world.
1
America was founded by and for people of European descent, why shouldn't we be privileged in a country made by our people? You wouldn't go to China and complain about Chinese privilege, what give you the right to do so in White countries?
1
Equating "Whiteness" to prejudice and discrimination is the same as referring to crime and poverty as "Blackness." Racism is a two-way street and this author clearly travels it.
This is an excellent article that clearly captures the essence of American white existence. As a white American man, I am very aware of the explicit and implicit privilege of my life. We live with the legacy of genocide of the indigenous peoples that inhabited this land before we arrived and of the slavery of those we forcibly brought here. The negative commentators below display typical indignant self-delusion and belligerence when these topics are raised. Although as individuals we were not involved or responsible, as representatives of white society and inheritors of control of this land, we should be prepared to extend an apology and start to do what we can to share and make life easier for others. Most importantly, we should do everything we can to stop our governments (Federal, State, and Local), our businesses, our cultural institutions, and ourselves from engaging in ongoing and destructive discrimination and exclusion from our privilege. It is not workable to simply "give it all back", but we can start sharing. This is different than charity or philanthropy.
3
When Lincoln freed the slaves, my ancestors' ancestors were digging potatoes in Ireland. As a second-generation American, please forgive me for not feeling any personal guilt for racism. And please understand why being accused of racism-by-(genetic)-association offends me. I'm able to identify racists when I encounter them.
Does feeling guilty do anyone any good? I am tired of hearing about "white privilege", because it does nothing to change the injustices in our culture. I'd much rather see more columns about reforming our criminal justice system to make it more fair for African-Americans (and Native Americans and Hispanics) and providing better educational and job training opportunities for minorities mired down in poverty. Instead of trying to make people feel guilty for their advantages, I think we should motivate them to do more to level the playing field for everyone else.
"Hearing the term '‘white supremacist'' in the wake of that shooting had given me another occasion to wonder whether white supremacists are any more dangerous than regular white people, who tend to enjoy supremacy without believing in it."
I propose that Dylann Roof is indeed more dangerous than the "regular white people" I know. What a fatuous, ugly argument.
I propose that Dylann Roof is indeed more dangerous than the "regular white people" I know. What a fatuous, ugly argument.
2
Just some more facts Ms Biss leaves out: 620,000 whites died as combat casualities in the Civil War, plus another 400,000 wounded, to free 4,000,000 slaves. That is about 1 white person killed for every 6-7 slaves, or 1 white person killed or wounded for every 3-4 Slaves. That is about 3700 tons of white blood was spilled to free the slaves. Should I feel guilty knowing that kind of price was payed? Or is Ms Biss going to say it didn't matter? Is the NYTimes not going to report that New York State had more dead then any other State, Union or Confederate? Well over 40,000?
So sorry Ms Biss - any debt owed for Slavery was paid in full. And, even if I accept everything she says - and I don't - I still not going to feel any guilt for racism against Blacks.
So sorry Ms Biss - any debt owed for Slavery was paid in full. And, even if I accept everything she says - and I don't - I still not going to feel any guilt for racism against Blacks.
meant to add to my previous post - it is a fallacy that those on what most, i.e., more narrow-minded, people would call the "other side" of this "issue" than my post presents have the truth of institional racism and wrongs needed to be righted on their side and that those apparently on "my" "side" of the "issue" have those truths weighing against their "argument." my position on white privilege as defined by the new academia is not in denial of institutional racism nor does it wish for the status quo to continue; that is nothing more than a further illustration of the hypocrisy and narrow-minded ignorance of those espousing this racial theory of white privilege.
The moment you say, "as a White person" you are defining yourself into an exclusive club and you are acknowledging a difference. Think of Thanksgiving that we just celebrated and you have a beautiful scene of pilgrims and native Americans - that's what we are teaching our children. They were equals. So what happened to that other side? Where are they today? The historical narrative is enlightened, white founding fathers established a unique nation on ideals and gave birth to American exceptionalism has made these United States first among nations. There is a reason for American love for firearms, deep down there is a fear of the 'other' taking away ingrained, pervasive white privilege through government action - affirmative actions, immigration, 'socialist' welfare policies and they will take our guns and leave us vulnerable. We have to be ready to fight, if need be die for our 'rights'.
There is much we can do. Consider this:
In July, Mitsubishi Materials Corporation, which used to be Mitsubishi Mining, sent a delegation from Japan to apologize in person to 94-year-old James Murphy, a WWII veteran and prisoner of war who was used as forced labor for the company after he was captured. By extension, they apologized to “all who suffered.”
After a Senior Executive stood and issued the formal apology via translator, Mr. Murphy accepted it on behalf of all the prisoners of war who labored for Mitsubishi.
But there was another man who spoke: Mr. Yukio Okamoto, Outside Board Member of Mitsubishi Materials Corporation, Former Foreign Ministry official and Special Advisor to Japanese Prime Minister.
He said he had been “tormented” by the legacy of Mitsubishi. He said that the quick recovery of relations between the US and Japan after the War had always seemed to him a bright spot in history. Then he realized there was something missing. He said he entered the room with “a heavy heart, seeking forgiveness.” He thanked Mr. Murphy and all the other POWs for their generosity in forgiveness and apologized again.
Mr. Okamoto embodied contrition. He took responsibility for an act of oppression that occurred BEFORE HE WAS BORN BUT FROM WHICH HE RECOGNIZED HE REAPED THE BENEFITS. The full, official apology was facilitated by a third party. It included reparations.
That kind of apology would be a critical first step on the path to reconciliation.
In July, Mitsubishi Materials Corporation, which used to be Mitsubishi Mining, sent a delegation from Japan to apologize in person to 94-year-old James Murphy, a WWII veteran and prisoner of war who was used as forced labor for the company after he was captured. By extension, they apologized to “all who suffered.”
After a Senior Executive stood and issued the formal apology via translator, Mr. Murphy accepted it on behalf of all the prisoners of war who labored for Mitsubishi.
But there was another man who spoke: Mr. Yukio Okamoto, Outside Board Member of Mitsubishi Materials Corporation, Former Foreign Ministry official and Special Advisor to Japanese Prime Minister.
He said he had been “tormented” by the legacy of Mitsubishi. He said that the quick recovery of relations between the US and Japan after the War had always seemed to him a bright spot in history. Then he realized there was something missing. He said he entered the room with “a heavy heart, seeking forgiveness.” He thanked Mr. Murphy and all the other POWs for their generosity in forgiveness and apologized again.
Mr. Okamoto embodied contrition. He took responsibility for an act of oppression that occurred BEFORE HE WAS BORN BUT FROM WHICH HE RECOGNIZED HE REAPED THE BENEFITS. The full, official apology was facilitated by a third party. It included reparations.
That kind of apology would be a critical first step on the path to reconciliation.
2
Eula,
I couldn't even finish reading this garbage. You need some Prozac or something. I'm white and when I got a mortgage I thought of it as the culmination of all of the accomplishments I had made before I was approved for one. Not how lucky I am to be white as you did.
My suggestion to you is that if you really feel that non-white Americans are not given loans because of the color of their skin, hop on the L to the south side of Chicago, hang out in a random bank, wait for a black person to be denied a mortgage, and offer to co-sign for him or her. Maybe that would make you feel less guilty?
I couldn't even finish reading this garbage. You need some Prozac or something. I'm white and when I got a mortgage I thought of it as the culmination of all of the accomplishments I had made before I was approved for one. Not how lucky I am to be white as you did.
My suggestion to you is that if you really feel that non-white Americans are not given loans because of the color of their skin, hop on the L to the south side of Chicago, hang out in a random bank, wait for a black person to be denied a mortgage, and offer to co-sign for him or her. Maybe that would make you feel less guilty?
I've never believed in original sin. I don't feel guilty for having been born to white parents nor do I accept responsibility for things done long before my parents were born. I am familiar with the facts of history and pained by the terrible injustices that occurred and the consequences that are still evident today. My moral obligation is to do better and be better in my own life. I think everyone has the same obligation. No matter what others may think, I know that our society has made enormous progress in terms of race relations and racial justice. I've witnessed it in my own lifetime. That phrase "White Privilege" is insulting. It implies that white people are given things without working for them. The truth is only the inheritors of wealth are privileged.
I'm sorry, I'm not often compelled to comment on an article - in fact, I believe this is the first time I've ever done so - but I feel the need to respond. What a luxury it must be to feel guilty about injustices you've never experienced. Focus on leaving this world a better place then you've entered it. Quit feeling guilty the sins you never committed and instead commit yourself to a future where those sins never exist. Remember the past. Quit wallowing in it.
2
You've flogged yourself and white people in general for 3,500 words, and yet I'm still wondering what you intend to do as a result? I can't help but think back through the fog of this article to where you describe stopping your bike to watch a black man being arrested, without any idea of why you were doing it or what you'd do as a result of it.
White privilege is and has been a scourge on this country since its inception, along with 100 other less expansive yet equally tragic injustices. But I for one will not make my daughter feel bad about who she is simply because she has white skin. What I will do is make sure that she grasps the pain and deprivation that discrimination causes, no matter what the ill-informed reason for it. I want her to identify with and sympathize for the oppressed, the underdog, the outcast.
I see a lot of self-righteous people now pointing fingers at oversimplified problems, and not enough of how to practically begin to improve the lot (especially of) poor African Americans and the millions of others that are underprivileged (including, yes, many whites).
I don't feel shame for being white; I feel shame for the way black people have been treated, and shame for the Native Americans, and so on. But I think we serve past injustices as well as future generations best by working to build a more equitable and fair world, to build communities - not to sit wallowing in guilt. That doesn't absolve you of anything.
What do you intend to do about it?
White privilege is and has been a scourge on this country since its inception, along with 100 other less expansive yet equally tragic injustices. But I for one will not make my daughter feel bad about who she is simply because she has white skin. What I will do is make sure that she grasps the pain and deprivation that discrimination causes, no matter what the ill-informed reason for it. I want her to identify with and sympathize for the oppressed, the underdog, the outcast.
I see a lot of self-righteous people now pointing fingers at oversimplified problems, and not enough of how to practically begin to improve the lot (especially of) poor African Americans and the millions of others that are underprivileged (including, yes, many whites).
I don't feel shame for being white; I feel shame for the way black people have been treated, and shame for the Native Americans, and so on. But I think we serve past injustices as well as future generations best by working to build a more equitable and fair world, to build communities - not to sit wallowing in guilt. That doesn't absolve you of anything.
What do you intend to do about it?
3
I can't believe you took out a loan on your down payment to buy a piano, while still owing student loan debt. smh
I could walk the author of this drivel through human history and the evils of it. but I am sure she is not interested in understanding we are all the same and the is no such thing as white privilege except in the minds of all the special snowflakes on the campuses of universities
brilliant piece that will take several readings to fully absorb. worth the cost of several years of subscription. THANK YOU.
3
Biss's critics seem to feel that because she is so obviously uncomfortable as a beneficiary (of sorts) of injustice beyond reckoning, she is a "guilty white liberal." She does not repudiate the label, but in the third-to-last paragraph she suggests thinking of her discomfort as a goad to prod her into action. Good for her!
To invoke her own and Nietzsche's implicit distinction, 'guilt' and 'debt' are translatable by the same word in German. But they are plainly not the same thing. Lots of people, including Biss, think themselves responsible to oppose injustice; to refuse to do so at all when we can, I suggest, really does make us guilty, but we need not assume guilt for what came before us, and I do not see that she does so. It's just that we have some degree of responsibility to right some injustices where we can; perhaps more so if we have benefited from the system.
Todd Stuart, who characterized Biss's essay as "drivel," says that she espouses "mindless self-loathing." I suggest "self-respect" would be a better term. To judge from the dismissive reactions she has elicited, I would guess we need more of her kind. What kind of country can we expect in which "good people" do nothing in the face of systemic injustice?
To invoke her own and Nietzsche's implicit distinction, 'guilt' and 'debt' are translatable by the same word in German. But they are plainly not the same thing. Lots of people, including Biss, think themselves responsible to oppose injustice; to refuse to do so at all when we can, I suggest, really does make us guilty, but we need not assume guilt for what came before us, and I do not see that she does so. It's just that we have some degree of responsibility to right some injustices where we can; perhaps more so if we have benefited from the system.
Todd Stuart, who characterized Biss's essay as "drivel," says that she espouses "mindless self-loathing." I suggest "self-respect" would be a better term. To judge from the dismissive reactions she has elicited, I would guess we need more of her kind. What kind of country can we expect in which "good people" do nothing in the face of systemic injustice?
3
It's clearly the white devil's fault when black mothers don't teach their children to budget. It's clearly the white devil's fault when black communities leave children without fathers. It's clearly the white devil's fault when black urban culture celebrates violence and sexual discrimination. It's clearly the white devil's fault ... cut the line of lies.
My culture is also under attack. My culture is publically mocked by politicians and thought leaders. Progressives routinely call for the destruction of my culture and banning the symbols of it. The federal government vascillates between using environmental regulations to destroy our economy, and welfare to bribe us to keep voting. Television shows mock us for ignorance, but when we go for an education, the ivory tower effete tell us "people like you don't belong here." But, since Appalachian people are largely a mix of White and Native, we're not real minorities.
Go fix your own community instead of taking the cowardly approach of blaming others.
My culture is also under attack. My culture is publically mocked by politicians and thought leaders. Progressives routinely call for the destruction of my culture and banning the symbols of it. The federal government vascillates between using environmental regulations to destroy our economy, and welfare to bribe us to keep voting. Television shows mock us for ignorance, but when we go for an education, the ivory tower effete tell us "people like you don't belong here." But, since Appalachian people are largely a mix of White and Native, we're not real minorities.
Go fix your own community instead of taking the cowardly approach of blaming others.
2
the idea you can paint all white people - or all black people - with one brush is morally and intellectually bankrupt. privilege exists, white people have it disproportionately. the idea of white privilege as defined by (an intellectually declining new york times and) some academics who obviously need to get out into the real world more is simple bigotry and lack of knowledge of the world which is too varied for their racial theories to hold any water. in addition, this specific article has the feeling of just wanting to make the author feel better; of course the irony of "white privilege" is that it's espoused largely by a privileged class, which speaks volumes. it's a psychological phemonenom. be part of the solution not the problem people. i have the real world experience to tell you, i know what i'm talking about here.
1
Man, Please! Why am I being beaten over the head with this. From MTV to the New York Times. I am not racially bias. I never have been. I have friends of all classes and creeds. Yes, some of my black friends (sorry, african-american) have endured great discrimination and blatant racism from all corners of society including government and commercial institutions. I get it. People do not like other people. They try to rationalize their hate and distrust by categorizing people into race and class and then using what is in their power to marginalize that group. The goal is not to see color or class but to see everyone as human. See them as you see yourself. Someone may classify me as white (sorry, caucasian) but I'm just a person. And I'm Not Guilty.
1
Ms.Biss wrote, "We seem to believe that the crime is not investing in whiteness but feeling badly about it."
It should read "feel bad." Not "badly."
It should read "feel bad." Not "badly."
1
How can anyone with a basic knowledge of US history disagree with this piece? Let's talk cotton: Cotton was America's most valuable export before the Civil War, representing almost the entire value of US exports. Tariffs on cotton created most of the revenue for the federal government. The money that flowed into the US from cotton sales abroad rippled throughout the economy, providing most of the capital for our industrial revolution. This cotton was grown by slaves for 70 years and by "free" black people who were essentially peons for another 70 years. The financial and manufacturing businesses relying on this capital in turn provided jobs, customers for related smaller companies, and financing for a myriad of private and public enterprises and institutions, all of which benefited almost exclusively white people. Yet most of the people commenting here absolutely deny any benefit from this. Because slavery ended 150 years ago and their ancestors came here afterward, they are blame-free. Well, why do you think your ancestors came to America? Economic opportunity, which was created and still exists because of the wealth generated by the exploitation of black labor. Did white immigrants also face exploitation and discrimination? Of course, this is America. But they also benefited from the social and financial capital available to white people exclusively. If they did not, that failure does not lessen the debt owed black people.
2
"White people are no more closely related to one another, genetically, than we are to black people." Sounds good but is this true? Any way to verify?
All americans of european origin need to repent for the crimes they have commited against people of color. They are responsible for high rates of poverty, drug use, crime and illegitimacy in inner cities. The sooner they recognize this basic fact the sooner they can start to make the needed apologies and pay the needed reperations (i.e., higher section 8 housing subsidies that will enable persons of color currently residing in inner cities to move to the suburbs, etc.).
1
If our actions are framed in a way that continues to place the power with white men, as framed by you here:
"When I search back through my correspondence with Sherman Alexie, I find him insisting that we can’t afford to disempower white people because we need them to empower the rest of us. White people, he proposes, have the political power to make change exactly because they are white."
...then white men will continue to maintain a system which is inherently racist.
White men need to get out of the way. Even well meaning liberals like myself propagate a subtle racism that stops progress. But, progress can happen when the white male's belief system is challenged and subsequently modified. I write about the science and potential of this approach here:
https://medium.com/absurdist/most-white-men-6125480bec58#.chlndci67
The gist of all current arguments is that we must guilt white men into taking action. This will never work, because fragility is a thing now. We must start and build prosperous companies powered by real diversity--dominated by everyone other than the white male. Prosperous diverse companies will challenge his belief system...and then we can start a real conversation around change.
*The white male is not just a category of race, it is an ideology.*
"When I search back through my correspondence with Sherman Alexie, I find him insisting that we can’t afford to disempower white people because we need them to empower the rest of us. White people, he proposes, have the political power to make change exactly because they are white."
...then white men will continue to maintain a system which is inherently racist.
White men need to get out of the way. Even well meaning liberals like myself propagate a subtle racism that stops progress. But, progress can happen when the white male's belief system is challenged and subsequently modified. I write about the science and potential of this approach here:
https://medium.com/absurdist/most-white-men-6125480bec58#.chlndci67
The gist of all current arguments is that we must guilt white men into taking action. This will never work, because fragility is a thing now. We must start and build prosperous companies powered by real diversity--dominated by everyone other than the white male. Prosperous diverse companies will challenge his belief system...and then we can start a real conversation around change.
*The white male is not just a category of race, it is an ideology.*
The white privilege/guilt argument is getting old. At its core it is about feeling guilty for being born with an advantage. However, being tall, athletic, good-looking, intelligent, growing up in a stable environment, and numerous other factors are also inborn advantages. Yet for ALL of these other gifts we are told to "be thankful" or "use them for good." It is this singular issue where are supposed to feel guilty for something over which we had no control.
The difference? This involves race, which the Left (which I have long been a part of) has now made the root of all evil and the foundation for every discussion.
To all my fellow white people: Stop feeling guilty; be thankful and use your gifts.
The difference? This involves race, which the Left (which I have long been a part of) has now made the root of all evil and the foundation for every discussion.
To all my fellow white people: Stop feeling guilty; be thankful and use your gifts.
1
"Whites are no more closely related to one another, genetically, than we are to black people"
Are you scientifically illiterate on top of being disingenuous?
http://anthro.palomar.edu/vary/images/DNA_tree.gif
Eurasian populations have a percentage of non human DNA (Neanderthal and Denisovan) that Blacks do not have. And a few percent, in terms of genetics, makes the difference between a human and a pig
Are you scientifically illiterate on top of being disingenuous?
http://anthro.palomar.edu/vary/images/DNA_tree.gif
Eurasian populations have a percentage of non human DNA (Neanderthal and Denisovan) that Blacks do not have. And a few percent, in terms of genetics, makes the difference between a human and a pig
1
It's a natural human instinct to want to believe that our successes were caused by our virtues and hard work while our failures were caused be someone else. So most of us don't want to think about whether our successes were related to factors not in our control.
I know one person who is a descendant of slaves but practically everyone I know from childhood and college is a descendant of immigrants after 1900. The parents of many people I know were Jewish and left Europe around WWII. The father of another was a broke Greek sailor who jumped ship in the New York harbor. Most of the people I know went to public schools and cleaned their own homes. My father sold magazines door to door during the depression, when he was 5, and gave the money to his mother for food. A lot of us grew up in ethnic areas. One MidWest city was divided into Italian immigrants and Swedish immigrants, who of course, went to different churches....The author, or someone, should study and write about "white privilege" from the perspective of immigrants pulling out of poverty.
I think that some of the residual racism in the midwest has to do with the rise and fall of unions and the roles of strike breakers but no one ever writes about that. I think that some Midwestern immigrants first encountered the descendants of American slaves as strike breakers.
Personally, my life experience is that the way that people treat you is highly correlated with physical attractiveness and grooming.
I know one person who is a descendant of slaves but practically everyone I know from childhood and college is a descendant of immigrants after 1900. The parents of many people I know were Jewish and left Europe around WWII. The father of another was a broke Greek sailor who jumped ship in the New York harbor. Most of the people I know went to public schools and cleaned their own homes. My father sold magazines door to door during the depression, when he was 5, and gave the money to his mother for food. A lot of us grew up in ethnic areas. One MidWest city was divided into Italian immigrants and Swedish immigrants, who of course, went to different churches....The author, or someone, should study and write about "white privilege" from the perspective of immigrants pulling out of poverty.
I think that some of the residual racism in the midwest has to do with the rise and fall of unions and the roles of strike breakers but no one ever writes about that. I think that some Midwestern immigrants first encountered the descendants of American slaves as strike breakers.
Personally, my life experience is that the way that people treat you is highly correlated with physical attractiveness and grooming.
5
Starved out of Ireland 105 years ago. Driven by war and oppression out of Italy 115 years ago. What has "White Privilege" to do with me?
5
Well, you can drive down the road with less chance of getting pulled over, as one small example. You have smaller odds of getting eyeballed for shoplifting when you go into stores. This is "white privilege".
The object isn't to make you feel guilty--but rather to elicit empathy.
PS My own feeling is that all of us who get considered "white" benefit more today than "blacks" from the wealth of the USA. And a combination of continuing racial prejudice and the continuing effects of our country's history explain why. Obviously white immigrants of 100 years ago are better off as a group than African-Americans. Why is one thing: but recognizing that "privilege" (and its opposite) is a start to things getting better for all.
The object isn't to make you feel guilty--but rather to elicit empathy.
PS My own feeling is that all of us who get considered "white" benefit more today than "blacks" from the wealth of the USA. And a combination of continuing racial prejudice and the continuing effects of our country's history explain why. Obviously white immigrants of 100 years ago are better off as a group than African-Americans. Why is one thing: but recognizing that "privilege" (and its opposite) is a start to things getting better for all.
What an amazing essay. I will be sharing this one with my students and family for years to come.
Ms. Biss hasn’t really grappled with Nietzsche's reduction of moral discourse to the science of power. Nietzsche’s “insight” is that culture offers no way out of the agonism inscribed in nature. As Ms. Biss insinuates, Nietzsche would argue that the difference between Whiteness and Blackness is between two kinds of coercion: one that uses State and Market to effect forcible disenfranchisement, the other rooted in the power of ressentiment to generate moral burdens. Ms. Biss simply declares that between these two coercions ressentiment should be privileged, that White People should embrace the way that guilt alienates its target from life. The incoherence of this stance becomes obvious when you reverse her sentiment – she would find it repugnant to demand that Black People embrace the self-alienation visited upon them by the institutional mechanisms of society. Both Whiteness and Blackness have a kind of inevitable violence inscribed within them, precisely because they demand the privilege of seeing what is true about each other. Neither perspective offers a true way forward.
I think Nietzsche has made the classic modern mistake of conflating our society with Society as such, so I think there IS a way out of his bind, but not one that is derivable from the political, medical, academic, or economic discourses of modern secular culture. Michel Foucault, perhaps Nietzsche’s most gifted inheritor, devoted his entire career to making this point very persuasively.
I think Nietzsche has made the classic modern mistake of conflating our society with Society as such, so I think there IS a way out of his bind, but not one that is derivable from the political, medical, academic, or economic discourses of modern secular culture. Michel Foucault, perhaps Nietzsche’s most gifted inheritor, devoted his entire career to making this point very persuasively.
1
There is a black President in the White House. Black children at Universities have cried foul and have been successfully able to get rid of the white management. No one is entitled to anything for what was done to anyone else in the past.
The authoress is into psychology and this article is nothing but a ploy, very white I must add.
The authoress is into psychology and this article is nothing but a ploy, very white I must add.
5
Eula, I don't know what to tell ya, except that at the very least, if you can afford, on credit or not, a piano soon after buying a house, and now ya feel guilty, then make sure every damned thing you buy from now on is organic and Fair Trade. That's the least thing, right? Then at least the people working in the fields to produce your food, won't be exposed to pesticides, and the people who pick your coffee beans won't have to depend on charities for child care and food stuffs even though they work all week. The fibres used in your clothing won't be from an industry that is the scourge of the earth.
If you buy more furniture, source it out, that it be made by a community workshop in your country. Volunteer at the food bank. Tell your kid, no more chocolate that was produced by kids in Africa the same age as he is. No presents that were produced by slave labour, or clothes sewn in sweatshops.
Sorry, but I couldn't even read this whole article through; I was afraid my eyes were gonna bleed. So I'll just say, don't worry about what you can't do anything about, but do what you can. Talk is cheap. Put your money where your mouth is. And then educate your neighbours. If we all do that, everything will turn out alright, eventually...or at least more alright than if all we do is wring our hands.
Old Chinese proverb: Cultivating one's own garden is the politics of the humble man.
If you buy more furniture, source it out, that it be made by a community workshop in your country. Volunteer at the food bank. Tell your kid, no more chocolate that was produced by kids in Africa the same age as he is. No presents that were produced by slave labour, or clothes sewn in sweatshops.
Sorry, but I couldn't even read this whole article through; I was afraid my eyes were gonna bleed. So I'll just say, don't worry about what you can't do anything about, but do what you can. Talk is cheap. Put your money where your mouth is. And then educate your neighbours. If we all do that, everything will turn out alright, eventually...or at least more alright than if all we do is wring our hands.
Old Chinese proverb: Cultivating one's own garden is the politics of the humble man.
3
I'm white. I'm male. I went to an Ivy League College. I'm not the brightest bulb, nor am I the dimmest. But I have to admit I have no idea what this author was writing. I lost interest about 1/3 of the way in hoping there'd be a hook. Nothing except 20 minutes of my life I'll never get back.
5
Excellent thought provoking piece. I dare say that it is probably one of the best articulations of race in America from the vantage point of a "white" person. As an American-American woman it is my lot in life to always wonder how my particular skill-set would work if I were a white man, since the vast majority of people that I work and interact with in the course of my professional life have been white men. Its like having the be better at understanding a foreign culture than those who are native to that culture. This is the only method that I know of to excel in the environment that is all I know. On occasion one who excels in this area might be accused of "acting white". Trust me, we know the difference. It is not possible successfully act white in America. Even though it is possible to "act black".
As soon as I read that she tried to explain Rachel Dolezal to her 5 year old, it was pretty easy to see that she is simply a person who loves this stuff. Another liberal white woman so impressed with her undeniable level of self-actualization that she just can't get enough of her own holier than thou, but still down with her friends of color, voice.
7
A thought experiment that those who want to believe that white privilege does not exist might be to imagine waking up tomorrow morning in exactly the same circumstances -- same house, same job, same neighborhood -- as they are in today except that their skin and features have become "black" and the race noted on their birth certificate is "negro."
If they can honestly say that they would be just fine with that change, then I guess they can sincerely continue to deny the existence of white privilege. If they can imagine feeling apprehensive, even angry, about being the subject of such an experiment, then they might want to reconsider their denial of the obvious.
If they can honestly say that they would be just fine with that change, then I guess they can sincerely continue to deny the existence of white privilege. If they can imagine feeling apprehensive, even angry, about being the subject of such an experiment, then they might want to reconsider their denial of the obvious.
4
Our exterior selves message affiliations of all sorts, and inspire unconscious biases and assumptions of all sorts, and these affiliations can be learned. It's an enduring inherited economy that's likely to persist because its cheap and lazy and skin color is just one. We telegraph all the time, and culture is a powerful transcriber.
This kind of guilt is a hella expensive luxury that is not a durable remedy under pressure. It seems, going forward, more constructive to relentlessly work toward a society that is so integrated that skin color really does not signal different-from-me, rather than on relentlessly reinforcing differences through this kind of tortured insistence. I recognize the truth of the argument. I just don't think this kind of hyper-moralizing us-them approach is a durable solution under pressure, going forward, with humans in an imperfect world. Strategies to normalize a colorblind society of countrymen seems to be more utilitarian to all than polarizing with our differences. My kids can't imagine a society where gay people shouldn't be allowed to marry. It's normal to them. They don't even think about it. Gay people are not different to them. They're just people. I get the impression this kind of normalization of race is not the goal here.
This kind of guilt is a hella expensive luxury that is not a durable remedy under pressure. It seems, going forward, more constructive to relentlessly work toward a society that is so integrated that skin color really does not signal different-from-me, rather than on relentlessly reinforcing differences through this kind of tortured insistence. I recognize the truth of the argument. I just don't think this kind of hyper-moralizing us-them approach is a durable solution under pressure, going forward, with humans in an imperfect world. Strategies to normalize a colorblind society of countrymen seems to be more utilitarian to all than polarizing with our differences. My kids can't imagine a society where gay people shouldn't be allowed to marry. It's normal to them. They don't even think about it. Gay people are not different to them. They're just people. I get the impression this kind of normalization of race is not the goal here.
2
Czeslaw Milosz wrote, "I know only too well that guilt feelings and constant self-accusation are the hallmarks of an egomaniac."
You want to engage in endless self-flagellation for being white? Knock yourself out. But don't drag the rest of us into it. Just because you think all white people grow up under the burden of privilege doesn't make it true.
You want to engage in endless self-flagellation for being white? Knock yourself out. But don't drag the rest of us into it. Just because you think all white people grow up under the burden of privilege doesn't make it true.
5
Soporific and sophomoric. No one inherits guilt. And don't "overestimate" white privilege. There are many who suffer as a result of "the content of their 'character'" not the color of their skin. In some ways that's just too obvious.
How about shedding Sunni-ness, or Shiite-ness, oer perhaps infidel-ness. Seems more important thought-woolgathering than this piece.
We can sit here and debate racism against blacks and Hispanics in our narcissism whilst yet other groups plan to kill us. We all need to get over ourselves and admit we have something in common, and unite to face real danger from those we have much less in common with.
We can sit here and debate racism against blacks and Hispanics in our narcissism whilst yet other groups plan to kill us. We all need to get over ourselves and admit we have something in common, and unite to face real danger from those we have much less in common with.
1
This response is pretty tone deaf and reflects the views of someone who lives in the realm of the dominant white culture. It also seems to calibrate everything in terms of crime statistics. First, it appears you assume the black race is responsible for the entirety of crimes committed by blacks persons, something quite odious but in line with our times. Second, you assume the statistics are valid as far as they are reported, despite well known evidence that racial minorities are significantly more likely to be charged and then convicted of crimes, i.e. they are clearly over-represented in the statistics for individual crimes. And lastly, you ignore the overwhelming amount, in sheer dollar terms, of white collar crime, and unfortunately the perpetrators are usually white. But nice try, though.
This excessive hand wringing over the past and over things out of your control doesn't do anyone any good. Engage with the world around you in concrete constructive ways. Volunteer. Give. Teach. Build. Be generous. Vote for the changes you seek. Stand for justice and fairness in your community. Do these things and be at peace. It is enough.
2
This is absurd,to feel that because you are white you owe a debt to society. If you feel that way, then try to make lives better for those who are not white. Don't discriminate. Help those non-whites empower themselves, by encouraging them to stay in school, and to not have children out of wedlock. Do not pander to them by suggesting they are victims of the justice system, or victims of the white man. This pandering is what politicians do, in attempts to gain votes, and in an attempt to appeal to emotions, and not facts.
4
There is much in this article that struck home while assembling insights in surprising and effective ways. A very worthwhile read.
But, it seems to me worth pointing out that the ancestors of many, many people who live in this country arrived well after the end of slavery and its forced appropriation of labor value, often with little more in their pockets than a newly released slave would have had. And many also came from households of little education. What is the import of this fact?
This is a question I have struggled with all my life. My instinct has always been to give a leg up to African Americans, to right past wrongs and create a semblance of fairness, or social justice. But this strong instinct lives in parallel with real world experiences of seeing people succeed or fail due to their talent and hard work. Ms. Biss interestingly notes the arbitrariness of racial categories, but if a Croatian white is no more different from a black than he is from a Britain, the whole notion of "debt" of any "race" to any other "race" is problemetized.
What has come to bother me as I see more of life is the impact of attitudes and behaviors that seem to be cultural, or at least correlated with people of a particular racial background, that lead to consistent and unsurprising outcomes. I find myself now less eager to help, as I have been let down myself, and more prone to adopt the "live and let live" attitude that so many of other races seem to have towards me and mine.
But, it seems to me worth pointing out that the ancestors of many, many people who live in this country arrived well after the end of slavery and its forced appropriation of labor value, often with little more in their pockets than a newly released slave would have had. And many also came from households of little education. What is the import of this fact?
This is a question I have struggled with all my life. My instinct has always been to give a leg up to African Americans, to right past wrongs and create a semblance of fairness, or social justice. But this strong instinct lives in parallel with real world experiences of seeing people succeed or fail due to their talent and hard work. Ms. Biss interestingly notes the arbitrariness of racial categories, but if a Croatian white is no more different from a black than he is from a Britain, the whole notion of "debt" of any "race" to any other "race" is problemetized.
What has come to bother me as I see more of life is the impact of attitudes and behaviors that seem to be cultural, or at least correlated with people of a particular racial background, that lead to consistent and unsurprising outcomes. I find myself now less eager to help, as I have been let down myself, and more prone to adopt the "live and let live" attitude that so many of other races seem to have towards me and mine.
3
I am not sure that guilt is as useable as just recognizing one's privilege. I am privileged in many ways - to have been born in the US, to have been born white, to have been born in a family with stable finances and access to good schools. Because of these privileges, I have the ability to do things that I would not have been able to do without these privileges. It is my moral responsibility to remember this and base my decisions around this: big decisions about what career I dedicate my life to and where I buy a house (and which neighbors I'd allow to stop me from doing so); medium-sized decisions about who I would feel comfortable dating and what kinds of schools I'd consider for my children, small decisions about whether I call my representative and senators to tell him that I support housing refugees in Syria or measures to require bodycams on police.
Rather than debt, I see my privilege as being given both increased "buying power" in the world and increased responsibility to use it well.
Rather than debt, I see my privilege as being given both increased "buying power" in the world and increased responsibility to use it well.
The author states that slaves once accounted for more wealth than all the industry in this country combine, but neglects to mention that about 80 percent of Americans worked on farms not in factories in antibellum America. She also neglects to mention the value of slave drop to absolutely zero at the end of the Civil War.
I am of mixed race - White, Asian, and Native American. Life has been good and life has been difficult. Joyous...and sometimes unfair. But I feel neither privileged nor maligned.
Ms. Bliss could use a dose of humility and take herself less seriously. Jeez girl, just live your life and be kind to others. Don't fret about what to do with the weight of the world on you from your perceived white guilt...you're not that important.
Ms. Bliss could use a dose of humility and take herself less seriously. Jeez girl, just live your life and be kind to others. Don't fret about what to do with the weight of the world on you from your perceived white guilt...you're not that important.
1
Between all the name and credential dropping here, I was surely made aware that not all white privilege is created equal. Conflating race with class privlege seems a pretty popular trick by the rich kids.
1
Some commentators repeat the lie that white slave enslaved Africans by kidnapping them. White slave traders did not send raiding parties to kidnap Africans. If they had tried, they would have been quickly massacred. Powerful African tribes conquered weaker tribes and took captives. Some of these captives they enslaved and put to work in their fields. The tribes either executed or sold surplus captives to slave traders. They also sold natives convicted of crimes or unable to pay debts into slavery. The tribes often executed those rejected as unfit by the slave traders, so most hoped to be sold into slavery. They did not want to be slaves, of course, but the alternative was usually death. If these captives had not been sold into slavery, most would have been executed and would have no descendants, and their African American descendants would not exist. The tribes employed experts to haggle prices with the slave traders and grew rich off the slave trade. Some tribal chieftains sent their children to Oxford and Cambridge. About 10 to 11 million slaves were transported from Africa to the Americans, but only about 400,000—not millions—came to the present-day United States. The vast majority of slaves went to Latin America. African Americans are much better off than Africans whose ancestors were not transported to the United States. Today, the average per-capital income in Sub-Sahara Africa is about $750 a year and the average expectancy is about 50 years.
1
Guilt is not redemptive; it's corrosive. Read up any cognitive scientist worth her salt. One can realize a sense of guilt, but ultimately one must *move on* from that guilt in order to be productive. Guilt cannot be a driving force if one wants a sustainable life.
Also, I think the author needs to go look at Project Implicit
https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html
She needs to take a few tests and then read a little bit about how humans are *wired* to seek status; that means ALL humans, including blacks who discriminate against other blacks, whites who discriminate against other whites, etc. etc. Should humans feel guilty about that? No, we recognize it, work to manage it in society so as not to be destructive, and move on.
I am so sick and tired of people projecting their own idea of guilt onto entire classes of people. Any educated person knows the injustice that was done to blacks, and the uniqueness of that injustice compared to most other immigrants (I say most, because some small numbers of white, brown and Asian people were also brought to America as slaves).
Last, don't tell me what my "condition" is, Miss Biss, because it's little more than a projection of what *your* condition is. We all wrestle with inequality in our own way - the inequalities that we know about, and those we become aware of. We also wrestle with our own demons re: the sufferings that we *all* endure and have caused as the cost of being human.
Also, I think the author needs to go look at Project Implicit
https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html
She needs to take a few tests and then read a little bit about how humans are *wired* to seek status; that means ALL humans, including blacks who discriminate against other blacks, whites who discriminate against other whites, etc. etc. Should humans feel guilty about that? No, we recognize it, work to manage it in society so as not to be destructive, and move on.
I am so sick and tired of people projecting their own idea of guilt onto entire classes of people. Any educated person knows the injustice that was done to blacks, and the uniqueness of that injustice compared to most other immigrants (I say most, because some small numbers of white, brown and Asian people were also brought to America as slaves).
Last, don't tell me what my "condition" is, Miss Biss, because it's little more than a projection of what *your* condition is. We all wrestle with inequality in our own way - the inequalities that we know about, and those we become aware of. We also wrestle with our own demons re: the sufferings that we *all* endure and have caused as the cost of being human.
3
Great piece. Thank you for writing this. The majority of the comments (pun intended) say it all. These may as well be comments from readers of the New York Post. As you were, oh good, enlightened people.
Should Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. feel guilty about publishing "What You Get: $1,250,000 homes in California, Kansas and Delaware" in the current Great Homes and Destinations section? Well, let's give him a break. At least it's not native advertising.
Thank you so much for this article.
I had almost forgotten about my weekly self flagellation for the sin of being born to white parents, but you reminded me.
I had almost forgotten about my weekly self flagellation for the sin of being born to white parents, but you reminded me.
6
Here's something I legitimately don't understand about pieces like this: descriptively, they always assert that notions of whiteness and blackness are flimsy, ahistorical, arbitrary concepts. Totally spot on. But then normatively, they implore us all to ruminate on the intractability of white privilege and 'supremacy' in American society. It's so odd -- like a self-fulfilling prophecy, and so contrary to the spirit of the civil rights movement, which was all about demanding an equal stake in the flawed American experiment we all share.
The way to end discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race. That should be the demand of all Americans. But we've gotten so lost. Enough with the mopey, jargon-laden pseudo-academic polemic like this, which resonates most strongly with those PRIVILEGED enough (oops I said it) to produce it for a living.
The way to end discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race. That should be the demand of all Americans. But we've gotten so lost. Enough with the mopey, jargon-laden pseudo-academic polemic like this, which resonates most strongly with those PRIVILEGED enough (oops I said it) to produce it for a living.
2
It's funny. By writing garbage like this and putting it out there for people to read, the author provokes exactly the opposite reaction in white readers than she probably wants. Another thousand people just decided to vote for Donald Trump.
If the left wants to get anywhere, it needs to unite all poor and oppressed people under one banner, or at least try to. By dividing people up into opposing racial categories, it does the opposite.
The truth is that there is a lot of factors that go into anyone's success or failure. Sure, heritage and inheritance do matter: but much more the decisions people make and work they put in, as well as sheer dumb luck. Race itself is not a big factor. To talk about all whites as a monolithic bloc of people blessed with success as a result of their heritage is just as dumb as a piece describing all blacks as a monolithic bloc doomed to failure.
I have read countless pieces written by New York Times contributors, for many years. This was the first time I have ever had to stop reading something because it was making me angry.
If the left wants to get anywhere, it needs to unite all poor and oppressed people under one banner, or at least try to. By dividing people up into opposing racial categories, it does the opposite.
The truth is that there is a lot of factors that go into anyone's success or failure. Sure, heritage and inheritance do matter: but much more the decisions people make and work they put in, as well as sheer dumb luck. Race itself is not a big factor. To talk about all whites as a monolithic bloc of people blessed with success as a result of their heritage is just as dumb as a piece describing all blacks as a monolithic bloc doomed to failure.
I have read countless pieces written by New York Times contributors, for many years. This was the first time I have ever had to stop reading something because it was making me angry.
If you feel guilty about living in Evanston and teaching at a school whose student body is only 6% black and .1% Native American, why complain about it in the NYT instead of taking action? Move a couple of miles south and teach at a diverse school. I can tell you from experience: it's not so scary, if you can get past your prejudices!
2
People everywhere and all times have been wicked to each other. In most places in the world, the memory of evil is buried with its victims and perpetrators. In most places in the world, injustice is taken for granted and forgotten. Yet, within this world, there is a country in which justice is more perfect than all other nations in all of history. It is the country to which so many of us have struggled to make our new home. In this country, we may often be treated unequally by the majority (White) race, but we are almost always treated better than by people of our own race of our own nationality. Injustice still exists, but is of such a diminished order that most live unafraid of it, and indeed, most forget that the injustice of the order that their parents or grandparents fled even exists. This article is a reflection of that amnesia. People remember that Blacks were slaves in the US. They forget that Blacks were slaves in Africa, the Middle East and other parts of the world, and that moreover, we were all descendants of slaves and masters, raped and rapists, murdered and murderers, in unrecorded history. Only the sins of America are remembered, because its victims lived, left educated descendants who had enough leisure to reflect upon and record the travails of their forefathers. Only American cares about its past sins. I hope all recent immigrants who remember what they escaped will come to the aid of the country which is and ever has been the last best hope of the world.
4
She needs to give away her house to someone without privilege, and that would probably make it all better. With any leftover money, I think investing in a psychologist for her kid will be in order, as he will need it.
2
You do Amherst proud, well written but boring gibberish of a self endulgent racist woman. I wonder if you should just focus on raising a strong white son who loves his neighbor's and himself. Remember he is going to have to live in a world that your helping to build that both resents his whiteness and any of his future achievements.
1
I am neither white nor black. I am native American and I am still victimized by white privilege. This is one story of very many in my life. After I had invited my family to a restaurant to celebrate some good fortune that I had, I was waiting for the valet to bring my car. As I stood there, a white man walked up to me, handed me his ticket and told me that it was for a red Chevrolet. I put the ticket on the valet stand. He moved off and glared at me. For him, he would shrug it off as a simple mistake. For me, my parents were very embarrassed for me but I told them not to be. There was never an acknowledgement that a mistake had been made, a mistake anyone could make. If you are not the privileged class this kind of indignity happens continuously, without let up. Sometimes being bumped from a cab or not being noticed that you are ahead of them in line at the Starbucks or cash register. They will not see it. Here's what I do. I live well. I don't tell them what I do or my net worth if at all possible, they are a covetous bunch. Take full advantage of them when the opportunity presents itself. Accept their gestures of insincere generosity with a thank you. Let them think they are the smartest, most beautiful, wisest, most sincere, best people in the room. Control the situation, don't let things get out of hand, if they do, back off and call your lawyer. Limit your interactions with them, know your rights and, again, live well. Things will not change easily or quickly.
Wow. This guy is laying some heavy stuff on his young kid. Give him pride in who he is as well as who he isn't if you hope to see him change the world.
1
My question about any sort of social and monetary repayments for black slavery is at what point do the payments stop? What would definitively mark the end of the debtor status by white culture? Without a specific contract with specific terms, isn't it potentially endless?
2
I wish I knew what this writer was talking about. My skin is light, but no bank will make me a loan, and I've never lived in, never mind owned a house. As a very young single mother on welfare, I've been judged, looked down on, denied access to education When I insisted on it to provide a better life for my children, I ran up a debt I will never be able to repay - and I'm judged for that, too. I've been evicted and arrested for an expired inspection sticker I didn't have enough money to replace. As a woman I've been groped, molested, disrespected, menaced, assaulted. One thing I've never been is shot -- but, oh yeah - I lost my father that way.
I know my light skin gives me some advantage over a darker one. So does my good mind give me an edge. But I don't feel guilty -- I need all the help I can get. And someone with a darker skin might have money, or a more supportive family, or a male gender, or scholarships that I can't get. We all have plusses and minuses in this world.
If we are going to insist on divisions between us - and I don't think we should - then why don't we talk about rich and poor, by far the most meaningful division in our materialistic society. We will never even approach an equal society until we stop looking at the differences between us and find what unites most if not all of us. But unity doesn't make good press, conflict does, and so we have endless perpetuation of whatever differences between us can be exaggerated into the deepest rift possible.
I know my light skin gives me some advantage over a darker one. So does my good mind give me an edge. But I don't feel guilty -- I need all the help I can get. And someone with a darker skin might have money, or a more supportive family, or a male gender, or scholarships that I can't get. We all have plusses and minuses in this world.
If we are going to insist on divisions between us - and I don't think we should - then why don't we talk about rich and poor, by far the most meaningful division in our materialistic society. We will never even approach an equal society until we stop looking at the differences between us and find what unites most if not all of us. But unity doesn't make good press, conflict does, and so we have endless perpetuation of whatever differences between us can be exaggerated into the deepest rift possible.
2
I am really astounded by the virulence of so many of these comments. Yes, there is a bit of navel gazing here by someone who has the luxury to indulge in that activity. But that doesn't negate what she is saying.
As a middle-class white person I am infuriated when I hear other middle-class white people making statements about how they worked hard for what they have, how Ben Carson made HIS way, and how therefore anybody who really works hard can do it, anybody, no matter what kind of horrific circumstances he or she is born into. So why should they feel guilty?
When I hear this resistance to guilt, I hear also a resistance to responsibility, but perhaps more than anything an intense desire to believe that they (the white people who have succeeded in life) owe their success to no one but themselves and by the way should therefore not be obliged to share any of the fruits of their labors in the form of taxation to support programs to help people get past a history and situations that they (the comfortable whites) obviously cannot even begin to fathom.
Believing that you are the captain of your destiny is such an American way of looking at things that perhaps it's too much to expect that a majority of comfortable Americans will actually consider how much of what they have is a legacy of economic, racial, social and all other sorts of history. Social and historical forces play a huge role in how our lives roll out, and to deny that is just blindness.
As a middle-class white person I am infuriated when I hear other middle-class white people making statements about how they worked hard for what they have, how Ben Carson made HIS way, and how therefore anybody who really works hard can do it, anybody, no matter what kind of horrific circumstances he or she is born into. So why should they feel guilty?
When I hear this resistance to guilt, I hear also a resistance to responsibility, but perhaps more than anything an intense desire to believe that they (the white people who have succeeded in life) owe their success to no one but themselves and by the way should therefore not be obliged to share any of the fruits of their labors in the form of taxation to support programs to help people get past a history and situations that they (the comfortable whites) obviously cannot even begin to fathom.
Believing that you are the captain of your destiny is such an American way of looking at things that perhaps it's too much to expect that a majority of comfortable Americans will actually consider how much of what they have is a legacy of economic, racial, social and all other sorts of history. Social and historical forces play a huge role in how our lives roll out, and to deny that is just blindness.
Being this woman's five year old son sounds utterly exhausting.
2
Anybody else feeling sorry for this writer's little son? She is already guilt tripping him about not being black, even though he is under 10.
1
The author should be comforted by the possibility that she may have at least one white ancestor who was a badly mistreated indentured servant in one of the American colonies. She also should be comforted by the prospect of her son someday being disadvantaged in the college admissions process, assuming he is white (or Asian American) and will be applying to colleges in the U.S. If not a member of a favored minority group, he is likely to be denied admission to at least one school so that an acceptance can be offered to a black applicant with lower grades and test scores. The black applicant could be the product of a privileged upbringing and have no slave ancestors, yet would be given special preference just for being black. Another way the author could get over her severe case of white guilt would be to sell her house and spend some time in a country like Saudi Arabia where she could feel virtuous for being oppressed. White people who think they should feel guilty about being white are suffering from a bizarre delusion.
2
The first step to freedom from racial injustices comes from us re-imagining our relationship to race. The author does just that here, by examining her world view and position. I understand those who suggest her time be better spent tutoring a child, but that does nothing to challenge the unwritten rules of race than underpin our self-concept and relationships with others. Before we are free, our minds must be free. Beautiful.
Wow! Guilt trip to the max!
Quite seriously, someone who claims race doesn't exist and then berates herself for being a member of the creditor white race, is seriously confused.
She needs help.
My advice is, God forgives her for her "sin" (assuming being born white in America is a sin) and so should she forgive herself.
She won't accept that, of course, because Nietzsche told her God doesn't exist;sadly, and erroneously, she believed him.
Quite seriously, someone who claims race doesn't exist and then berates herself for being a member of the creditor white race, is seriously confused.
She needs help.
My advice is, God forgives her for her "sin" (assuming being born white in America is a sin) and so should she forgive herself.
She won't accept that, of course, because Nietzsche told her God doesn't exist;sadly, and erroneously, she believed him.
Maybe we need to desegregate neighborhoods. Let's start with the upper east side and Georgetown (Washington, DC.) These bastions of bleeding heart liberalism are well over 90% white.
2
How on earth could someone "forget" their student loan debt? I am reminded of mine every single day, and will be until it is paid off - many years from now - for good. Who is writing the checks in the author's family?
While there may be some aspects of the author's essay as being a bit "overwrought" the essence of her point is valid and positive. Unfortunately, the overwhelming response seems to be the exact sort of white "ignorance" and justification/blaming for continuing to uphold an unjust system that still delivers justice and benefits along racial lines.
The author is not suggesting whites "hate" themselves or engage in symbolic acts of hari-kari. She is not suggesting that generations of people carry the burden of sins committed in the past *if those sins have been rectified*.
She *is* suggesting that perhaps whites could reflect a bit more on the "ease" of the system and its structures for whites and how that system has produced the types of disparities we see today that delineate wealth, education and yes, even crime, on racial lines. Consider that blacks as a group were denied generations from accruing the sort of wealth and social capital that whites were granted and how this has resulted in continuing wealth gaps. How blacks were "redlined", "blockbusted" and essentially relegated to the modern "ghetto" by virtue of racist policies. How the modern ghettos were first drained of jobs and investments and then filled with drugs and other illegal activity to replace the legitimate means of economic survival. How policing for the "drug war" has focused on low level "street dealers" while whites actually do and sell drugs at similar, even higher rates.
The author is not suggesting whites "hate" themselves or engage in symbolic acts of hari-kari. She is not suggesting that generations of people carry the burden of sins committed in the past *if those sins have been rectified*.
She *is* suggesting that perhaps whites could reflect a bit more on the "ease" of the system and its structures for whites and how that system has produced the types of disparities we see today that delineate wealth, education and yes, even crime, on racial lines. Consider that blacks as a group were denied generations from accruing the sort of wealth and social capital that whites were granted and how this has resulted in continuing wealth gaps. How blacks were "redlined", "blockbusted" and essentially relegated to the modern "ghetto" by virtue of racist policies. How the modern ghettos were first drained of jobs and investments and then filled with drugs and other illegal activity to replace the legitimate means of economic survival. How policing for the "drug war" has focused on low level "street dealers" while whites actually do and sell drugs at similar, even higher rates.
26
The author should sell all of her personal possessions and give them to some needy African-Americans. Should we feel guilty because we were lucky enough to be born in the United States? Should a person who is born in Atlanta Georgia who happens to be black feel guilty because they were not born in Haiti? The author was given a life, she can do with it what she wishes. She can work to help others as she sees fit, instead she writes this whining peice of rubbish . I am brown and I feel fortunate to be born in this country. I do not feel guilty however, I try to help when and where I can. The author chooses to wallow in her guilt instead of engaging in meaningful change.
1
"The world is not white; it never was white, cannot be white. White is a metaphor for power, and that is simply a way of describing Chase Manhattan Bank. That is all it means, and the people who tried to rob us of identify have lost their own. And when you lose that, when a people lose that, they've lost everything on which they depended, which is the bottom of their moral authority." James Baldwin - "The Cross of Redemption"
Sell everything you have, round up your family and move to the worse part of your town and then you can feel sorry for all theses people you feel sorry for..NoseToNose...You wouldn't last one week...Or better round up as many of these people that you feel sorry for and move them into your house/neighborhood...Im sure your neighbors wont mind..I think if you are taking medication you should stop taking it and if you arent taking medication, maybe you should take it..your view of the real world is clouded, probably by the fact you probably live far removed from these people you feel sorry for..
1
I never cease to be amazed that so many Americans can disavow any responsibility for the actions of their Founding Fathers, and at the same time feel entitled to the privileges they inherit from those same Fathers by a simple accident of birth.
Good article! Insightful and nuanced. So nuanced that so many white people just don't get it, judging from the readers' comments.
Slavery was a product of rich, southern, white people. We here in the North fought a war to end slavery, and if anyone owes blacks nothing, it's us. I still don't like rich southern white people, and I evaluate black people the same as everyone else, by their behavior.
Northern people deserve whatever "white privilege" we have, because nobody asked blacks to migrate here, and we've paid a price for the fact that they have.
If blacks don't like the way whites treat them why are they always trying to live where we live? This applies worldwide.
Northern people deserve whatever "white privilege" we have, because nobody asked blacks to migrate here, and we've paid a price for the fact that they have.
If blacks don't like the way whites treat them why are they always trying to live where we live? This applies worldwide.
Inspiring and thoughtful indeed. In a wider sense - we who are are privileged as witnessed by our mere existence. Our being may have been achieved "justly" or "morally" - or not.
The American Indians who do not have the privilege to live because our ancestors slaughtered them are not able to bear witness but certainly the few survivors can still attest to greatness of some of the ancestor Inidian tribes. Can we be held responsible for the misdeeds of our ancestors? Possibly! To live morally we must apply the same rules to everybody. If we expect restitution from Germans from Nazi Germany, the we surely should expect a restitution from us to American Indians.
But we cannot feel guilty in our daily lives as the author asserts. We though must learn from history and attempt to survive by immoral actions. As we ponder our actions with ISIS, Global Warming, and other issues of this decade we should act morally. History will tell our children if we did. It does not look promising though.
The American Indians who do not have the privilege to live because our ancestors slaughtered them are not able to bear witness but certainly the few survivors can still attest to greatness of some of the ancestor Inidian tribes. Can we be held responsible for the misdeeds of our ancestors? Possibly! To live morally we must apply the same rules to everybody. If we expect restitution from Germans from Nazi Germany, the we surely should expect a restitution from us to American Indians.
But we cannot feel guilty in our daily lives as the author asserts. We though must learn from history and attempt to survive by immoral actions. As we ponder our actions with ISIS, Global Warming, and other issues of this decade we should act morally. History will tell our children if we did. It does not look promising though.
This story would really pack a punch if the author were transgender too. If only she were transgender, the Times could have put it on the from page with more focus.
1
I am white person who did not grow up with wealth. I did not have "better housing, better education, better work and better pay than other people". It certainly has influenced the challenges I have been forced to confront in life.
At the same time, it leads me to the inevitable conclusion that the author's analysis of race is flawed in a way that much modern analysis of race is. There are inequalities and barriers of race, especially in the US, but perhaps more pervasive are the inequalities and barriers of class. There are no shootings on the streets of rich Black neighbourhoods. That is important.
People of colour in the US are more than twice as likely to be in poverty as white people. What the US has, perhaps, is a stacking problem, where racist tendencies lead to high level of poverty which in turn reinforce the racist tendencies.
If so, it brings to mind a quote I read some years ago: "A mind is far harder to change than a bed." Perhaps a more concerted effort to analyse the effects of class, which has measurable physical consequences and causes, and alleviate it might be more effective than trying to alleviate a the moral wounds of one's birth identity. Rich guilt seems like it would be a more effective concept than white guilt.
At the same time, it leads me to the inevitable conclusion that the author's analysis of race is flawed in a way that much modern analysis of race is. There are inequalities and barriers of race, especially in the US, but perhaps more pervasive are the inequalities and barriers of class. There are no shootings on the streets of rich Black neighbourhoods. That is important.
People of colour in the US are more than twice as likely to be in poverty as white people. What the US has, perhaps, is a stacking problem, where racist tendencies lead to high level of poverty which in turn reinforce the racist tendencies.
If so, it brings to mind a quote I read some years ago: "A mind is far harder to change than a bed." Perhaps a more concerted effort to analyse the effects of class, which has measurable physical consequences and causes, and alleviate it might be more effective than trying to alleviate a the moral wounds of one's birth identity. Rich guilt seems like it would be a more effective concept than white guilt.
1
The author recounts making her very young son uncomfortable with his racial identity. Is it really right to pass your "debts" down to your child? I feel sorry for the boy.
3
For those of us who have been--through our work, our gender, where we live or our religious beliefs and heritage--the "only" Jew among Christians, the only woman in a male workplace, the only person with white skin color among those with black, yellow, red or brown colored skin or the only US citizen in a foreign place, we may think we can understand what it is like to live as a minority person in a society where "privilege" is defined as being white, male, Christian and a US citizen. We never do understand and we never will.
Eula Bliss has written a complex essay touching on all the aspects of identity governed by what is beyond our individual control. Weaving Nietzsche and storytimes with one's son and Eddie Murphy movie lines into a coherent essay is a praiseworthy accomplishment few are talented enough or have the life experiences to do as well as Eula Bliss.
The concept of "White Debt" is thought-provoking. I am especially grateful for the inclusion of debts owed to peoples the Canadians so carefully call "First Nations".
Eula Bliss has written a complex essay touching on all the aspects of identity governed by what is beyond our individual control. Weaving Nietzsche and storytimes with one's son and Eddie Murphy movie lines into a coherent essay is a praiseworthy accomplishment few are talented enough or have the life experiences to do as well as Eula Bliss.
The concept of "White Debt" is thought-provoking. I am especially grateful for the inclusion of debts owed to peoples the Canadians so carefully call "First Nations".
1
Wonderful article except for the use of “Indian”, which is an offensive and incorrect term. Native American/First Nation people are not from India. I understand the usage was most likely due to the correlation back to the “Little House on the Prairie” nonetheless, the distinction remains an important aspect to address in your work.
The concept of "white privilege" as expressed in this article is a fallacy: It's just "privilege", and "guilt" should attach to privilege, and not to skin color. Lots of "white" people coming to the US have faced harsh discrimination because of how they look. Think of how Irish and Italian immigrants were treated. Yes, they weren't brought over as slaves, but many were fleeing starvation or under indentured contracts. They were bound to sweat shops subject to sexual abuse and shaken down by their foreman and fired for any reason or no reason. Don't believe for a moment that such people got equality before the law if accused of the same crime as a wealthy individual -- assuming, of course, that the wealthy individual was even prosecuted. It still goes on today, of course, but it has more to do with wealth and power than with skin color: Rich people of color get the same sweet treatment before the courts that rich white people do. Poor whites get shafted in the same way as poor people of color, especially if they are from outside the US and/or from a non-Christian religion. And, if you go to a "non-white" nation, such as the Asian, African, or Arab countries, you will find that there is a non-white privileged class that, without any sense of guilt, will abuse the poor and powerless and go free of any legal consequences. This has been the way of the world forever, and the US is actually a leader in at least trying to give justice to the poor and powerless.
You should probably inform your son that the Franks originally came from the east of what is know known as France (their roots are Germanic), and INVADED and CONQUERED modern France.
This is the nature of life. Birth, competition, death. EVERY race, state, nation, has this in its history. The people that exist today exist because they KILLED AND DEFEATED someone else.
This is the nature of life. Birth, competition, death. EVERY race, state, nation, has this in its history. The people that exist today exist because they KILLED AND DEFEATED someone else.
2
The Donald Trump phenomenon represents not only a rebuke to the presidencies of Obama and George W. Bush, but to the leftist media's obsessive effort to repackage nakedly fraudulent and politically motivated sociological "theory" and present it as journalism. This is why Trump's disregard for "political correctness" is not dooming him in the polls, but rather casting him as something of a liberator in the eyes of millions. The American right-wing has been galvanized and resurrected by a media that often more resembles an elaborate social engineering project than anything that could reasonably be called news. And, speaking as one such nascent right-winger whose views have been shaped by and in opposition to pieces I've read in the Times and elsewhere, I'll lastly say: By all means, please carry on!
A beautifully written essay, in the spirit & tradition of the word's initial meaning, from the French essai: to try, to attempt, to test. Beautiful. I'll be assigning it in the Winter Quarter as an example of an essay: http://composing.org/wrd103wq2016/
Much Respect, Ms. Biss --
Michael
Much Respect, Ms. Biss --
Michael
1
I have two ancestors that died in the Civil War while serving with the Army of the Potomac. Can I assume that I'm all paid up and the ledger is clear? Or do I still have to kick in a couple of bucks for reparations?
1
What do you tell your son to be proud of? No one can go through life merely complying with the world; everyone endorses something. Guilt without a countervailing sense of pride soon becomes an empty piety (i.e. another form of erasure). And, as Sherman Alexie correctly points out, it often leads people to "do crazy [expletive]."
1
It is ironic that, White people do not consider themselves 'white' unless non-white are among them. Another interesting fact is that whites have this natural tendency to see themselves as 'individuals', yet at the same time see non-whites, and especially African Americans, as one, monolithic group. For example, when an individual African American voices his or her opinion on TV or in an open forum, inevitably some white person would refer to the speaker as 'you people'.....as if this one speaker represents everything and everyone of the African American racial group. Even the NYT is guilty of this, with the recent headline to a story that stated that "Black Preachers Support Trump.." The comments from almost all white anti-Trump people and quite a few blacks was that 'black preachers have sold out', or to that affect....The implication that ALL black preachers are represented by these few in the article..
The correct name for this 'white debt' or 'white guilt' that the writer is speaking of in this article is called: Institutional Racism.
The correct name for this 'white debt' or 'white guilt' that the writer is speaking of in this article is called: Institutional Racism.
1
There are many comments here that reflect my view: the treatment of black people, and other minorities in America, remains a source of well-deserved shame and guilt. I add my comment primarily to make myself feel better as one more voice on that side of the debate.
Let's face the undeniable facts: our country was founded on a genocide of the people who had settled the region thousands of years earlier and nurtured by 200 years of forced labor extracted from millions of slaves who, every day of their lives, lived with a constant diet of rape, torture and murder, knowing that the perpetrators could do so freely, without consequence.
Today, we want everyone to just move on, as if there is no relationship between Native American and African American history and their current condition. Meanwhile, we want to pretend that any residual racism is merely an aberration from a norm of equality and justice.
Until we acknowledge the guilt our society continues to bear and the on-going mistreatment of minorities and the poor, we will suffer the consequences: a stunted society that serves it's members far worse than dozens of other modernized nations.
We might start with the racial slur of a name for the organization of the most popular pastime in our great land's NATIONAL CAPITOL, for God's sake...while it may be easy to dismiss as a triviality, it is a very clear indication that we currently have no intention whatsoever of making good on a very large and deeply burdensome debt.
Let's face the undeniable facts: our country was founded on a genocide of the people who had settled the region thousands of years earlier and nurtured by 200 years of forced labor extracted from millions of slaves who, every day of their lives, lived with a constant diet of rape, torture and murder, knowing that the perpetrators could do so freely, without consequence.
Today, we want everyone to just move on, as if there is no relationship between Native American and African American history and their current condition. Meanwhile, we want to pretend that any residual racism is merely an aberration from a norm of equality and justice.
Until we acknowledge the guilt our society continues to bear and the on-going mistreatment of minorities and the poor, we will suffer the consequences: a stunted society that serves it's members far worse than dozens of other modernized nations.
We might start with the racial slur of a name for the organization of the most popular pastime in our great land's NATIONAL CAPITOL, for God's sake...while it may be easy to dismiss as a triviality, it is a very clear indication that we currently have no intention whatsoever of making good on a very large and deeply burdensome debt.
1
Wow. Does everyone hate their skin? Or, are we supposed to hate our skin? Can't we all just remind ourselves it's an organ on display, necessary for life? I am frankly growing so tired of these micro-analyses, and micro-guilt, I'm becoming ever more comfortable with just embracing racism.
Every time I seriously ponder a subscription to the NYT, an article like this is published, and I just can't do it. The writer of this piece is clearly more at ease writing fiction than history. Just reread the paragraphs referring to her 5 year-old son: Does anyone other than me question the viability of such prescience in a 5 year-old? Kids do often get more than we give them credit for, but do any of us really believe this narrative? It just seems too contrived for me and it all fits too well into her guilt trip. I ain't buyin' any of it.
Life's not fair. We are a tribal, hierarchical species by nature and there are endless ways we divide ourselves and view ourselves as better- or worse-off than someone else. That doesn't look likely to fundamentally change during our lives, if ever. Enjoy your household furniture. I'm sure you took advantage of some poor people at the factory who made it for you and would rather be sitting in your chairs instead of working x hours per day. Have you made your son feel guilty for the furniture privilege which you so blithely yield against others? Nobody I've met owns the world. We all live in it.
Every time I read a piece like this that uses language like "our police...act out their power on black bodies," I imagine another working class white person--sick of this pie-in-the-sky philosophizing about race, and tired of being called a racist--commit to voting for Trump. We don't need more ivory tower nonsense like this. We need a movement for economic equality. For a brief moment in the 20th Century there was a solid black middle class that was safe and comfortable. We are not in a crisis of racism because of a failure to examine our "whiteness" or because we are persecuting "black bodies." We are in this crisis because oligarchs are freely plundering the 99%. My recommendation for liberals is to start a real movement for economic equality, one that doesn't alienate working class whites with hogwash like this.
2
I've been paying the WHITE DEBT my whole life....
I've been passed over for great jobs my whole life
because of AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
Over and
OVER and
O V E R
My whole life has been:
1. I'm White
2. I'm Male
3. I'm sorry
I've been passed over for great jobs my whole life
because of AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
Over and
OVER and
O V E R
My whole life has been:
1. I'm White
2. I'm Male
3. I'm sorry
Gosh. This author's son is going to have a very long and torturous childhood. I hope he can eventually dig himself out from the immense pile of ludicrous guilt she's already dumped on him.
2
"I have written and erased a hundred sentences here, trying and failing to articulate something that I can sense but not yet speak." I respect Bliss' clear effort to address racism and also her acknowledgement of failure. American racism is so big and systemic a problem that its full examination can seem impossible and any solution improbable, so to think about it is a strain, not to mention the challenge of self-examination required to feel one's feelings about it.
I was struck particularly by the fantastical nature of this thought --
"More than the freedom to do whatever I want... I am compelled by a freedom that would allow me to deserve what I have." Bliss misapplies 'deserve' because she has not understood that the disposition of fortune, good or ill, is neither of her making nor based on merit. Nietzsche is wrong (and so is she) to conflate debt and guilt or throw that conflation into the redressing of white privilege, a disparity of law and justice. What we "owe" one another is care, not debt -- we cannot undo but we can do better by facing the truth of our rivalry for power and the wrongdoing it inspires. We needn't carry a mortgage of guilt to be conscious and just.
I was struck particularly by the fantastical nature of this thought --
"More than the freedom to do whatever I want... I am compelled by a freedom that would allow me to deserve what I have." Bliss misapplies 'deserve' because she has not understood that the disposition of fortune, good or ill, is neither of her making nor based on merit. Nietzsche is wrong (and so is she) to conflate debt and guilt or throw that conflation into the redressing of white privilege, a disparity of law and justice. What we "owe" one another is care, not debt -- we cannot undo but we can do better by facing the truth of our rivalry for power and the wrongdoing it inspires. We needn't carry a mortgage of guilt to be conscious and just.
Looking at her profile, Ms. Biss is a Midwesterner who attended school in Iowa, majoring in "Creative Writing", and now lives in Evanston with her husband and son. Evanston, according to Wikipedia, is two-thirds white. So when does Ms. Biss plan to move to Chicago and put her son on the school bus? Wouldn't that be the best way to teach him about African-Americans?
I'm a 46 yr old black man I read the whole article and all the comments.
I saw a lot of white peoples opinion and I can see the various perspectives clearly.
I offer you another:
If the founding fathers of this country were black
And white people were the race that went through American slavery.
Based on the way black people treat each other now and the amount of denial we face as a race.
I can tell you now the history flipped like that things would not have turned out any better for you.
As far as "Power" white people control the U.S if there is an Equality problem of any sort white have the power to fix so what are you all doing?
I saw a lot of white peoples opinion and I can see the various perspectives clearly.
I offer you another:
If the founding fathers of this country were black
And white people were the race that went through American slavery.
Based on the way black people treat each other now and the amount of denial we face as a race.
I can tell you now the history flipped like that things would not have turned out any better for you.
As far as "Power" white people control the U.S if there is an Equality problem of any sort white have the power to fix so what are you all doing?
1
Oh please.
Is the system rigged? Of course. It favors beautiful people over ugly ones (beautiful people earn considerably more in the same jobs over a lifetime as ugly ones), extroverts over introverts, straights over gays (except in some industries where it goes the other way), men over women, Ivy-league educated against state school educated, etc etc et freaking cetera.
All that said, the lack of logic in this piece is breathtaking. If "whiteness is not a race", how can there be "white debt"? Either whiteness is a class, in a meaningful sense--which the author denies! or it is not. If it's not, then the concept of "white debt" can't exist.
Let's not forget that the original slaveholders included men with dark skin who sold fellow dark-skinned men and women to the opportunistic white men who showed up on their shores.
Slavery is a moral evil, and its consequences are long-lasting. But it is not uniquely a white evil.
The concept of "white debt" or "white privilege" is as racist as any other concept that attempts to group people into arbitrary classes. There's white privilege and straight privilege and gay privilege and pretty privilege and young privilege... we all have to deal with that, and it doesn't uniquely favor lighter skinned people over darker skinned ones.
Is the system rigged? Of course. It favors beautiful people over ugly ones (beautiful people earn considerably more in the same jobs over a lifetime as ugly ones), extroverts over introverts, straights over gays (except in some industries where it goes the other way), men over women, Ivy-league educated against state school educated, etc etc et freaking cetera.
All that said, the lack of logic in this piece is breathtaking. If "whiteness is not a race", how can there be "white debt"? Either whiteness is a class, in a meaningful sense--which the author denies! or it is not. If it's not, then the concept of "white debt" can't exist.
Let's not forget that the original slaveholders included men with dark skin who sold fellow dark-skinned men and women to the opportunistic white men who showed up on their shores.
Slavery is a moral evil, and its consequences are long-lasting. But it is not uniquely a white evil.
The concept of "white debt" or "white privilege" is as racist as any other concept that attempts to group people into arbitrary classes. There's white privilege and straight privilege and gay privilege and pretty privilege and young privilege... we all have to deal with that, and it doesn't uniquely favor lighter skinned people over darker skinned ones.
4
The article states: "I thought of the white police officers who killed unarmed black people and kept their jobs. That the penalty for disowning whiteness appears to be more severe than the penalty for killing a black person says something about what our culture holds dear." This might seem like a logical conclusion, but it isn't.
Cops kill 2 to 3 times as many whites as they do blacks, and yet they keep their jobs. Two white teens were killed by cops in my county last year. Both teens had mental health issues. They were basically cut down by the police, unprovoked. Those police still have their jobs, even though they shouldn't.
Then consider that there are more rural whites living in poverty than all blacks combined. Their communities suffer joblessness, addiction, and crime similar to inner city minorities.
Not everything bad that happens is due to white racism.
A more progressive view would be to stop looking at the color of people's skin and start looking at their circumstances. What are the conditions that are preventing so many from lead fulfilling and productive lives? How can we alter conditions and provide programs that help them thrive?
Most poor, regardless of color, want jobs more than anything. They don't want to be on the dole. Can we focus on that common human need as a start?
Your anti-white message doesn't help the progressive cause in the least. It just drives poor whites into the arms Il Duce Trump.
Cops kill 2 to 3 times as many whites as they do blacks, and yet they keep their jobs. Two white teens were killed by cops in my county last year. Both teens had mental health issues. They were basically cut down by the police, unprovoked. Those police still have their jobs, even though they shouldn't.
Then consider that there are more rural whites living in poverty than all blacks combined. Their communities suffer joblessness, addiction, and crime similar to inner city minorities.
Not everything bad that happens is due to white racism.
A more progressive view would be to stop looking at the color of people's skin and start looking at their circumstances. What are the conditions that are preventing so many from lead fulfilling and productive lives? How can we alter conditions and provide programs that help them thrive?
Most poor, regardless of color, want jobs more than anything. They don't want to be on the dole. Can we focus on that common human need as a start?
Your anti-white message doesn't help the progressive cause in the least. It just drives poor whites into the arms Il Duce Trump.
2
Oh my. How delusional.
Let's talk about Asian privilege. Asian families in America have earned incomes substantially higher than white families.
According to Thomas Sowell, Chinese immigrants have generally been subjected to the worst kind of discrimination and ethic violence of any people all over the world - yet wherever they go, they have prospered.
This is not because they are "privileged" - in fact, the opposite is true. It is because their culture is inherently more productive compared to immigrants of other cultures.
Martin Luther King talked about being judged not by the color of your skin, but by the content of your character. WHITE people are not a terribly homogenous group. Swedes, Italians, Brits, Danes, Slavs...are they all the same? Not even close. The mother of our African American President was white.
Whites from Europe wrested control of America from Native Americans not because of their skin color - but because they had better technology. Asians out perform white Americans in America because they have more productive skill sets (Sowell, the Harlem-raised African American, says this...not me).
Get up early, go to school, learn useful things, work hard, save your money, repeat. It tends to work.
Let's talk about Asian privilege. Asian families in America have earned incomes substantially higher than white families.
According to Thomas Sowell, Chinese immigrants have generally been subjected to the worst kind of discrimination and ethic violence of any people all over the world - yet wherever they go, they have prospered.
This is not because they are "privileged" - in fact, the opposite is true. It is because their culture is inherently more productive compared to immigrants of other cultures.
Martin Luther King talked about being judged not by the color of your skin, but by the content of your character. WHITE people are not a terribly homogenous group. Swedes, Italians, Brits, Danes, Slavs...are they all the same? Not even close. The mother of our African American President was white.
Whites from Europe wrested control of America from Native Americans not because of their skin color - but because they had better technology. Asians out perform white Americans in America because they have more productive skill sets (Sowell, the Harlem-raised African American, says this...not me).
Get up early, go to school, learn useful things, work hard, save your money, repeat. It tends to work.
2
Goodness, what a large number of comments defending white supremacy. That is quite disturbing. The misogyny is also disturbing.
The thing is, in a handful of large states everyone is already a minority. In a generation or two if we survive Climate Change (doubtful), everyone in the US will be a minority. If people do not wish to be part of a 'mixed' culture then, tough. There are no other choices in the world.
This is a very thoughtful piece. I would suggest that we stop calling everyone white or black or yellow or red. We are all shades of beige and we are all distant cousins. To Loyd Eskildson's comment, Asians score the highest in tests.
There is something seriously wrong with US law enforcement. Some of it is racism but a great deal of it is horrible management, inappropriate hiring and utter lack of accountability. If these serious issues are fixed, racism and misogyny in individual cops will be tamped down and not allowed to affect behavior in any meaningful way.
The thing is, in a handful of large states everyone is already a minority. In a generation or two if we survive Climate Change (doubtful), everyone in the US will be a minority. If people do not wish to be part of a 'mixed' culture then, tough. There are no other choices in the world.
This is a very thoughtful piece. I would suggest that we stop calling everyone white or black or yellow or red. We are all shades of beige and we are all distant cousins. To Loyd Eskildson's comment, Asians score the highest in tests.
There is something seriously wrong with US law enforcement. Some of it is racism but a great deal of it is horrible management, inappropriate hiring and utter lack of accountability. If these serious issues are fixed, racism and misogyny in individual cops will be tamped down and not allowed to affect behavior in any meaningful way.
1
Thank you for your remarkable, thoughtful article, an atypical view of whiteness, privilege, race and the reality of world. Most white people I know would consider your essay unacceptable, even unthinkable. They would angrily and vehemently justify their existing reality. Then there are, ironically, some black people who would find fault with some of what you have written, expressing that it still views race and black reality in a flawed manner.
Sure enough, as soon as I glanced at some comments to your article, I saw the article vociferously attacked by some white people. One person went straight for the racial jugular with a knife, stating that black people are less intelligent (I'm sure they couldn't wait to find a reason to write that and your article gave them the perfect opportunity).
As a black male, I can only offer a thought that came to mind. I have always wondered what would happen if I had the power to magically, with the slightest gesture, instantly restart the lives of whites who express racism so openly, transforming them into black people. Ideally it would be retroactive from birth (but "from this day forward" would also do). Let them live decades as a black person. Then let them comment about whiteness and race. I guarantee you their remarks would be quite different. But if nothing else, I would have a big, knowing smile on my face.
Until then, let the attacks on my comment begin.
Sure enough, as soon as I glanced at some comments to your article, I saw the article vociferously attacked by some white people. One person went straight for the racial jugular with a knife, stating that black people are less intelligent (I'm sure they couldn't wait to find a reason to write that and your article gave them the perfect opportunity).
As a black male, I can only offer a thought that came to mind. I have always wondered what would happen if I had the power to magically, with the slightest gesture, instantly restart the lives of whites who express racism so openly, transforming them into black people. Ideally it would be retroactive from birth (but "from this day forward" would also do). Let them live decades as a black person. Then let them comment about whiteness and race. I guarantee you their remarks would be quite different. But if nothing else, I would have a big, knowing smile on my face.
Until then, let the attacks on my comment begin.
1
My family is white several generations back. Besides, what is race? After seeing Rachel Dolezal I feel entirely free to identify as an Eskimo and explore my gender options, too.
As a white I am surely guilty of anything and everything. I got admission and scholarships to top universities and good jobs not through merit but because I climbed on the backs of exploited people everywhere and throughout time. I--well, my forebears--raped several continents, and oppressed and exploited billions of people.
Because of these crimes against humanity I moved into a tent and gave my house to illegal immigrants. I withdrew my savings to drop from balloons over the poorest parts of the poorest nations (balloons have smaller carbon footprints than planes).
Not.
Many races and ethnic groups contributed to slavery and oppression of their own people and others; plenty of blame to go around here, not just for whites.
If the author can manage to rise above what appears to be almost crippling personal guilt she could take some concrete steps: open her home to the poor, or give away her savings and her son's college money. Absurd, yes? Yes, rather like the basic premise of this article.
Stop trying to make whites feel guilty about things they did not do and were not responsible for. What with causing global warming and income inequality we already must be the most despicable humans on the planet; adding racial privilege and reparations surely be the straw that breaks white folks' backs.
As a white I am surely guilty of anything and everything. I got admission and scholarships to top universities and good jobs not through merit but because I climbed on the backs of exploited people everywhere and throughout time. I--well, my forebears--raped several continents, and oppressed and exploited billions of people.
Because of these crimes against humanity I moved into a tent and gave my house to illegal immigrants. I withdrew my savings to drop from balloons over the poorest parts of the poorest nations (balloons have smaller carbon footprints than planes).
Not.
Many races and ethnic groups contributed to slavery and oppression of their own people and others; plenty of blame to go around here, not just for whites.
If the author can manage to rise above what appears to be almost crippling personal guilt she could take some concrete steps: open her home to the poor, or give away her savings and her son's college money. Absurd, yes? Yes, rather like the basic premise of this article.
Stop trying to make whites feel guilty about things they did not do and were not responsible for. What with causing global warming and income inequality we already must be the most despicable humans on the planet; adding racial privilege and reparations surely be the straw that breaks white folks' backs.
1
You make a mistake conflating the past (reparations) with the present (equality.) The universal tendency to live in the present revolves around the need for consistency.
To use an easy and local example: is Harlem properly considered Native American territory; Dutch territory; POC territory generally; black territory specifically; the territory of folks who were born there; or the territory of folks who live there now?
There's no single "right" answer to that question, as I hope you agree. But there's a single consistent answer, and it's the final one. It's the same answer which allows me to simultaneously feel comfortable living in my home (on land which was probably NA-owned) and to avoid thinking about who in Europe might have stolen my Jewish-ancestors' land and possessions, way back when.
And it's the same answer that allows me to care less about what portion of my (dirt poor or dead) non-slave-owner ancestors might have contributed to the downfall of a someone's South American relative back in 1710... and also allows me not to really think about whether some nobleman stole some stuff which would have eventually been mine now. And so on.
Now, as for PRESENT inequality, I fight against that every day. But that's because I think everyone deserves equality, POC and white alike. I don't need to reject my reflection in order to take that road.
To use an easy and local example: is Harlem properly considered Native American territory; Dutch territory; POC territory generally; black territory specifically; the territory of folks who were born there; or the territory of folks who live there now?
There's no single "right" answer to that question, as I hope you agree. But there's a single consistent answer, and it's the final one. It's the same answer which allows me to simultaneously feel comfortable living in my home (on land which was probably NA-owned) and to avoid thinking about who in Europe might have stolen my Jewish-ancestors' land and possessions, way back when.
And it's the same answer that allows me to care less about what portion of my (dirt poor or dead) non-slave-owner ancestors might have contributed to the downfall of a someone's South American relative back in 1710... and also allows me not to really think about whether some nobleman stole some stuff which would have eventually been mine now. And so on.
Now, as for PRESENT inequality, I fight against that every day. But that's because I think everyone deserves equality, POC and white alike. I don't need to reject my reflection in order to take that road.
2
"White Debt - Reckoning with what is owed..."
I was born into a family with a father and a mother - who do I owe for that?
Both my father and mother worked so I could eat and have a roof over my head - who do I owe for that?
I went to a free public school and had to learn because if I didn't my parents would have been angry- who do I owe for that?
When I turned 16 I went out and got a job - who do I owe for that?
I stayed in school and worked to save money for college - who do I owe for that?
I worked full time while I was in college to pay for college - who do I own for that?
I graduated college and spent three months looking for work until I got a job - who do I owe for that?
This is America, the land of opportunity if you are willing to study and to work. Are you saying every successful Black person was just lucky? Are you saying there is an underground Black privilege that gives successful Black people their success?
No, I don't think so, I think they like I worked for it. As to the rest, white, black green or purple I owe them nothing, absolutely nothing.
I was born into a family with a father and a mother - who do I owe for that?
Both my father and mother worked so I could eat and have a roof over my head - who do I owe for that?
I went to a free public school and had to learn because if I didn't my parents would have been angry- who do I owe for that?
When I turned 16 I went out and got a job - who do I owe for that?
I stayed in school and worked to save money for college - who do I owe for that?
I worked full time while I was in college to pay for college - who do I own for that?
I graduated college and spent three months looking for work until I got a job - who do I owe for that?
This is America, the land of opportunity if you are willing to study and to work. Are you saying every successful Black person was just lucky? Are you saying there is an underground Black privilege that gives successful Black people their success?
No, I don't think so, I think they like I worked for it. As to the rest, white, black green or purple I owe them nothing, absolutely nothing.
It is impossible to de-conflict race relations...but of all the nations that ever existed on planet Earth...I believe the United States has done the best job of it.
My opinion is this:
Prejudice is a necessary function of the INDUVIDUAL, needed for survival, and it is based on learned and taught experiences, is it safe? is it dangerous?
Racism, is SOCIETAL, and cannot be blamed on the induvidual. We are ALL guilty of racism....white and black alike. Together we have created a society that attempts to protect "induvidual rights"...but for all kinds of complex rationalities, we expect the white cop(not necessarily always "white") to shoot 18 bullets into the black suspect. This is what our MEdia promotes......downplaying the incidents of black on black violence and of white cops pumping white suspects full of lead(it does happen)..............
.....We even go so far as to promote racist stereotypes as we march forward 1984 doublespeak style and re-inforce "diversity"......after all Slavery is Freedom and Freedom is Slavery(Diversity is Unity and Unity is Diversity!!).
When Ms. Biss shells out the uncomfortable history of the USA......when she uses the term "white" she actually means "american"...........for the United States is truly one of the only nations wherein just about anybody, even black people, can be "american"(ie "white").....the Irish being the famous example.
1. Americans.
2. Black Americans.
3. First Americans.
Those are the only classifications that matter.
My opinion is this:
Prejudice is a necessary function of the INDUVIDUAL, needed for survival, and it is based on learned and taught experiences, is it safe? is it dangerous?
Racism, is SOCIETAL, and cannot be blamed on the induvidual. We are ALL guilty of racism....white and black alike. Together we have created a society that attempts to protect "induvidual rights"...but for all kinds of complex rationalities, we expect the white cop(not necessarily always "white") to shoot 18 bullets into the black suspect. This is what our MEdia promotes......downplaying the incidents of black on black violence and of white cops pumping white suspects full of lead(it does happen)..............
.....We even go so far as to promote racist stereotypes as we march forward 1984 doublespeak style and re-inforce "diversity"......after all Slavery is Freedom and Freedom is Slavery(Diversity is Unity and Unity is Diversity!!).
When Ms. Biss shells out the uncomfortable history of the USA......when she uses the term "white" she actually means "american"...........for the United States is truly one of the only nations wherein just about anybody, even black people, can be "american"(ie "white").....the Irish being the famous example.
1. Americans.
2. Black Americans.
3. First Americans.
Those are the only classifications that matter.
The mom should offer to tell the child who wishes he were French something about the history of Haiti.
The debt of the privileged owing to those who paid for it is universal – and it’s not exclusively white, as we know from our studies of Asia and of the black slave-herders of the African interior who sold their brethren to white traders. One shouldn’t mistake white debt for something special.
Forced privilege at the expense of others still exists, whether or not it’s called “slavery”: people are sold like objects, forced to work for little or no pay. Eastern European women are bonded into prostitution, children are sold among West African countries and men are forced to work as slaves on Brazilian agricultural estates. Much of it is white debt to whites, or black and brown debt to blacks and browns.
But, putting all that aside, where a debt may rationally be repaid it should; and where privilege still is exacted at an unfair cost to some, we should end such practices. But the implied need for reparations is unlikely ever to attract sufficient support to be other than a non-starter. If we wish to benefit those in our country, overwhelmingly black and brown, who paid the price for white privilege, then we should design the pay-back as one that benefits ALL of our disadvantaged. A good example is extending quality education to ALL of our neighborhoods, severing the links between quality and real estate value and neighborhood earnings. THIS is the salable reparation.
The debt of the privileged owing to those who paid for it is universal – and it’s not exclusively white, as we know from our studies of Asia and of the black slave-herders of the African interior who sold their brethren to white traders. One shouldn’t mistake white debt for something special.
Forced privilege at the expense of others still exists, whether or not it’s called “slavery”: people are sold like objects, forced to work for little or no pay. Eastern European women are bonded into prostitution, children are sold among West African countries and men are forced to work as slaves on Brazilian agricultural estates. Much of it is white debt to whites, or black and brown debt to blacks and browns.
But, putting all that aside, where a debt may rationally be repaid it should; and where privilege still is exacted at an unfair cost to some, we should end such practices. But the implied need for reparations is unlikely ever to attract sufficient support to be other than a non-starter. If we wish to benefit those in our country, overwhelmingly black and brown, who paid the price for white privilege, then we should design the pay-back as one that benefits ALL of our disadvantaged. A good example is extending quality education to ALL of our neighborhoods, severing the links between quality and real estate value and neighborhood earnings. THIS is the salable reparation.
1
The concept of "privilege" is often used as a substitute for the words "hard work", "saving", and "sacrifice." Asian Americans are often times more successful than white Americans, but I have yet to read a NY Times article that discusses "Asian Privilege." Perhaps I will see such an article sometime in the future, but I am not holding my breath as the topic does not play upon liberal guilt.
The more you see things in the Black/white dichotomy the more you promote racist point of views. People are people, its that simple
1
I can honestly say that I've never been tempted to cancel my NY Times subscription... until now. This is one of the dumbest things I've ever read. It makes no sense. My family arrived in this country long after slavery ended. My ancestors were second-class citizens for being Irish. My family didn't revel in victimhood, we built successful lives. I don't owe anyone a debt. And the self-flagellating Eula Biss can't speak for me simply because we have similar shades of skin.
The whites you speak of -- relocated people of European descent -- became dominant through warfare and superior military technology. They slaughtered their enemies and asserted their world views and authority. They did to others what had been done to them and and by them through centuries of carnage. Tribes and peoples burned and maimed one another into submission.
This country of ours was born from conflict. First against the native population. Then the British. And then amongst ourselves. The whites bought slaves as a trade of opportunity from marauding tribes and Caliphs who brought these poor slaves to market, usually after murdering many of their family members in the process. It was nothing new. Humans of all race and creed had been enslaving each through history.
Every human on this planet has blood on their hands. We were forged in war and battle. One could say we still only have peace through dominance. And barely. Our enemies kept at bay so we can sip cappuccino and read Nietzsche.
Yes there are bad cops. Yes there are gang bangers who shoot 9 year olds. Heads get cut off. People get shot and set on fire. There are sex slaves and child labor the world over right now. This is the story of humanity.
All any of us can do is try to be better. Human history is enough to make one shudder. But guilt. Well then we should all feel guilty. And I mean - everyone.
This country of ours was born from conflict. First against the native population. Then the British. And then amongst ourselves. The whites bought slaves as a trade of opportunity from marauding tribes and Caliphs who brought these poor slaves to market, usually after murdering many of their family members in the process. It was nothing new. Humans of all race and creed had been enslaving each through history.
Every human on this planet has blood on their hands. We were forged in war and battle. One could say we still only have peace through dominance. And barely. Our enemies kept at bay so we can sip cappuccino and read Nietzsche.
Yes there are bad cops. Yes there are gang bangers who shoot 9 year olds. Heads get cut off. People get shot and set on fire. There are sex slaves and child labor the world over right now. This is the story of humanity.
All any of us can do is try to be better. Human history is enough to make one shudder. But guilt. Well then we should all feel guilty. And I mean - everyone.
27
Hey Ygj,
I was actually nodding in agreement with all your points. You are indeed a keen observer of human frailty. But....and this is a BIG BUT, what are your answers? What are your ideas...or actions to counter the sad truths you spout with such perspicacity?
I just came up with the phrase, "a cynic is a coward with a rationale". I hope you have no family or friends or love of any other humans, now or to be. Your cool logic ignores the very thing that makes humans human in general, and humans in the USA potentially special. The ability to rise above the very real realities of human existence and try to create civilization in spite of them.
Right?
http://BrandNewRace.com
I was actually nodding in agreement with all your points. You are indeed a keen observer of human frailty. But....and this is a BIG BUT, what are your answers? What are your ideas...or actions to counter the sad truths you spout with such perspicacity?
I just came up with the phrase, "a cynic is a coward with a rationale". I hope you have no family or friends or love of any other humans, now or to be. Your cool logic ignores the very thing that makes humans human in general, and humans in the USA potentially special. The ability to rise above the very real realities of human existence and try to create civilization in spite of them.
Right?
http://BrandNewRace.com
I agree with the author that whiteness comes with a historical grab bag of benefits bestowed by the accident of birth. I acknowledge that being white (which I am) has unfair privilege. But this article adds absolutely nothing to the discussion about how to fit that acknowledgement into an examined life.
According to the author, when white people try to act on the guilt that comes from acknowledging privilege, our actions are misdirected and feckless. But if we don't act, we are complicit or complacent or whatever word she agonizes over getting exactly right. So evidently the only thing we can do is publicly flagellate ourselves in the NYT and brag about how one day we saw a cop arresting a black person and we stopped to watch for a few minutes until our kid started crying. Ooooo-- braaaave.
I'm white. I've benefited from privileges I did not ask for but tacitly accepted. I honestly struggle with what to do about that. I can write letters to insurance and financing companies opposing their practices, and refuse to do business with known corporate offenders. I can vote for those who try to bring equality through legislative action. I can continue to listen to my black friends when they describe their experiences. I have done and continue to do all of those things but I want other ideas. This article provided nothing of value to me.
According to the author, when white people try to act on the guilt that comes from acknowledging privilege, our actions are misdirected and feckless. But if we don't act, we are complicit or complacent or whatever word she agonizes over getting exactly right. So evidently the only thing we can do is publicly flagellate ourselves in the NYT and brag about how one day we saw a cop arresting a black person and we stopped to watch for a few minutes until our kid started crying. Ooooo-- braaaave.
I'm white. I've benefited from privileges I did not ask for but tacitly accepted. I honestly struggle with what to do about that. I can write letters to insurance and financing companies opposing their practices, and refuse to do business with known corporate offenders. I can vote for those who try to bring equality through legislative action. I can continue to listen to my black friends when they describe their experiences. I have done and continue to do all of those things but I want other ideas. This article provided nothing of value to me.
13
A few years ago, a very young, very intoxicated young man tried to get into our house at 3am. For at least 15 minutes he banged and pushed and pulled on our front door trying to get it open. He did not respond to my husband yelling at him to stop and to leave. When the police arrived, they handcuffed him, but did not arrest him, and CALLED HIS PARENTS to come take him home! It turned out he thought he was at a friend's house.
Obviously, given this outcome, he was white. It terrifies me to think how the police might have reacted had he not been white. This was before the shooting of Jonathan Ferrell, the young man who was shot by police while seeking help after a car accident, but even then when I tried to imagine the scenario playing out for a young black man, a happy ending seemed unlikely.
White privilege is not only opportunity. It's the benefit of the doubt despite, in many cases, doing unbelievably foolish things. It is not being held to the narrowest possible standard of behavior. It is the safety to assume that mistakes are not likely to have tragic consequences.
Obviously, given this outcome, he was white. It terrifies me to think how the police might have reacted had he not been white. This was before the shooting of Jonathan Ferrell, the young man who was shot by police while seeking help after a car accident, but even then when I tried to imagine the scenario playing out for a young black man, a happy ending seemed unlikely.
White privilege is not only opportunity. It's the benefit of the doubt despite, in many cases, doing unbelievably foolish things. It is not being held to the narrowest possible standard of behavior. It is the safety to assume that mistakes are not likely to have tragic consequences.
47
Agreed. It is also Robert Dear, terrorizing and killing innocents and engaging police in a lengthy shootout, then having the opportunity to surrender and be taken into custody, completely unharmed. Contrast that with the 12 or so seconds according to 12-year old Tamir Rice before his life was taken.
1
I'm not sure how writing offensively racist articles will help solve racial inequality. Not all white people are the same, and by grouping them together under the same negative umbrella, you are reinforcing the idea of us versus them. We are all family, black, white, everyone.
12
I know about slavery and my parents/grandparents, being from the south, have told me about the racial discrimination they experienced. I don't know what I'm "supposed" to feel. None of the older members of my family ever put it into my head that my white neighbors or friends were in debt to me in any meaningful sense. Don't get me wrong. I seethe at stories of PRESENT slavery and discrimination. Yet, I also know that it would not bring me any joy to see people who have never actually done me any harm begging forgiveness for the sins of their forefathers. So how do we move forward with racial issues? I know how this sounds (REALLY, I DO), but the pain must be dulled over generations. I feel the way I do because my parents managed to insulate me from what they had experienced themselves. THEY cannot help but resent what they personally may have experienced, but they were successful in bringing about a better, if imperfect, life for their children. They have a hard time identifying with current civil rights movements because they remember how horrifying their own experiences were and today's issues, while RELATIVELY important, are simply not comparable to the discrimination/slavery of the past. If I'm successful, I may one day have children who can't connect to my feelings about policing because it will just be a history lesson to them. It is simply not possible to make up for the past and trying will only extend the pain. We must focus on the present.
16
beautifully said
1
I, too, looked up the meaning of the word 'complacence', but using a thesaurus instead of a dictionary. Surprisingly, I found that among the 30 or so listed synonyms were arrogance, immodesty, narcissism, pomposity, self-importance, and vanity. Sounds like the author to me.
I would instead write the condition of white life on a blank sheet of paper as "excellence", a usage cribbed directly from Jay-Z.
I would instead write the condition of white life on a blank sheet of paper as "excellence", a usage cribbed directly from Jay-Z.
4
I see your Nietzsche and raise you Elvis: "A little less flagellation, a little more action, please."
8
The easiest way to dismiss this...what exactly? complete meltdown of an apparently expensive philosophy education?...is to cross out the words "white" and "whiteness" and ask yourself whether anyone - black or white - could keep a straight face through generalizations of the motivations of millions upon millions of our fellow global citizens if they were comprised in phrases like "When we buy into blackness..." or "A guilty black person is usually..." All this article does is prove once again that it is actually possible to really, really err when picking a major.
16
What a thought-provoking read. Kudos to Eula Bliss for this piece. I'd like to check Race Traitor and the "I Don't See Color" book. Naturally most of the comments here criticize her, but it's only because this is a really uncomfortable subject. Those of us with white skin would have to admit to getting ahead in life not solely on our own merits. That's tough to say the least. We like to think our society is not rigged. It's not fair to say that the system is rotten everywhere, but were we to walk around with darker skin for just one day, I think it would be self-evident the difference in treatment. Multiple that by a lifetime. Thank you Eula for these words. I'm left wondering how to pay (or at least reduce) this "debt".
3
Actually there was an excellent book written on the topic of group justice and remedy by the legal scholar Amy Wax, entitled "Race, Wrongs, and Remedies: Group Justice in the 21st Century." Wax convincingly and fairly argues that the healing of these wounds can only come about when the affected party acknowledges that they must take stock in in their own recovery, although it was no fault of their own that they were harmed originally.
Great, thoughtful piece, and beautifully written. Not surprising to see so much vitriolic dismissal of it, though.
4
I got a small laugh when I read about "free money"...because it's true! Whites indeed, do get free money! For the last several years since the "Great Recession" money has been loaned at zero percent interest rates. Mortgages are offered as low as 3% for fixed 30 year terms. Some adjustable or balloon mortgages can be even less. However, I disagree that only whites can get this money. Blacks can too. Except they generally don't know how to get it. Sometimes it takes a little work and even some rejection. Eventually though the money is made available.
Now, the art of never paying it back! That's right. Banks know you're never going to pay it back. They know that you'll pay off the 30 year mortgage in about 7 years or so and trade up to larger home and a larger mortgage. And you never pay that off either. That is the key to white success. And black success as well.
Banks don't ever want to be paid off. They want you to borrow more. Forever. That's how they make money.
Borrowing money is not limited to white privilege. Borrowing money, that never has to be repaid is the basis of the economy for blacks and whites. All it takes is is a lot work and a little nerve. You've got to go after it.
The condition of black life is not one of mourning. It is one of conditioning that has convinced blacks that whites are privileged. Not true.
White life is based upon debt that will never be repaid. Blacks need to join the club. Forget about debt. Buying money is buying life and freedom
Now, the art of never paying it back! That's right. Banks know you're never going to pay it back. They know that you'll pay off the 30 year mortgage in about 7 years or so and trade up to larger home and a larger mortgage. And you never pay that off either. That is the key to white success. And black success as well.
Banks don't ever want to be paid off. They want you to borrow more. Forever. That's how they make money.
Borrowing money is not limited to white privilege. Borrowing money, that never has to be repaid is the basis of the economy for blacks and whites. All it takes is is a lot work and a little nerve. You've got to go after it.
The condition of black life is not one of mourning. It is one of conditioning that has convinced blacks that whites are privileged. Not true.
White life is based upon debt that will never be repaid. Blacks need to join the club. Forget about debt. Buying money is buying life and freedom
5
Blacks were hurt far worse than whites in the housing bust because low-income blacks were urged to take on home mortgages as the path to an upper-middle-class lifestyle. Instead many ended up broke.
The phenomenon of taking on huge debt that will never be paid off and trading up is actually something that is confined to California and a few overheated real estate markets. Simply taking on debt to buy an expensive home is a road straight to the Poor House.
Many wealthy people do take on large home mortgages because of the home mortgage interest deduction. High income people of all races should consider this as a means of reducing taxes, not generating wealth. But suggesting that anyone, black or white, rush out and take out debt that will never be repaid is sheer folly.
The phenomenon of taking on huge debt that will never be paid off and trading up is actually something that is confined to California and a few overheated real estate markets. Simply taking on debt to buy an expensive home is a road straight to the Poor House.
Many wealthy people do take on large home mortgages because of the home mortgage interest deduction. High income people of all races should consider this as a means of reducing taxes, not generating wealth. But suggesting that anyone, black or white, rush out and take out debt that will never be repaid is sheer folly.
There is no doubt in my mind that racism exists and hurts innocent people. I think it is more complex than white privilege. That's important because fixing racism requires that heal emotional wounds as well as inequity. Claiming that all white people share the author's good fortune is unjust and does not adequately explain why white debt exists.
Black people deal with being poor in dress and manner. Being poor means you are usually disenfranchised and dishonored. It means you are hungry and unsupervised as a child and have little expectation of social opportunity. Some white people are poor for generations. Being black, or Indian means passed laws that ended your life for expecting equality. Big difference.
Ending hatred means truthfulness. Ending racism is an American debt if you become a naturalized citizen tomorrow. If we blur the line of social injustice and American debt, we perpetuate social problems and extremism. Some Whites don't condemn slavery or the decline of Native Americans because they want a unified culture. We need to point to Muslims, who condemn terrorism even within their immediate families. Fixing economic justice, raising the bar on social justice and ensuring oppressed people are represented is what most American want.
Black people deal with being poor in dress and manner. Being poor means you are usually disenfranchised and dishonored. It means you are hungry and unsupervised as a child and have little expectation of social opportunity. Some white people are poor for generations. Being black, or Indian means passed laws that ended your life for expecting equality. Big difference.
Ending hatred means truthfulness. Ending racism is an American debt if you become a naturalized citizen tomorrow. If we blur the line of social injustice and American debt, we perpetuate social problems and extremism. Some Whites don't condemn slavery or the decline of Native Americans because they want a unified culture. We need to point to Muslims, who condemn terrorism even within their immediate families. Fixing economic justice, raising the bar on social justice and ensuring oppressed people are represented is what most American want.
1
"Some Whites don't condemn slavery or the decline of Native Americans because they want a unified culture. We need to point to Muslims, who condemn terrorism even within their immediate families. "
Huh? I disagree, there is a very high percentage of Muslims who at the very best are silent and at worst,agree with the use of violence to further their religion. what do they call the West? Dar-al-harb, world of War?
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/11/pew_poll_between_63_million_...
From the article:
"In 11 representative nation-states, up to 14 percent of the population has a favorable opinion of ISIS, and upwards of 62 percent "don't know" whether or not they have a favorable opinion of the Islamist group.
Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/11/pew_poll_between_63_million_...
Follow us: @AmericanThinker on Twitter | AmericanThinker on Facebook
Huh? I disagree, there is a very high percentage of Muslims who at the very best are silent and at worst,agree with the use of violence to further their religion. what do they call the West? Dar-al-harb, world of War?
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/11/pew_poll_between_63_million_...
From the article:
"In 11 representative nation-states, up to 14 percent of the population has a favorable opinion of ISIS, and upwards of 62 percent "don't know" whether or not they have a favorable opinion of the Islamist group.
Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/11/pew_poll_between_63_million_...
Follow us: @AmericanThinker on Twitter | AmericanThinker on Facebook
if by some miracle of the Universe whites might wake from a peaceful slumber and were turned into a Person of Colour where they were forced to negotiate this America in that face for 2 weeks...Most would not survive
The inability to walk in another's shoes and the total lack of Empathy is telling
Commenters totally miss the point of the article because de nial aint just a River...I read the article as what happens when good people do nothing.'
First they come for them and now they come for your (the middle class) and then it becomes a Problem
The inability to walk in another's shoes and the total lack of Empathy is telling
Commenters totally miss the point of the article because de nial aint just a River...I read the article as what happens when good people do nothing.'
First they come for them and now they come for your (the middle class) and then it becomes a Problem
Food for thought:
I am a white person, member of the western culture.
I'm also 30 years old and I've seen and lived through 3 wars including being bombed by the USA for 3 months straight. I'm from Serbia.
Me and people around me would give anything to be in a position of some minority in the USA. Every member of minority who is actually in the USA, doesn't matter how rich or poor, legal or illegal has no idea how privileged he actually is compared to me. Me and my friends would do anything we can to be in a position of the most underprivileged person in the US.
So stop talking about white privilege while the amount of privilege American minorities have compared to millions of other white people are incredible and even sometimes a matter of life and death. And should they feel guilty about it? Absolutely not !
I would just like to add that I greatly admire The United States and I believe that the world is a better place with the US at the center of it. My dream is to eventually immigrate and live there, in a free society so please try to keep it actually free.
I am a white person, member of the western culture.
I'm also 30 years old and I've seen and lived through 3 wars including being bombed by the USA for 3 months straight. I'm from Serbia.
Me and people around me would give anything to be in a position of some minority in the USA. Every member of minority who is actually in the USA, doesn't matter how rich or poor, legal or illegal has no idea how privileged he actually is compared to me. Me and my friends would do anything we can to be in a position of the most underprivileged person in the US.
So stop talking about white privilege while the amount of privilege American minorities have compared to millions of other white people are incredible and even sometimes a matter of life and death. And should they feel guilty about it? Absolutely not !
I would just like to add that I greatly admire The United States and I believe that the world is a better place with the US at the center of it. My dream is to eventually immigrate and live there, in a free society so please try to keep it actually free.
13
I was born in 1960, nearly a century after the end of the Civil War. My family was comfortably middle class; no more than that. But the ways in which my life was affected positively by our history of owning slaves are too numerous to count, from the eighteenth-century furniture I can hope to inherit to a history of access to higher eduction (I am a sixth generation academic) to a vast network of distant cousins and ancestors that make one feel empowered because they appear in both the newspaper and in history books. How many of the descendants of the people my family owned can claim any of this? I know that some have been successful in politics and other fields, but I imagine (and imagine, because I do not know) that many of them have had much more difficult lives than mine. And I think that being unaware of those differences is callous, just as not working, at least in small ways, for change, is irresponsible. My parents also worked hard, I might add, to ensure that I went to integrated schools, where I had outstanding African-American teachers and bright black classmates; one does not have to be trapped by one's past, but one should be aware of it and of the advantages or disadvantages it confers.
29
Asians make more money than Whites in the US. Is that Asian privilege?
12
I don't owe any race, color, creed, ethnicity, etc. any apology what so ever! Someone who chooses to believe that the world owes them something, is choosing to imprison themselves. The only race issue we have in this country is that everyone is racing to get rather than give. Freedom is the only thing that brings so called equality. Taking from one to give to another, even if it is a form of reparation like affirmative action, is exactly why we have a problem today. One side claims privilege and the other side claims entitlement. If being white is a moral problem then being black, red, yellow, blue, and purple are as well. If whites are not a group then why do we have majority and minority labels? Slavery happened. Sad. I wasn't there. My ancestors were in Brasil and the Dominican Republic. They had slavery also. Anyone, regardless of race, is capable of slavery. The best thing to do is simply not feed the flames. Stop using racism as a reason for lack of achievement. Play the hand you were dealt and expect more from yourself than everyone else?
12
Interesting that this piece is running within a day of Mark Zuckerberg's announcement of his "charity". I read the first news in hope that he would begin the process of paying down the debt wealthy, "whites" owe to NatAmericans, AfrAmericans and even poor EurAmericans.
But no. It looks like just another pr scheme.
I've been working on trying to convince Americans the giant White Elephant in the room won't go away by itself. I also met Noel Ignatiev, right after his book, "How the Irish Became White" came out. In fact, I invited him to the second ever Whiteness Conference, which was held here in Chicago in 1997 or 1998.
We were 20 years too early, but I think Americans are finally starting to understand, either we start to pay down the debt now...or our children will have the Devil to pay later.
Right?
Http://BrandNewRace.com
But no. It looks like just another pr scheme.
I've been working on trying to convince Americans the giant White Elephant in the room won't go away by itself. I also met Noel Ignatiev, right after his book, "How the Irish Became White" came out. In fact, I invited him to the second ever Whiteness Conference, which was held here in Chicago in 1997 or 1998.
We were 20 years too early, but I think Americans are finally starting to understand, either we start to pay down the debt now...or our children will have the Devil to pay later.
Right?
Http://BrandNewRace.com
2
Eula Biss's essay is a fine attempt to address a very complicated issue. Knowing that privledge exists some of us want to find a way to address it yet all honesty the guilt that might colletively have some name really doesn't apply very well to indivdual sensitive human beings. You can see by some of the yelps from those who find the piece off-putting that she has struck paydirt yet perhaps also written something that those who protest most likely have missed her larger points. Being frustrated with whiteness but not hating yourself is certainly not that hard to do. And there is no profit in self-recrimination unless the actions taken by the indivdual are functionally healthy and self-affirming. This much cannot be doubted or denied: this is a country that has yet to develop a language for understanding what blackness means to it's own identity as a nation. White folks that deny the existence of the gifts and illusions whiteness brings are living with a debt to their identity that lessens us all.
1
Here's another way to look at it.
Suppose there had never been slavery in America. Then, how would the people who are now Americans be faring now. We'll divide them into two groups. It can be argued that:
Americans who are not African-Americans would be better off in many ways if descendants of ex-slaves were not in America. (Of course, there would still be many people of Black and other non-White races in America.)
However, those who are descendants of ex-slaves would be much worse off if there had never been slavery in America. Their ancestors were slaves in Africa. So, if those slaves had stayed in Africa, their descendants would still be there. They might or might not still be slaves. But they would have much more disease, lower life expectancy, less education, more violence and less government protection and help than in America.
By this calculation, the descendants of ex-slaves who are now in America owe a tremendous debt to everyone else in America. Yet considerably less than half of them even pay Federal income tax.
Suppose there had never been slavery in America. Then, how would the people who are now Americans be faring now. We'll divide them into two groups. It can be argued that:
Americans who are not African-Americans would be better off in many ways if descendants of ex-slaves were not in America. (Of course, there would still be many people of Black and other non-White races in America.)
However, those who are descendants of ex-slaves would be much worse off if there had never been slavery in America. Their ancestors were slaves in Africa. So, if those slaves had stayed in Africa, their descendants would still be there. They might or might not still be slaves. But they would have much more disease, lower life expectancy, less education, more violence and less government protection and help than in America.
By this calculation, the descendants of ex-slaves who are now in America owe a tremendous debt to everyone else in America. Yet considerably less than half of them even pay Federal income tax.
The problem ain't about race - its financial inequality...the dreaded ' class wars' that are alluded to but never addressed... Wake up & refocus and perhaps a t"change will finally come
White privilege. No I don't think so. I can think of other terms to describe "whiteness" but privilege isn't one of them. Out of 7 billion people, white Europeans are just a dot--the world is mostly colored. Perhaps what is so amazing is how one small group managed to hoodwink the rest of the ancient world into believing they were the best and brightest. Remember, most of our knowledge comes from the Arabs and the areas now identified as India, and China--all places of color.
2
I admire the writer not only for articulating these ideas but also for having the courage to publish it and taking the inevitable heat for daring to think in this way.
2
The problem blamed on "whiteness" is in fact endemic to any minority in any culture throughout the world. Try living in South America, and competing for a job with the locals. Do you think you get unbiased treatment? How many locals will shed tears for you if you lie dead in the street? There, a white person is "the other." Do you think that you will get better treatment in China? Being the "other" is never easy, and we try to root out bigotry in ourselves--but to call it a heritage of whites rather than of humanity is insulting, and extremely racist.
An honest look at history will show all races complicit in slavery and oppression. Literal forced black enslavement is still happening, and is commonplace, in Africa; it is just as evil there as it was here. It is our duty to fight against it, and fight for the concept that equal talent and work ethic should result in equal opportunity. We should not, however, be doing this with an eye to skin color--this promotes racism, and promotes an engrained culture of victimhood.
There are as many white heroes in the fight against slavery, and equality, as come from any other race. As for me, I will do my honest best to live and judge by merit, and be honorable. I will not feel guilt for what I have, or have been given; merely gratitude. I also acknowledge my obligation to help others (regardless of race) to obtain what I have (if they want it).
An honest look at history will show all races complicit in slavery and oppression. Literal forced black enslavement is still happening, and is commonplace, in Africa; it is just as evil there as it was here. It is our duty to fight against it, and fight for the concept that equal talent and work ethic should result in equal opportunity. We should not, however, be doing this with an eye to skin color--this promotes racism, and promotes an engrained culture of victimhood.
There are as many white heroes in the fight against slavery, and equality, as come from any other race. As for me, I will do my honest best to live and judge by merit, and be honorable. I will not feel guilt for what I have, or have been given; merely gratitude. I also acknowledge my obligation to help others (regardless of race) to obtain what I have (if they want it).
5
This piece is eloquent, emotional and fiction, a 'Catcher in the Rye' for the author's constructed melancholy. As exposition, it is nonsense.
A dirt-poor, malnourished Appalachian child is not privileged by his 'whiteness'. The dust bowl refugees, almost entirely white, were despised refugees. Zach Hammond's whiteness did not protect him from the policeman's bullet.
There is an institution called wealth, and its other name is privilege. It is associated in this country with 'whiteness', and its opposite, poverty, associated even more strongly with 'blackness', but that association can be broken in either direction. East Indians are now the highest-earning group in the US.
Sherman Alexei is right. We need empowered individuals, white, black and other, to write the wrongs of the day, not to engage in flights of metaphysical guilt. If you didn't do it, you are not guilty of it, whether you are a German today with Nazi forebears, or a great-grandchild of slave-owners or, for that matter, of abolitionists. Of course, if you have great wealth, you have a series of concerns and responsibilities, but, absent that, you're on your own. You should still want to right current, obvious wrongs, such as that our police seem to prefer killing unarmed suspects to letting them walk peacefully away, a lethal danger that falls disproportionately on our black citizens.
Let's fix that, directly, forthrightly and without unneeded introspection. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
A dirt-poor, malnourished Appalachian child is not privileged by his 'whiteness'. The dust bowl refugees, almost entirely white, were despised refugees. Zach Hammond's whiteness did not protect him from the policeman's bullet.
There is an institution called wealth, and its other name is privilege. It is associated in this country with 'whiteness', and its opposite, poverty, associated even more strongly with 'blackness', but that association can be broken in either direction. East Indians are now the highest-earning group in the US.
Sherman Alexei is right. We need empowered individuals, white, black and other, to write the wrongs of the day, not to engage in flights of metaphysical guilt. If you didn't do it, you are not guilty of it, whether you are a German today with Nazi forebears, or a great-grandchild of slave-owners or, for that matter, of abolitionists. Of course, if you have great wealth, you have a series of concerns and responsibilities, but, absent that, you're on your own. You should still want to right current, obvious wrongs, such as that our police seem to prefer killing unarmed suspects to letting them walk peacefully away, a lethal danger that falls disproportionately on our black citizens.
Let's fix that, directly, forthrightly and without unneeded introspection. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
8
It gets so that one has the impression that African American people believe that if they were only white, all their troubles would disappear. There is no other kind of disadvantage in life - no one grows up in a state of economic deprivation that denies them opportunity; no one suffers crippling physical disabilities that limit opportunity or subject the afflicted to discrimination; no one faces challenges, of gender, aptitude, adaptation to social norms, no, none of that. It's only about race; but of course, it isn't.
7
I am American of Chinese stock, and this article really spoke to me -- specifically, concerning my Asian-American privilege. You see, in the US, we Asian-Americans have higher wealth and earnings, higher educational attainment, and lower arrest, divorce, and drug-abuse rates as compared to White people, whom we have oppressed. Like many Asians, I was raised to value academic achievement, hard work, and thrift. Only now do I realize the truth: these were all lies, and it was privilege all along.
Thus, I am coming to be newly aware how I, by my very existence, owe a racial debt to White people, who suffer from discrimination and oppression which causes them to score lower on the SATs (especially math) and be under-represented at Harvard and Silicon Valley. Every science test I've aced, every Chopin piece I can play, every time I divide the bill and calculate the tip in my head -- these are all bad loans written to Whiteness, and poisonous fruit of ill-gotten, Asian gains, resting on a bedrock of evil.
I see now that Asian-ness is not an identity, it is a moral problem, and one that I will use my Asian privilege to change. Thank you, Ms. Biss, for showing me the light.
Thus, I am coming to be newly aware how I, by my very existence, owe a racial debt to White people, who suffer from discrimination and oppression which causes them to score lower on the SATs (especially math) and be under-represented at Harvard and Silicon Valley. Every science test I've aced, every Chopin piece I can play, every time I divide the bill and calculate the tip in my head -- these are all bad loans written to Whiteness, and poisonous fruit of ill-gotten, Asian gains, resting on a bedrock of evil.
I see now that Asian-ness is not an identity, it is a moral problem, and one that I will use my Asian privilege to change. Thank you, Ms. Biss, for showing me the light.
12
Your comment reminds me that what passes for success in this country is banal and smug. Thanks so much!
I have white guilt, and I am proud to have it.
#ProudToHaveWhiteGuilt
#ProudToHaveWhiteGuilt
1
But what do you teach your son to be proud of?
6
I'm so grateful to you for articulating this. I've been struggling to find the words to articulate how racism hurts people on both sides of its coin, and this is the most articulate example I've had the privilege to read. The bit about Nietzsche and the creditors of antiquity being able to contractually dismember their debtors was particularly illustrative of the inhumanity we can easily fall prey to in refusing to examine our inherent privileges. Thank you.
Excellent and eloquent essay. I wish some of the other commenters here wouldn't dismiss it so readily. It reminds me of a lot of experiences I hear about from black friends and co-workers when we really open up to one another.
I can't help wondering sometimes how different my own life would have been had I not been born a homosexual in a southern Indiana town in the early 1950s. In many ways, of course, it would have been worse for me. I might not have been impelled to seek a more interesting life in a more sophisticated part of the country more tolerant of gay people, with everything that implies. I likely would have been "tied down" with a marriage, children, etc., and never enjoyed the experiences such as living and traveling abroad which life as a single man has afforded me. I might hold much more conservative, much less enlightened political views than I do.
But I think there must be connections, networks, and security that derive from having an affinity with the large majority of people, who are heterosexual, and I will never have an idea what those feel like. Straight people must still be able to take many things for granted that we gay people cannot, even in this much more progressive era. The 1970s-1990s were a terribly frightening time for gay people. I would not want to return to it.
Still, all in all, I would not trade who I am for anyone or anything else.
I can't help wondering sometimes how different my own life would have been had I not been born a homosexual in a southern Indiana town in the early 1950s. In many ways, of course, it would have been worse for me. I might not have been impelled to seek a more interesting life in a more sophisticated part of the country more tolerant of gay people, with everything that implies. I likely would have been "tied down" with a marriage, children, etc., and never enjoyed the experiences such as living and traveling abroad which life as a single man has afforded me. I might hold much more conservative, much less enlightened political views than I do.
But I think there must be connections, networks, and security that derive from having an affinity with the large majority of people, who are heterosexual, and I will never have an idea what those feel like. Straight people must still be able to take many things for granted that we gay people cannot, even in this much more progressive era. The 1970s-1990s were a terribly frightening time for gay people. I would not want to return to it.
Still, all in all, I would not trade who I am for anyone or anything else.
1
I can almost see the muck the author is sinking into. Wallowing in guilt has to be a miserable way to live. I imagine the author knows that guilt is nothing but the flip side of resentment. The question she would be better off trying to answer is, "Who or what is she resenting?"
If she does not wish to do that, she might want to think about the fact that the overwhelming majority of white people could never afford to attend Amherst...even if they are willing to accumulate some debt. Why does she only feel guilt towards Black people? She may well have taken the spot of some poor white person who would have graduated Amherst and spent a career teaching children in Harlem or Bedford-Stuyvesant. Who knows, that imaginary person may have helped dozens of children...all Black or Hispanic...to escape poverty.
If she really feels this level of guilt, and is passing it on to her child, she needs to do things that actually improve the human condition, even if only to repay "her debt." Wallowing in this negativity is only going to increase her resentment and, ultimately, her guilt.
If she does not wish to do that, she might want to think about the fact that the overwhelming majority of white people could never afford to attend Amherst...even if they are willing to accumulate some debt. Why does she only feel guilt towards Black people? She may well have taken the spot of some poor white person who would have graduated Amherst and spent a career teaching children in Harlem or Bedford-Stuyvesant. Who knows, that imaginary person may have helped dozens of children...all Black or Hispanic...to escape poverty.
If she really feels this level of guilt, and is passing it on to her child, she needs to do things that actually improve the human condition, even if only to repay "her debt." Wallowing in this negativity is only going to increase her resentment and, ultimately, her guilt.
37
It's not about going to Amherst, Cheri. It's about going to the corner grocery store.
For a real image of white privilege, watch the recent British TV import on PBS 'Indian Summers'.
We've come a long way since Jim Crow. Privilege still exists, especially in the availability of opportunity. But remember, the goal is not to make every black man a Ben Carson, but to see they get the same opportunities.
We've come a long way since Jim Crow. Privilege still exists, especially in the availability of opportunity. But remember, the goal is not to make every black man a Ben Carson, but to see they get the same opportunities.
4
The goal for some white people is the availability of the same opportunities for all, but for others, the goal is to bring back the days of white supremacy in every aspect of a person's life. That is what Trump is tapping into, that powerlessness and dread that being white will no longer be an advantage.
If you're white and young enough you've spent your life in the trenches with women and minorities having older white people lording over you. There's not much white privilege anymore without an elite college education. Wage stagnation took care of that. However, police abuse of young black men and boys needs to stop. It's the result of the militarization of law enforcement and the feeling that young black people are the enemy.
7
Given the author's years of analysis of her place in a supposedly evil world, it is sad that she cannot identify a single thing to do about it, other than yet more analysis.
13
STRATEGIC thinking is, in my opinion, not the strong suit of the writer, who, by her own description, watched a police arrest a person on her bike with her infant son on her back. The definitions of words in German and quoting the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche seem to be lame excuses for not thinking of her infant's safety before her defending the rights of a person being arrested by the police. What was she thinking? Was she thinking? Did she care about her baby? Aha! She is a philosopher.
8
What an extraordinarily thoughtful article--I would expect nothing less from a Hampshire college alum. I definitely identify with the conflicting desires to both not be associated with a group of people who has attained privilege for itself by wronging another group and to reap the benefits of belonging to such a group. Having an adorable white son, the situation is even more magnified for me.
6
yet white privilege is more than tangible items, houses, cars, schools, degrees. It is also emotional, unconscious, a certain psychological privilege. On a side note some of seem very salty about this author's observation.
7
Neither denial nor guilt.
Note that the Lord's Prayer is translated as "forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors". The idea of debt as guilt is not known only to the Germans.
Note that the Lord's Prayer is translated as "forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors". The idea of debt as guilt is not known only to the Germans.
That many readers find this essay unrepresentative of how they view race and live there complicated lives, let me offer a reason. You enjoy your privilege. You ignore the subtle racism that you see each day. Maybe you even participate with a joke or a sneer. In the end you're to busy to be guilty. And too happy.
14
It need not be as crude as sharing a joke or a sneer. It's hearing a news story about an unarmed black teen shot dead by police and assuming the cops must have been right and the kid must have deserved it — or simply switching off the TV because you don't want to know about it.
Or maybe you're one of millions of immigrants to the U.S. whose background and experience simply don't line up with the older black/white distinctions in America. It doesn't mean you don't see what's going on; it does mean that you don't automatically know how you fit the model. Maybe the model is wrong?
Without addressing any deeper issues about privilege, let me just say that sneering often goes in the other direction. White folks are lately typecast as ignorant dilettantes trumpeting liberal values while unconsciously crossing to the other side of the sidewalk etc etc. This form of smug stereotyping has become acceptable in public discourse in a way that racist jokes of other kinds simply are not, at least not in respectable settings. The idea that I am too busy or too happy to see that I enjoy my privilege is just another episode in the stereotype of the skin-deep liberal. It is you sir who is doing the sneering
Please stop with all this. I am a Jewish woman. Years ago in the small town where I grew up in the South, there was so much prejudice. And you know what, that did not bother me one little bit because I knew in my heart I was smarter than the average bear. I was different, but different great. Sure enough I rose above my peers and got my JD and everything else I wanted with little help from anyone. My family did not have a lot of money.
There is racial prejudice against Blacks because the truth is most crime is committed by Black males; most children are born out of wedlock, etc. etc. -- our expectations for them are pretty low because of their own behavior. If Blacks truly strived for anything better they WOULD be better. They are no more held down than the Italians or Jews or Asians were. I won't go so far as to say many are not capable of more, but it is beginning to look that way. And I am a liberal. I am only saying what many people are thinking. It's marketing and branding. If and when they excel, then there will be no more racial jealousy. We would look at them like we do the Asians as winners. People look at you based on your track record. Sorry, I'm getting so sick of the whining.
There is racial prejudice against Blacks because the truth is most crime is committed by Black males; most children are born out of wedlock, etc. etc. -- our expectations for them are pretty low because of their own behavior. If Blacks truly strived for anything better they WOULD be better. They are no more held down than the Italians or Jews or Asians were. I won't go so far as to say many are not capable of more, but it is beginning to look that way. And I am a liberal. I am only saying what many people are thinking. It's marketing and branding. If and when they excel, then there will be no more racial jealousy. We would look at them like we do the Asians as winners. People look at you based on your track record. Sorry, I'm getting so sick of the whining.
36
"And I am a liberal."
No you're not, Leonora, but you are a racist. As a Jew in the South, I suspect you may be suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. As a Jew myself, your bigotry and belligerence make me cringe.
No you're not, Leonora, but you are a racist. As a Jew in the South, I suspect you may be suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. As a Jew myself, your bigotry and belligerence make me cringe.
3
Leonora are you kidding? That's like saying the Germans would not have killed the Jews in Europe if they just acted right. You dismiss the power of racial prejudice-your ancestors are crying in their graves.
3
Thanks for the guts to say what many think.
I guess Mis Biss did not grow up as one of the few white kids in an inner city neighborhood where white flight had progressed well into its late stages. If she had, I wonder how much she would think she owed.
13
So you have personal anecdotal evidence of your individual experience that overturns more than three centuries of American history? Amazing!
Eula, your house seems so problematic. When I was 65, I bought an apartment for cash. Before that, I rented, because I would have been too worried to enjoy life with all that debt. Let it go, It's not worth it. It is important to realize that no everyone shares your privileges and good fortune, not even every one whose skin is like yours. There are people whose childhoods were destroyed by physical & sexual abuse. There are people who are physically &/or mentally incapacitated, lack of education or money. Not everyone shares your pains either. If only life were as simple as you portray it, injustice based on race would be a lot easier to end.
25
"as Ta-Nehisi Coates writes, ‘‘the down payment’’ on this country’s independence, or that freed slaves became, after the Civil War, ‘‘this country’s second mortgage.’’
What do those expressions actually mean? I suppose they were chosen because they sound very serious and imply a certain formality and transactional nature to this country's relationship with Blacks, but however useful they are as rhetorical devices, they are only serve to distract the reader.
What do those expressions actually mean? I suppose they were chosen because they sound very serious and imply a certain formality and transactional nature to this country's relationship with Blacks, but however useful they are as rhetorical devices, they are only serve to distract the reader.
15
This sanctimonious self-hatred is a hedonistic indulgence that only priviliged people in the West can afford. People that live with real oppression, and have to worry about their next meal don't have to time wallow in self-pity like this.
Slavery was outlawed in the 1960's in Saudi Arabia. Abused minorities there live in absolute squalor, and yet Saudi's would laugh in the face of anyone who tried to moralize to them of their "eternal debt" to the people they abused. The Turks "stole" their entire country from Ionian Greeks and then ethnically cleansed the original inhabitants well into the 20th century, yet they do not live in existential angst over their "Debt"
Sanctimonious self-pity is a unique indulgence that only exists in the West, and I fear that it will consume and destroy the country that provided such a high standard of living for it to exist.
Slavery was outlawed in the 1960's in Saudi Arabia. Abused minorities there live in absolute squalor, and yet Saudi's would laugh in the face of anyone who tried to moralize to them of their "eternal debt" to the people they abused. The Turks "stole" their entire country from Ionian Greeks and then ethnically cleansed the original inhabitants well into the 20th century, yet they do not live in existential angst over their "Debt"
Sanctimonious self-pity is a unique indulgence that only exists in the West, and I fear that it will consume and destroy the country that provided such a high standard of living for it to exist.
29
This is basically an effort on behalf of Ms. Biss' social and professional status in her moiety. So cynical that we don't even have a vocabulary for it yet.
4
I am not sure how someone who knows so little about what Nietzsche is saying in GofM manages to get such a broad forum.
Nietzsche is not prescribing - he is describing a particular perspective - his at a point in time
He is not defining - he is challenging you to do your own self-definition.
In the end - he is challenging you to think outside of your narrow boundaries - something - apparently - in short supply.
He is challenging you to become who you are - even DFW got that.
Nietzsche is not prescribing - he is describing a particular perspective - his at a point in time
He is not defining - he is challenging you to do your own self-definition.
In the end - he is challenging you to think outside of your narrow boundaries - something - apparently - in short supply.
He is challenging you to become who you are - even DFW got that.
3
And people wonder why Donald Trump is so popular among less well-educated, working class whites.
6
Ah, the dilemmas of privileged, affluent, educated, white, first-world liberals.
Travel to Appalachia, Ms. Biss, and tell us about white privilege.
Travel to Appalachia, Ms. Biss, and tell us about white privilege.
34
Yes, Eula, and we helped elect a Black president.
6
It is unfair to judge someone based on skin color and it is also unfair to expect someone to feel guilt based on skin color. Real justice is blind to skin color, wealth, any other status symbol so that everyone is treated equally under the law. There is no white debt and no black debt. But we do owe it to ourselves, whatever skin color or wealth level, to be in integrity with our system of justice. Don’t judge others by social status or skin color but hold people accountable who do. I’m all for fairness but creating a category for “white debt” or white guilt is still judging based on skin color.
35
Being blind seems to have become quite popular. What one able to sense is valuable, though not perhaps in the terms we are trained to evaluate. But to claim one really can't tell or is unconcerned with whether someone is black, white, rich, a celebrity famous for being famous is – I cannot find a more polite way to put it – fatuous; not an accumulation of merit or virtue.
For one thing, it leads one to claim that our system of justice is 'just.' What is being judged here is privilege, not pigment.
For one thing, it leads one to claim that our system of justice is 'just.' What is being judged here is privilege, not pigment.
1
Jen- The point is that, whether we like it or not, racism is enacted, day after day after day after day after week, after year after decade after century. Ignoring that fact gets us no where. We can not ignore the inherent brutality and violence that is used to keep it in place. Ignoring how that plays out in and on lives that are not you doesn't make it go away. We can only ignore racism when the system is dismantled, and that won't happen if we continue to deny it. We must see and understand the truth in order to deal with it. Having a proper diagnosis is essential to treatment. Racism is brutally enacted in so many subtle and violent ways. Admitting this is a first step to 'really' doing something about it.
1
Thank you, thank you, thank you for this. I ordinarily don't read pieces this long but every word was worth it. It's such a relief to read things from white people who are also looking thoughtfully at their status as white people. I'm struggling to find my favorite part of this to excerpt when I post it to Facebook because there are so many excellent paragraphs. As a white mother also working to repay some of the debt, or at least stop the vig from running -- bravo.
6
Want some help choosing en excerpt? Here's the takeaway:
"Guilty white people try to save other people who don’t want or need to be saved, they make grandiose, empty gestures, they sling blame, they police the speech of other white people and they dedicate themselves to the fruitless project of their own exoneration."
You're welcome.
"Guilty white people try to save other people who don’t want or need to be saved, they make grandiose, empty gestures, they sling blame, they police the speech of other white people and they dedicate themselves to the fruitless project of their own exoneration."
You're welcome.
Fantastic piece. Thank you.
5
"For me, whiteness is not an identity but a moral problem. ..."
For me, the impulse to search for guilt and wear it as a badge of honor - as well as a whip for flogging others - is a sign of unhealthiness. Is there really nothing productive, wholesome, that people can do?
Unless using 'white privilege" is used as a means of professional advancement within the academia, that is.
For me, the impulse to search for guilt and wear it as a badge of honor - as well as a whip for flogging others - is a sign of unhealthiness. Is there really nothing productive, wholesome, that people can do?
Unless using 'white privilege" is used as a means of professional advancement within the academia, that is.
24
Beautifully written. At first I thought the author was a young white man who felt guilty or privileged to be white. True, I am not quite awake but it was the beginning of this essay of how some people feel superior and enhanced by committing acts of cruelty towards the oppressed. I just sent 'The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner' to my godson, a rap musician.
An elderly aunt, in an exchange this evening, mentioned that most of my friends seem to be Africans. I tend to look up to them. They are taller than me and have better manners.
What Do I feel guilty about? It is a word I seldom use. If I were to commit a deliberate act of cruelty that is something that would be crippling. Two experiences continue to hurt and haunt me at times on a 'rainy day'.
I wonder if the word 'Freedom' is to be found here where one just feels exhilarated by life. A sense of being alive, and not thinking about one's very being, one's gender or appearance. True, these moments are rare but the few that I have experienced make it all worthwhile.
Eula Biss is a very fine writer.
An elderly aunt, in an exchange this evening, mentioned that most of my friends seem to be Africans. I tend to look up to them. They are taller than me and have better manners.
What Do I feel guilty about? It is a word I seldom use. If I were to commit a deliberate act of cruelty that is something that would be crippling. Two experiences continue to hurt and haunt me at times on a 'rainy day'.
I wonder if the word 'Freedom' is to be found here where one just feels exhilarated by life. A sense of being alive, and not thinking about one's very being, one's gender or appearance. True, these moments are rare but the few that I have experienced make it all worthwhile.
Eula Biss is a very fine writer.
3
Privilege is not about race, it is about class. Opression is not about race, it is about class. The author Bell Hooks has written a body of work carefully and expertly deconstructing the point, but the media continues to reinforce race as the pivot point, not class. The distinction is so important. As long as we continue to view privilege only through the spectrum of race, the true driving forces of injustice and inequality are ignored. Corporate capitalism promotes an institutional and systemic inequality and corporate capitalism is promoted and enforced and exploited by every race. Yes, there are statistics that show more Whites as industry tycoons but the exceptions are profound. Even if only 2% of the leading business moguls are not White, that still proves the point. Add to this the more recent social movement, "Black Lives Matter" - an important call to action but equally myopic. Black police officers are just a cruel and just as deadly on the force as White officers. I watched Black, White, Asian police officers during protests organized by Occupy Wall Street -- These officers attacked and brutally abused protesters -- equally. Black officers beat up black protesters. The point is that the institutionalized oppression -- an organized wealth that abhors even the idea of equality -- most especially - financial equality -- has NO COLOR. I am sick of seeing this subject discussed in these terms. It's not race, stupid. @johannaclear
18
The publishers of the NYT and the author of this article live in expensive neighborhoods where everyone is rich, educated, and accepts the conventions of Western Civilization. They enjoy all the gifts from the people who advanced Western Civilization.
Yet they imagine that somehow this would be a better world without Western Civilization ... or they just hate white people.
Yet they imagine that somehow this would be a better world without Western Civilization ... or they just hate white people.
70
Where in this article or elsewhere, do you find the idea that anyone is suggesting doing away with Western Civilization?
"Seeking to improve" is not at all the same as "doing away"!
Or, do you imagine that Western Civilization is flawless?
"Seeking to improve" is not at all the same as "doing away"!
Or, do you imagine that Western Civilization is flawless?
21
this is a huge leap to justify your "complacence"..
The trouble is, the actions you take do not improve Western Civ. You're a wolf in sheeps clothing, you come with the pretense of morality but your end goal is to burn the west to the ground.
The upshot for me is that I cannot correct things that were done by others in the past, whether they were related to me or not. Are my African-American appearing relatives less culpable for our ancestors' wrongs because they don't look as white as I do? Were my white ancestors who were poor really privileged? Does the fact that some were Quakers who helped black people escape the South or "slave owners" who were actually protecting their black relatives by claiming them as property relieve me of some of the guilt? What about my distant grandfathers who perished fighting for the North in the Civil War? As Abraham Lincoln said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand." As a white person, I'm past tired of being subjected to knee-jerk judgements about who I am and what I'm responsible for, and I would suspect that my black counterparts are, as well. If we cannot honestly deal with racial issues, our house is in danger of collapsing.
116
You cannot even 'correct' things YOU have done in the past. But, perhaps, you (and I) can try to atone.
8
I think you missed the point of the piece. Rather than becoming defensive about the continuing privilege of whiteness by using the same argument about how white people can't change the past or providing examples of what your ancestors did (greatly appreciated), perhaps you could challenge that privilege and associated benefits in the present.
Kathleen, you being "subject to knee-jerk judgements" pales against the loud, systemic and public demands for accountability and apology directed at law-abiding American Muslims and young African-American men for the evil crimes of a few.
If not for the ongoing massacre of black men by police, the predictable, defensive "she's wallowing in her guilt" comments (reactions the author's argument anticipates) generated by, wotta surprise, WHITE readers here would be risible. Instead they're tragicomic.
I'm a white man President Obama's age, and grew up poor during and after Jim Crow in a Deep South city (my school desegregated only 20 years after Brown bs BOE). Bliss' argument is both deeply incisive and powerfully compelling.
I saw FIRST HAND the unwanted, systematic privileges my race granted me on a daily basis in the South and any white person who denies that she or he isn't benefiting from a similar legacy on a national level today must not watch the news. That privilege is not past tense.
We can only make it so by acknowledging, as the great Sherman Alexie says, the systemic empowerment whites do have and by turning it against the inequities hindering our fellow citizens.
As Byron wrote, "there can be no freedom, even for masters, in the midst of slavery." And as long as even NYT readers wheel out the same tired "wallowing in guilt" defenses, they'll stay locked in their own echo chamber. Acknowledging and delineating white privilege are the first steps in demolishing it. Timeworn, predictable denials get nobody anywhere.
I'm a white man President Obama's age, and grew up poor during and after Jim Crow in a Deep South city (my school desegregated only 20 years after Brown bs BOE). Bliss' argument is both deeply incisive and powerfully compelling.
I saw FIRST HAND the unwanted, systematic privileges my race granted me on a daily basis in the South and any white person who denies that she or he isn't benefiting from a similar legacy on a national level today must not watch the news. That privilege is not past tense.
We can only make it so by acknowledging, as the great Sherman Alexie says, the systemic empowerment whites do have and by turning it against the inequities hindering our fellow citizens.
As Byron wrote, "there can be no freedom, even for masters, in the midst of slavery." And as long as even NYT readers wheel out the same tired "wallowing in guilt" defenses, they'll stay locked in their own echo chamber. Acknowledging and delineating white privilege are the first steps in demolishing it. Timeworn, predictable denials get nobody anywhere.
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Guilt is personal. This white guilt cannot be cured by federal or state laws. It cannot be cured by payments from the government, if for no other reason than that it is not justice to tax Asians, Latinos, recent immigrants, etc. for the "hereditary" guilt of whites, assuming it exists.
1
All great, as long as nobody's looking for money! But then, I'm sure they're not....
1
Yes, the massacre of black men by other black man is tragic. Statistically whites are far more likely to be murdered by blacks in this country.
Has the author of the article considered doing something concrete to even the scales a bit. Perhaps she could donate her home to someone in the African-American community that has been oppressed by whiteness, perhaps she could donate her income to another poor oppressed victim, perhaps she could assign her child to do the chores of an oppressed child. In short, she could do something constructive instead of just complaining of the guilt from her whiteness. Otherwise her article is nothing more than empty posturing.
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You 'suggestions' aren't constructive, they are absurd.
To help others, you cannot proceed to destroy yourself.
Do you have any suggestions that are not absurd? Are you willing to follow your own advice? (I doubt that you are.)
What you have created is an obvious defensive shield to avoid any real response.
To help others, you cannot proceed to destroy yourself.
Do you have any suggestions that are not absurd? Are you willing to follow your own advice? (I doubt that you are.)
What you have created is an obvious defensive shield to avoid any real response.
16
Because the tongue-in-cheek altruism you prescribe is akin to poisonous levels of chemotherapy to clear up a possibly malignant skin tag.
Not at all! I learned a lot from the article that will help me make more conscious choices in my life.
I consider myself actively aware of my white privilege and my family and I make many decisions informed by that awareness. I chose to remain at the predominately black highschool I was bused to in 1968, my family and I chose to move to the "Black side of town" about 10 yrs ago, I patronize my community 's businesses when possible. It's a drop in the bucket, but it's something. I welcome learning what will help me think and act more compassionately.
I consider myself actively aware of my white privilege and my family and I make many decisions informed by that awareness. I chose to remain at the predominately black highschool I was bused to in 1968, my family and I chose to move to the "Black side of town" about 10 yrs ago, I patronize my community 's businesses when possible. It's a drop in the bucket, but it's something. I welcome learning what will help me think and act more compassionately.
Sadly, my fellow white males have wandered the planet for lifetimes mistaking their luck of birth for the status of merit. We may either examine our privilege or not but if we choose willful ignorance, perhaps we could stop bemoaning it as if it were a crown of thorns?
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How would one sustain 'willful ignorance' after acknowledging it?
It ceases to be ignorance.
It ceases to be ignorance.
3
The luck of their birth was not luck. It was the merit of their ancestors.
You don't think it took merit to crush the Roman empire, repel the moors, innovate maritime navigation, agriculture, and complex societies strong enough to take over new continents? Merit is all we've ever had, nothing was ever given. It was either built or waged war for, which progressive white women seem to be the primary beneficiaries of. Given how native americans, africans, and all others partook in intertribal warfare, we simply did it better. It's frankly a miracle that modern man has any morality. What we could do with the entire continent of Africa versus its useless writhing in poverty... Most people have no idea what real humanity is, either its propensity for truest love or deepest brutality.
As soon as I started reading about the police interactions I thought, "Oh yeah, this piece is written by a woman." It's endlessly amusing to me how unaware white women are of their own special privilege that eclipses even that of straight white men.
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You seem to be trapped in some kind of reality bubble. White women are doing better but are still not equal to white men.
6
You must not be aware of the gender pay gap, or any other statistic that proves white men have significant privilege over white women...
1
Thanks for reminding we women of our privilege. It certainly feels like I'm on top of the world when I'm shouted at on the street, whistled at from a car, followed home, touched against my will, or otherwise made to feel unsafe just trying to live my life. But wait...I'm just getting extra attention because I'm so beautiful, right? I should accept the compliment? I should smile?
2
If whiteness is an illusion, is blackness an illusion too? A flimsy and meaningless by-product of a by-gone more racist age?
As I read this I kept thinking, what does she feel guilty for? That racism existed and continues to exist? As a black guy, this ain't doing anything for me. Her existential hand-wringing is her own, it doesn't uplift anyone else really. Does she imagine racism as a ghost spirit inherited by people like her, and it one day might take her son? I think the ultimate irony is that, from what I can gather, Dolezal (with all her flaws) has done more for the black community than the author and her article.
As I read this I kept thinking, what does she feel guilty for? That racism existed and continues to exist? As a black guy, this ain't doing anything for me. Her existential hand-wringing is her own, it doesn't uplift anyone else really. Does she imagine racism as a ghost spirit inherited by people like her, and it one day might take her son? I think the ultimate irony is that, from what I can gather, Dolezal (with all her flaws) has done more for the black community than the author and her article.
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Just as Dolezal has probably done more than Biss, so too, others have done far more than I have.
Is my contribution worthless in your view? Have you contributed as much as either Dolezal or Biss? Have you contributed anything?
You don't even bother to scroll back up and find the author's name!
Is my contribution worthless in your view? Have you contributed as much as either Dolezal or Biss? Have you contributed anything?
You don't even bother to scroll back up and find the author's name!
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It's gotta start somewhere. At least, from her perspective, she is attempting to articulate a subject few are wont to entertain.
I beg to differ. As a white guy, and a guilty one, I think this does something for both of us, though admittedly it's influence on you is more removed. By questioning the nature, validity, and productivity of white guilt the author is advancing the knowledge that surrounds a raw ache that may or may not be useful. White guilt is a piece of the system that perpetuates institutional racism, absolutely; the question which dominates the entire piece is: How does white guilt affect institutional racism? and What next? She raises the necessary question, 'is guilt an impediment to progress (by dis-empowering those who have the ability and moral sensitivity to attempt change) or is it a goad, a stimulant to progress?
Also, yea isn't all race an illusion? Black people are the most genetically diverse 'race,' so what is race all about? Nevertheless, despite race being a false category, with no grounding in reality, it exists in the minds of we foibled modern men, and hence is relevant despite it's being intrinsically nonsensical.
Also, yea isn't all race an illusion? Black people are the most genetically diverse 'race,' so what is race all about? Nevertheless, despite race being a false category, with no grounding in reality, it exists in the minds of we foibled modern men, and hence is relevant despite it's being intrinsically nonsensical.
This essay summerizes the historic advantage of whiteness that is so infused into the white experience that its not realized or recognized-- it just is the white experience. What should white people do when they recognize that this unearned advantage exists because of the explotation of others? We stop exploiting others.
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Sorry, that doesn't cut it. My ancestors have been vilified and killed for centuries. They were not allowed to vote or own land in the countries they lived in. They had to suffer period pogroms that killed many and destroyed their homes. Save your white guild for someone else, I'm not buying it.
You make an excellent point on exploiting others.
Some have come to equate exploitation with oppression, but each is quite distinct from the other. Exploitation makes people more productive than they otherwise would be by directing or using their labor more effectively than they could do on their own. Oppression on the other hand, makes people less productive by using their labor less effectively than they could do on their own. Consider Tesla. He was oppressed by Edison who cheated him and caused him to leave Edison's employ to dig ditches in the city. And he was exploited by Westinghouse who later employed Tesla's alternating current to supply electricity to thousands. Tesla could not use his own talents as effectively as Westinghouse was able to.
So, no, abuse is no necessary part of exploitation, but oppression is inherently abusive and counter productive.
Some have come to equate exploitation with oppression, but each is quite distinct from the other. Exploitation makes people more productive than they otherwise would be by directing or using their labor more effectively than they could do on their own. Oppression on the other hand, makes people less productive by using their labor less effectively than they could do on their own. Consider Tesla. He was oppressed by Edison who cheated him and caused him to leave Edison's employ to dig ditches in the city. And he was exploited by Westinghouse who later employed Tesla's alternating current to supply electricity to thousands. Tesla could not use his own talents as effectively as Westinghouse was able to.
So, no, abuse is no necessary part of exploitation, but oppression is inherently abusive and counter productive.
Maybe because all whites - and ethnic whites in particular - don't feel that there is one all-encompassing "white experience."
I don't understand everything in this article, but I don't mind. It made me think. Hopefully that was the point.
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but did it make you see how euro-americans are responsible for the current horrendous state of black america? How only reperations can fix this?
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I understood it and it is vile.
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After reading through some of the comments here, I submit that "denial" is a more apt description of the condition of white life.
The denial on display here is largely of the inward-looking sense, a refusal to accept or acknowledge something, but it underwrites white denial in the more expansive (and violent) outward-looking sense, the denial of something to someone else: of others' personhood, of others' experiences, of acceptance and invitations and memberships, letters of denial from banks and jobs and universities.
"Forgotten debt" works in the broader, figurative sense of the term -- as in "moral debt" -- but "debt" in the most literal sense implies a situation in which the creditor has some form of power over the debtor. You might convince yourself you own your home, but your bank would be all too happy to disabuse you of that fantasy. The hallmark of privilege, whether we are speaking of white privilege or male privilege, hetero privilege or human privilege or whatever, is the luxury to ignore uncomfortable realities and imagine into being a neater, fairer, more meritorious world that supersedes the lived realities of one's moral creditors.
If whiteness were a forgotten debt, the creditors could simply call it in and we could stop having this same pedantic -- but, as evidenced by many of the comments here, still vitally necessary -- conversation.
The denial on display here is largely of the inward-looking sense, a refusal to accept or acknowledge something, but it underwrites white denial in the more expansive (and violent) outward-looking sense, the denial of something to someone else: of others' personhood, of others' experiences, of acceptance and invitations and memberships, letters of denial from banks and jobs and universities.
"Forgotten debt" works in the broader, figurative sense of the term -- as in "moral debt" -- but "debt" in the most literal sense implies a situation in which the creditor has some form of power over the debtor. You might convince yourself you own your home, but your bank would be all too happy to disabuse you of that fantasy. The hallmark of privilege, whether we are speaking of white privilege or male privilege, hetero privilege or human privilege or whatever, is the luxury to ignore uncomfortable realities and imagine into being a neater, fairer, more meritorious world that supersedes the lived realities of one's moral creditors.
If whiteness were a forgotten debt, the creditors could simply call it in and we could stop having this same pedantic -- but, as evidenced by many of the comments here, still vitally necessary -- conversation.
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I do own my home. The bank has no interest in it. The land was formerly owned by an Indian tribe, before it was taken away by Euro-Americans in the 19th century.
In the 1980s, the tribes, the State and local governments, and the Federal government, everybody represented by the most heavyweight lawyers, negotiated a complete and final land settlement. This was the Puyallup tribal land claims settlement. You could look it up. The Puyallups ended up with, among other things, ownership of large portions of the Port of Tacoma.
So, yes: I own my home, whatever my "race" may be.
In the 1980s, the tribes, the State and local governments, and the Federal government, everybody represented by the most heavyweight lawyers, negotiated a complete and final land settlement. This was the Puyallup tribal land claims settlement. You could look it up. The Puyallups ended up with, among other things, ownership of large portions of the Port of Tacoma.
So, yes: I own my home, whatever my "race" may be.
1
So you're saying that people denying something that they feel is false is simply just 'being in denial'? Sorry, but people are allowed to deny something that they feel is false. I'd rather not conform to this modern popular thought - and yes, it is the popular thought these days, or you wouldn't constantly see articles about it being shared on Facebook. I'd rather not conform to it because all I have seen is the complete opposite. White people are accepted into universities with much higher standards than non-white people based on SATs, there are no quotas at any job for white people, and if two people apply for a job, one white, and one non-white, with similar credentials, a white person will get it because the manager feels it will make their company look good/more progressive.
If we all walk around feeling guilty for a past we did not create, we won't get anything done. We'll be too busy going out of our way to make up for our ancestors mistakes that are in no way our fault, that we won't be focused on building ourselves a better future. It's a good thing to show respect to everyone, and help those in need, whether they are black, white or anything in between, but there is no need to feel guilty about it while doing it.
If we all walk around feeling guilty for a past we did not create, we won't get anything done. We'll be too busy going out of our way to make up for our ancestors mistakes that are in no way our fault, that we won't be focused on building ourselves a better future. It's a good thing to show respect to everyone, and help those in need, whether they are black, white or anything in between, but there is no need to feel guilty about it while doing it.
Let's see, study when in school, join the motary and have most of you college paid for, graduate college with a meaningful degree, get a job, save money, mind your credit, but a house. ANY white, black, green or purple person has the ability to this. No one is being held back because of some perturbed priviledge of another. Until the black community resolves its own cultural faults and priviledge, the status quo will remain.
There are many comments including one of my own rejecting the central premises of this piece. There are others claiming that the act of rejecting these claims of racism proves we are racists and their claims are correct. That is intellectually bankrupt and a logical fallacy. You can't use some disagreeing with your point as prima facie evidence to prove it.
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can we use Reality as evidence?
But which central premise are you rejecting? That racism exists, and in a racist world, white people have privileges that others don't? That is proven - look at how many skin whitening products are sold, at how many black people are incarcerated. We live in a racist world.
As a white person, she's assessing how to move forward. What does she teach her son? How does she make the world better? It's not drivel or mindless self-loathing - it's a meditation on privilege in the face of great inequality.
If you disagree, and argue that we don't live in a racist world, it seems that you must be privileged. The idea is that no one who has been on the receiving end of systemic racism would make such an argument.
Perhaps your rejection has more to do with how you think we should move forward. What should those who have not experienced systemic racism do to even the playing field for those who do? What can we do, other than be aware, so that no more black boys are killed by those who should be protecting them?
As a white person, she's assessing how to move forward. What does she teach her son? How does she make the world better? It's not drivel or mindless self-loathing - it's a meditation on privilege in the face of great inequality.
If you disagree, and argue that we don't live in a racist world, it seems that you must be privileged. The idea is that no one who has been on the receiving end of systemic racism would make such an argument.
Perhaps your rejection has more to do with how you think we should move forward. What should those who have not experienced systemic racism do to even the playing field for those who do? What can we do, other than be aware, so that no more black boys are killed by those who should be protecting them?
Mr. Stuart's own comment is logically flawed. One's disagreeing with your disagreement, doesn't render their point of view a tool for using disagreements to prove their point. What the comments allude to is the way in which the article is being refuted and they come in two flavors mostly:
"Quit whining and do something, you educated elite" comes from the readers that don't care for examination pieces. I understand frustrations of white guilt wallowing, but this piece is not it. It is an analysis of where we are and why we must not be complacent. It is not a self help book. You, the reader, need to take on the task of examination as well and place yourself in context of your society. The lack of "helpful tips" does not mean the author is wallowing. She reminds you that guilt is a tool of the conscience and urges that it must not render one powerless but rather as a prod - the difference between compliance and complicity. Otherwise we slip in denial, which has far worse consequences.
Which leads me to the second flavor of comments, "That happened ages ago, who does it help if I'm guilty, anyway all the tests/books/news tell me Western civilisation/whites are the best". Not just denial, even supremacy. Comment maker #1, please view Comment maker #2 and please explain to us again about how feeling guilty is for the privileged. Because I'm sure your lack of guilt is doing a lot for the minorities that are the targets of such comments.
"Quit whining and do something, you educated elite" comes from the readers that don't care for examination pieces. I understand frustrations of white guilt wallowing, but this piece is not it. It is an analysis of where we are and why we must not be complacent. It is not a self help book. You, the reader, need to take on the task of examination as well and place yourself in context of your society. The lack of "helpful tips" does not mean the author is wallowing. She reminds you that guilt is a tool of the conscience and urges that it must not render one powerless but rather as a prod - the difference between compliance and complicity. Otherwise we slip in denial, which has far worse consequences.
Which leads me to the second flavor of comments, "That happened ages ago, who does it help if I'm guilty, anyway all the tests/books/news tell me Western civilisation/whites are the best". Not just denial, even supremacy. Comment maker #1, please view Comment maker #2 and please explain to us again about how feeling guilty is for the privileged. Because I'm sure your lack of guilt is doing a lot for the minorities that are the targets of such comments.
In 1860, the economic value of slaves in the United States exceeded the invested value of all of the nation's railroads, factories, and banks combined, but the industrial revolution was just getting underway and the nation had relatively few railroads, factories, and banks. Only 26 percent of the Northern population lived in urban areas such as Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Detroit while only 10percent of Southerners lived in urban areas. Nearly 70 percent of Americans were engaged in framing. Despite having no slaves, the Northern farms out-produced Southern plantations. Free states had nearly twice the value of farm machinery per acre and per farm worker as did the slave states, and they produced half of the nation's corn, four-fifths of its wheat, and seven-eighths of its oats. The mechanization of American farms, which would soon make slaves and most farmhands obsolete was beginning to take hold. By 1860, a threshing machine could thresh 12 times as much grain per hour as could six men.
47
All well and good, but it was slavery that enabled the nascent nation to gain a foothold on the continent. The technological advancements that came later are in no way relevant to your argument. Without slavery in the beginning, there may well be no United States today, and certainly not the most powerful nation in the world.
5
Very good point, Wm Case. Wild speculation -- who was financing the cost of threshing machines to white farm and estate owners and who subsequently was making the money? To the point of this article, we're all slaves, we're all "that."
your comments are nothing more than racial apologia. What about the mistreatment and discrimination of blacks in the North? Could this de facto slave labor account for an important part of the North's rise?
"...was further reminded — that the money was not being given to me free. I was, and am, paying for it. But that detail, like my debt, is easily forgotten."
I don't understand. Why is it so easy to forget that you have to pay back your loans? Really? I really don't think I'm that exceptional that I know that I had to pay back my mortgage. Am I missing something?
I don't understand. Why is it so easy to forget that you have to pay back your loans? Really? I really don't think I'm that exceptional that I know that I had to pay back my mortgage. Am I missing something?
77
Let me explain: "White Privilege" allows white folks of middle class means to assume that they will be able to pay off their mortgage and student loan debt, so they don't give it a lot of thought. In contrast, black folks often can't get these loans in the first place, and if they do get the loans the terms will be less favorable so they will be at greater risk of default. That can lead to sleepless nights. Most white folks don't lose sleep over their mortgages.
1
It's easy for white people to forget because there is no acknowledgement that an actual debt is owed.
The author was talking about how easy it was to get a loan against her down payment in order to purchase a piano.
Here's what's really going on. First, Western Civilization is the greatest civilization in this world. When you compare WC to other civilizations, WC is fairer, smarter, more productive, etc. But elites who are out of touch with reality and looking for 5 minutes of fame are writing drivel like this. If they really believed what they write, then they would move to the Middle East.
Second, these examples of racism are usually things that happened to other people, in another place, in another time. They don't represent Western Civilization. But the people who spread these ideas are themselves racists.
Second, these examples of racism are usually things that happened to other people, in another place, in another time. They don't represent Western Civilization. But the people who spread these ideas are themselves racists.
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@Outside the Box:
Western civilization that you are so proud of, was built using stolen wealth and ideas from the rest of the world during the colonial period.
White Europeans roamed the world and plundered and pillaged the rest of the world to build the "Western Civilization' you so proudly proclaim.
From the time the British, Dutch and Spanish pirates roamed the oceans to the 20th century when most of the colonies attained independence, there were trillions of dollars of wealth transfer - all acquired by enslaving, killing, torturing and stealing.
Not a heritage I would be proud of.
Western civilization that you are so proud of, was built using stolen wealth and ideas from the rest of the world during the colonial period.
White Europeans roamed the world and plundered and pillaged the rest of the world to build the "Western Civilization' you so proudly proclaim.
From the time the British, Dutch and Spanish pirates roamed the oceans to the 20th century when most of the colonies attained independence, there were trillions of dollars of wealth transfer - all acquired by enslaving, killing, torturing and stealing.
Not a heritage I would be proud of.
Two things:
1) The author does not denigrate "Western Civilization" here; she is writing about her experience realizing the ways in which the concepts of guilt, debt, and privilege intersect for her as a member of the dominant culture and race. I thought it was an extraordinarily thoughtful piece, and had a tone of self-reflection that, while not precisely analytical, was full of great insights and provocation.
2) If you were really a "smart" Westerner, you'd realize that the acronym WC is more often used to denote the British synonym for toilet, not "Western Civilization."
1) The author does not denigrate "Western Civilization" here; she is writing about her experience realizing the ways in which the concepts of guilt, debt, and privilege intersect for her as a member of the dominant culture and race. I thought it was an extraordinarily thoughtful piece, and had a tone of self-reflection that, while not precisely analytical, was full of great insights and provocation.
2) If you were really a "smart" Westerner, you'd realize that the acronym WC is more often used to denote the British synonym for toilet, not "Western Civilization."
western civilization is also the more imperialist, racist and theft prone. Look at how much the ancient greeks stole from egypt. Their whole culture. You need to take a few classes in black studies programs and read books written by leading black scholars such as "Black Athena" to educate yourself on this point. If not for African civilization and what it contributed to Greek (and hence western) europe would be more backward than africa today. Yet modern day racists refuse to see this self evident fact.
This is about the author and her guilt. The Blacks that inhabit her narrative are there as foils, not to help her expiate her guilt, but to help her wallow in it. Her guilt has become an end in itself.
This is why I no longer call myself a "liberal." After a lifetime of putting myself first, I've come, almost too late, to realize how morally bankrupt that is.
Thomas Frank go it it right in "What's the Matter with Kansas"? Liberals, so-called, are no longer reformers. They no longer care about anyone but themselves. http://www.nybooks.com/?p=33494
This is why I no longer call myself a "liberal." After a lifetime of putting myself first, I've come, almost too late, to realize how morally bankrupt that is.
Thomas Frank go it it right in "What's the Matter with Kansas"? Liberals, so-called, are no longer reformers. They no longer care about anyone but themselves. http://www.nybooks.com/?p=33494
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Speak for yourself.
13
Hokum. We are a growing country of neurotics.
1
... so you didn't bother reading the article, I see.
6
This obsession with "white privilege" seems to be confined to elite universities and tiny wealthy portions of major cities. In the real world, none of us are privileged enough to feel guilty about it.
444
"none of us are privileged enough to feel guilty about it."
That's because very few of us choose to understand that "white privilege" does not refer to the amount of one's wealth and the benefits that accrue because of it, but to the fact of being the default human being and having the luxury to be responsible only for one's own actions and not for those of white people in general. When you saw the headline, 14 Shot to Death in California Rampage, did you pray, "Please, God, don't let the shooter be white!" You didn't? Of course not. How in the world could the shootings possibly have anything to do with *you*, whether he was white or purple? That is a trivial example of what white privilege is, Chris. white privilege.
But millions of minorities prayed, "Please, God, don't let the shooter be black/Latino/Native American/Asian/etc.!" *Every* member of *every* minority group is responsible for *every* bad act of *every other* member of that minority group, whatever it is, even as a victim. Twelve-year-old child is shot and killed by the police? His parents shouldn't have let him go outside with what looked like a real gun! Guns are dangerous! Unless you're a white man with an open-carry permit.
God is white.
There's a saying: "Regardless of how poor and ill-educated a white man is, a white man is a white man. Regardless of how rich and well-educated a black man is, a black man is a nigger."
White privilege has everything to do with race and has nothing to do with wealth.
That's because very few of us choose to understand that "white privilege" does not refer to the amount of one's wealth and the benefits that accrue because of it, but to the fact of being the default human being and having the luxury to be responsible only for one's own actions and not for those of white people in general. When you saw the headline, 14 Shot to Death in California Rampage, did you pray, "Please, God, don't let the shooter be white!" You didn't? Of course not. How in the world could the shootings possibly have anything to do with *you*, whether he was white or purple? That is a trivial example of what white privilege is, Chris. white privilege.
But millions of minorities prayed, "Please, God, don't let the shooter be black/Latino/Native American/Asian/etc.!" *Every* member of *every* minority group is responsible for *every* bad act of *every other* member of that minority group, whatever it is, even as a victim. Twelve-year-old child is shot and killed by the police? His parents shouldn't have let him go outside with what looked like a real gun! Guns are dangerous! Unless you're a white man with an open-carry permit.
God is white.
There's a saying: "Regardless of how poor and ill-educated a white man is, a white man is a white man. Regardless of how rich and well-educated a black man is, a black man is a nigger."
White privilege has everything to do with race and has nothing to do with wealth.
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Or not "privileged" at all.
1
Or, perhaps most in the "real" world don't have the tools or the self-awareness to see the privilege.
4
"How the Irish Became White" is an eye-rolling title that could only be written from a place of privilege. So someone wouldn't let you in a store, big deal. Isn't there a similar book about Italians? Yawn.
52
".How the Irish Became White' is an eye-rolling title that could only be written from a place of privilege."
Well, it was written by a white man. Who occupies a greater place of privilege than that, in the United States?
Well, it was written by a white man. Who occupies a greater place of privilege than that, in the United States?
1
The social migration from immigrant to white (whether Italians, Irish or European Jewry and, to some extent, Asian) is astonishing and transformative. I think you misunderstand how poorly the indentured servants and refugees were treated for decades, even with their skin color. The Irish escaped a famine of their own country's making, Jews (ethnically probably indistinguishable from the Russians and Germans they escaped) came under threat for their lives. Chinese came as slaves in all but name.
1
You (personally) are not allowed to enter my store. How's that make you feel?
Eula Biss cites interracial police shootings because she knows data that includes civilian homicides show interracial violence is overwhelmingly black-on-white violence, not white-on-black. Interracial murders are relatively rare, but blacks are much quicker than whites on the interracial trigger finger. The 2014 FBI Uniform Crime Report (Expanded Homicide Data Table 6) shows that 409 blacks murdered whites while 189 whites (including Hispanics) murdered blacks in 2014. In dealing with police shootings, Bliss neglects to mention that videos also show black cops shooting white suspects. For example, body camera footage shot in November shows that the white father of a white six-year-old autistic boy had his hands in the air and posed no threat when two black cops wounded the father and shot the six-year-old to death. Due to white privilege, there will be little national news coverage of the event and no “Hands Up/Don’t Shoot” protest in memory of the father and son.
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@William Case, your statement that "blacks are much quicker than whites on the interracial trigger finger" is wrong. Using the numbers that you quote, there were 409 black-on-white murders, and 189 white-on-black murders. It's true that if there were the same number of blacks in the US as whites, your reasoning would be correct.
But you failed to take into account that there are 5.89 times as many whites as blacks in the US, so there are far more whites who could be killed than blacks. (About 77.7% of the US is white; about 13.2% of the US is black.) That means there should be 5.89 times as many whites murdered by blacks as the opposite. That would mean that blacks would have murdered 1,113 whites if the two rates were equal. Instead, there are only 409. So clearly black-on-white murders are much less than the expected value, as determined by the number of white-on-black murders and the different population ratios. Thus your thesis doesn't hold up, and therefore neither does any specious conclusions you make from it.
But you failed to take into account that there are 5.89 times as many whites as blacks in the US, so there are far more whites who could be killed than blacks. (About 77.7% of the US is white; about 13.2% of the US is black.) That means there should be 5.89 times as many whites murdered by blacks as the opposite. That would mean that blacks would have murdered 1,113 whites if the two rates were equal. Instead, there are only 409. So clearly black-on-white murders are much less than the expected value, as determined by the number of white-on-black murders and the different population ratios. Thus your thesis doesn't hold up, and therefore neither does any specious conclusions you make from it.
6
This story of the White man and his son shot by Black police was covered quite prominantly by CNN, USA TODAY, the Washington PosT and many other National new sources. And if there were no protests maybe it's because 1) this was a case of a personal feud, a very unusual situation unlikely to repeat and 2) just three days after the boy was killed by officers who also wounded the child’s father, authorities arrested and charged the officers involved with murder and attempted murder.
5
soo 200 or so more murders, confirmed murders, is your argument? Did you see the the black lives matter/ hands up don't shoot spreading the word on Jeremy Mardis, the white child killed by officer's of color?
This article is a timely and healthy exercise in examining what is morally required of citizens who want to make this country a more just, fair, and a "more perfect union" by battling systemic racism.
The comments so far illustrate the perception vs. reality issue when talking about inconvenient truths of huge complex problems like systemic racism, climate change, male privilege, etc, to people who don't perceive these issues in their daily lives.
Their “injustice radar” isn’t calibrated to detect that it’s a problem when minorities get pulled over by cops more (“But hey, they commit all the crimes!”), extrajudicially executed by police for minor offenses (“Hey, that guy was no angel!”), or that the economic opportunities of minorities are actively suppressed by law, subconscious bias, redlining, etc. (“Hey, the world is unfair, not my fault, I didn't do anything wrong, don’t bother me about it”).
John Jost, in his System Justification Theory, and behavioral psychologists like him are shedding light on why some people see these things and instead of saying “hey, that’s not fair,” it's “I worked hard, and the system worked for me, therefore they must be getting what they deserved.”
We say that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but the central problem from which all our political gridlock flows is the delusion that one's own perception more accurately reflects reality than others. Only way to fix it is by careful study of history, and a healthy dose of humility.
The comments so far illustrate the perception vs. reality issue when talking about inconvenient truths of huge complex problems like systemic racism, climate change, male privilege, etc, to people who don't perceive these issues in their daily lives.
Their “injustice radar” isn’t calibrated to detect that it’s a problem when minorities get pulled over by cops more (“But hey, they commit all the crimes!”), extrajudicially executed by police for minor offenses (“Hey, that guy was no angel!”), or that the economic opportunities of minorities are actively suppressed by law, subconscious bias, redlining, etc. (“Hey, the world is unfair, not my fault, I didn't do anything wrong, don’t bother me about it”).
John Jost, in his System Justification Theory, and behavioral psychologists like him are shedding light on why some people see these things and instead of saying “hey, that’s not fair,” it's “I worked hard, and the system worked for me, therefore they must be getting what they deserved.”
We say that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but the central problem from which all our political gridlock flows is the delusion that one's own perception more accurately reflects reality than others. Only way to fix it is by careful study of history, and a healthy dose of humility.
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There is such a low amount of "systematic racism" that trying to reduce it is ineffective and foolish.
4
I agree. I did not choose to be born white. Looking back I realize that I was probably hired for my first minimum wage jobs in the south because I was white. I have a photo of myself as a baby with a black nanny. Her face is not in the picture. Today I long to know who that woman was; a woman who probably gave more of herself than my own mother. I don't feel personal guilt about any of this. What this article does is stimulate thinking about the issues involved and the amount of self-scrutiny that is required.
Knowledge can get us half way; commitment is all we can have to make a difference on a personal level. If one is willing, one has made a beginning.
Knowledge can get us half way; commitment is all we can have to make a difference on a personal level. If one is willing, one has made a beginning.
20
Excellent comment. Thank you for this.
Oh, God! I'd prefer an honest, clear-eyed, non-moralizing person over a 'Guilty Liberal' any day of the week.
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Of course you would. "Guilty liberal" is not one of the pleasures of white privilege.
4
I'm so tired of people thinking acknowledgment of whites privilege is about liberal guilt. I'd say it's personal courage to have the ability to assess yourself and your situation plainly and without bias. Any one with half a brain who is white should be able to see if they are willing to look that they benefit from privilege based on their skin color.
1
Yes and I thank God there are people of all races and ethnicities who are honest, clear-eyed and non-moralizing.
good article. but whiteness is not only vis-a-vis blackness. part of a more nuanced anti-racist agenda is recognizing how other racial constructions (namely latina/os, asian americans and pacific islanders, native americans, biracial and multiracial folks) play an essential role in shaping and modifying (albeit less markedly and obviously as "blackness") the countours of race and whiteness in the u.s. to paraphrase richard dyer - if whiteness is the absence of race, blackness is nothing but race. but it's more than that.
15
But, for a black person, nothing is more than race and he has no choice but to live with that, even if he's the first black President and white people call him a liar to his face and berate him because he "refuses" to embrace his white ancestry, even though there's no way that his white ancestry can be relevant to his life.
What does it matter if you're half-white, when you're all-black?
What does it matter if you're half-white, when you're all-black?
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White is basically a default. You fill out a form and if you're not Black Hispanic, Asian, Pacific Islander, you must be white.
I don't get that. He was raised by his white family. He went to a private school. I mean, talk about privilege. So he just ignores how he was raised and ignores his family? As for people calling him a liar, they called G. Bush a lot worse things and still do. It's politics.
Absolutely breathtaking. This is a variant of Munchausen syndrome, breastbeating for attention.
Rather than spending so much time reading Nietzsche, you might consider volunteering to mentor or tutor a less-"privileged" child.
This is just strange self-indulgence.
Rather than spending so much time reading Nietzsche, you might consider volunteering to mentor or tutor a less-"privileged" child.
This is just strange self-indulgence.
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Mentoring or tutoring a child for an hour or so and thinking it will make a difference when said child spends the rest of life in compromised circumstances can also be a strange self-indulgence.
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I agree with Lynn, there is no hope for anyone that is not white due to the inherent unfairness of the system therefore it is pointless to try to help those non-whites succeed. Everyone should know by now that an African-American could never reach of place of power within the white system.
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I think the original poster may suggest that the hour of tutoring would do more, in the grand scheme of things, than an article in The Atlantic...
1
Spellbinding. Long ago I coined for myself a phrase to live and adjust by: Complicit Complacency. By this phrase I was able to pull myself up short when The feeling of entitlement crept up on me. I would now add 'Collusive'. I am triggered daily by a sense that we accept the status quo without prompting ourselves towards the revolutionary counter actions we should be taking to right many injustices on this planet. This feeling fills my day. Only by making small heroic gestures that collude with our highest selves can we right this whole backward catastrophe of our race, and by that I mean the human one. A race that can only be won by daily actions that actively obliterate our past mistakes. Being white is no excuse. All the more reason to work harder.
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Most U.S. slave owners were white because the population was mostly white, but Americans of all racial and ethnic groups—including blacks and Native Americans—owned slaves. If the majority of Americans had been black, the majority of slave owners would have been black. The 1860 Census shows the United States had a total population of 31,183,582 at the beginning of the Civil War. Of these, 27,233,198 were free while 3,950,528, or 13 percent, were slaves. There were 393,975 slave owners. So, about 1.5 percent of Americans owned slaves. Well-known black Harvard historian Louis Gates cites an 1830 study that showed 3,766 blacks out of a free black population of 319,599 owned slaves. So, about 1.2 percent of free blacks owned slaves compared to 1.5 percent of whites. Virtually all slaves were black of course, but no segment of the U.S. population has benefitted from slavery as much as African Americans descended from slaves who were transported from Africa to the present day United States. African Americans are far better off than Africans whose ancestors were not transported to America. Today, the average per-capital income in Sub-Sahara Africa is about $750 a year and the average expectancy is about 50 years. (Average per-capital income in Sub-Saharan Africa is much lower outside of South Africa.) The black population of the United States is the world’s richest large black population.
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Wow. Just...wow. Kidnapping millions of free people into slavery, shipping them across the Atlantic, exploiting them for generations, and dumping them into a society in which their descendants 150 years after being freed STILL don't have equal opportunity (and not even equal rights in practice), is all okay because these descendants are better off than their peers still in Africa?
William, you've reached a new high in lows. Congratulations.
William, you've reached a new high in lows. Congratulations.
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Yoyo, while I agree with your thoughts on the above comment, I must ask you one question about yours. You've included kidnapping with all of the other atrocities that was induced upon the Africans that were enslaved and brought to the States. You are aware that the slave owners were not the kidnappers, right? In fact, the people the slave owners purchased the slaves from where mostly not the kidnappers.
The kidnappers were the individuals in those slaves tribes that rounded them up, and traded them off for goods that were brought from over seas. Often times, those slaves own families sold them off for fabric, minerals, booze, or whatever else was being peddled by the ships coming in.
The point of my comment is to highlight that greed is a human condition, and not one limited to segments, races, or patches of our society. While I abhor the history of our forefathers, I fully understand that in that time most EVERYONE was to blame in one facet or another involving the processes of slavery. Those who owned them are given the most grief, but there are lots of people involved who are somehow given a pass because we as a society need someone specific to point the finger at.
We're not evolving nearly quickly enough in this portion of our social society, but we are evolving. Take a look at all of the history involved to accumulate the necessary data to ascertain the solution to this puzzle.
The kidnappers were the individuals in those slaves tribes that rounded them up, and traded them off for goods that were brought from over seas. Often times, those slaves own families sold them off for fabric, minerals, booze, or whatever else was being peddled by the ships coming in.
The point of my comment is to highlight that greed is a human condition, and not one limited to segments, races, or patches of our society. While I abhor the history of our forefathers, I fully understand that in that time most EVERYONE was to blame in one facet or another involving the processes of slavery. Those who owned them are given the most grief, but there are lots of people involved who are somehow given a pass because we as a society need someone specific to point the finger at.
We're not evolving nearly quickly enough in this portion of our social society, but we are evolving. Take a look at all of the history involved to accumulate the necessary data to ascertain the solution to this puzzle.
34
I think we can certainly call your comment an example of complacent white supremacy. I am appalled to think that a person who evidently has an education and knows how to read can still be led by such backwards logic as to assert that African Americans actually benefitted from their ancestors' enslavement.
43
Just another absurd POV on the recurring theme since 1961. I'd read the article about the Munich killings and by comparison this one is just so banal and repeated as to warrant glossing over. All the Israelis killed in Munich were white --- didn't help them.
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So, white Israelis are in no way distinct from white Americans. Any day now, we can expect a raid into Canada to rescue the descendants of black Americans forced into Canadian exile. Even the descendants of the ones who went to Canada to play in the CFL because the couldn't make it in the NFL?
You know. The way that the Israelis rescued the black Jews of Africa.
You know. The way that the Israelis rescued the black Jews of Africa.
4
Israelis are white? Palestinians are not white? Where do you get that information?
Peace,Brother! Why a raid when you can simply ask first? God has given us the power of communication for a purpose.
1
Institutional racism, especially in the legal and financial systems, demands immediate radical change.
However - advocating for a return of Original Sin doctrine? This is a flawed idea, as it accomplishes nothing. Just as I strive (imperfectly) to judge everyone on their own merits, I expect the same in kind. No more, or less.
Each of us is born into circumstance. Some good, some bad. Some of this is race based - but not all. I have no more choice in being white than Martin Luther King did in being black. It's not his fault. Mine either. It is fair for both of us to be judged by our own actions, not our parents.
However - advocating for a return of Original Sin doctrine? This is a flawed idea, as it accomplishes nothing. Just as I strive (imperfectly) to judge everyone on their own merits, I expect the same in kind. No more, or less.
Each of us is born into circumstance. Some good, some bad. Some of this is race based - but not all. I have no more choice in being white than Martin Luther King did in being black. It's not his fault. Mine either. It is fair for both of us to be judged by our own actions, not our parents.
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Or great-great-grandparents.
With 20th century immigrant and Native American forbears, I wonder why I am supposed to feel guilt about "privilege"?
With 20th century immigrant and Native American forbears, I wonder why I am supposed to feel guilt about "privilege"?
54
Because you reap the continuing benefits of slavery just as much as Mayflower descendants do. And have you ever wondered how there could be so many jobs available in the North for your steerage ancestors, when there were millions of freed slaves and their progeny in the South?
Were the ex-slaves too stupid to go North and get those jobs for themselves, do you think?
Were the ex-slaves too stupid to go North and get those jobs for themselves, do you think?
2
This has nothing to do with original sin. It has to do with a system today, now, here, in which basic safeties and freedoms are available to some but not others. Eula Biss doesn't want to live in that system and neither do I.
3
Has this culture of victimhood and the subsequent drivel it produces finally jumped the shark? I sincerely hope so.
So, being white is immoral. But race doesn't exist--it's only enforced by whites...a group we can segment off as racists (though race doesn't exist!) but we know they're racial supremacists because they're white. Somehow.
As well, if everyone is guilty of the sins of their ancestors, may my family and I sue the Italian government as successors in interest to Rome? After all, they enslaved my German ancestors, so it's only right we can condemn all descendants of Rome as immoral for the sin of being "Roman," yes?
Of course not. That's, politely put, hogwash. If we allow one group to shoulder all the blame for their ancestors' actions, then we must allow every group to shoulder that burden. Which leads to a black hole of endless oneupmanship, to see who is the most aggrieved at this particular moment in time.
Perhaps, instead of endless whining about how evil "white" culture (school, family, not committing 50%+ of violent crime as 6% of the population etc.) is, maybe more time could be spent analyzing why those values work so well. The reason college police let you off easy isn't because you're white, Biss, but rather because you didn't have a mile-long rap sheet at 19. But I forget, the magic of invidious racism makes people commit crimes so it's not their fault.
I'm a little ashamed that rare earth minerals and electrons were wasted on this piece.
So, being white is immoral. But race doesn't exist--it's only enforced by whites...a group we can segment off as racists (though race doesn't exist!) but we know they're racial supremacists because they're white. Somehow.
As well, if everyone is guilty of the sins of their ancestors, may my family and I sue the Italian government as successors in interest to Rome? After all, they enslaved my German ancestors, so it's only right we can condemn all descendants of Rome as immoral for the sin of being "Roman," yes?
Of course not. That's, politely put, hogwash. If we allow one group to shoulder all the blame for their ancestors' actions, then we must allow every group to shoulder that burden. Which leads to a black hole of endless oneupmanship, to see who is the most aggrieved at this particular moment in time.
Perhaps, instead of endless whining about how evil "white" culture (school, family, not committing 50%+ of violent crime as 6% of the population etc.) is, maybe more time could be spent analyzing why those values work so well. The reason college police let you off easy isn't because you're white, Biss, but rather because you didn't have a mile-long rap sheet at 19. But I forget, the magic of invidious racism makes people commit crimes so it's not their fault.
I'm a little ashamed that rare earth minerals and electrons were wasted on this piece.
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Thank you for demonstrating so perfectly, and to such a precise tee, exactly what the author is talking about.
Wow.
Wow.
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Care to elaborate? CS made some rather good points, esp about the incoherence with which this article treats race and debt as concepts. Maybe you have other insights?
6
Yes my Jewish ancestors were enslaved in the ghettos and killed like rats in concentration camps for nothing more than being smarter than the other Germans. Move on.
4
My birth certificate says I'm white, but by the old one drop laws that were in effect when I was born, my birth certificate is a lie. Still, my driver's license, my marriage certificate and, of supreme importance, my appearance all contrive to support the myth.
I volunteer my time as a docent an outdoor museum that includes outbuildings of a plantation, including slave cabins (but no Big House) and various pioneer cabins, barns, etc.
It is in this place where we acknowledge the truth of what slavery meant before and after the 14th amendment that I most feel my white privilege. I do tours and I've learned on tours is this:
Whites think that slavery ended 150 years ago and that, after all, the Irish were treated poorly too. They owe no one anything and everything is fair now. They do not want to be confused with the facts.
Blacks know whites are privileged and that the current societal mores are insane and that most whites are entirely oblivious. Adults are polite. Children tell me what their parents say at home, and I stumble over how to reply, but most of the time they're right, and I can at least acknowledge that.
I don't know what the solution is. But I know that the debt is there; it's not going anywhere; and the totals continue to mount; but that white society, in general, consistently refuses to even the debt's existence.
I volunteer my time as a docent an outdoor museum that includes outbuildings of a plantation, including slave cabins (but no Big House) and various pioneer cabins, barns, etc.
It is in this place where we acknowledge the truth of what slavery meant before and after the 14th amendment that I most feel my white privilege. I do tours and I've learned on tours is this:
Whites think that slavery ended 150 years ago and that, after all, the Irish were treated poorly too. They owe no one anything and everything is fair now. They do not want to be confused with the facts.
Blacks know whites are privileged and that the current societal mores are insane and that most whites are entirely oblivious. Adults are polite. Children tell me what their parents say at home, and I stumble over how to reply, but most of the time they're right, and I can at least acknowledge that.
I don't know what the solution is. But I know that the debt is there; it's not going anywhere; and the totals continue to mount; but that white society, in general, consistently refuses to even the debt's existence.
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Whites think that slavery ended 150 years ago (it did) and that, after all, the Irish were treated poorly too (they were--Google Know-Nothing), as were most immigrants throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. "Everything might not be "fair" now, but I don't see how I owe any particular person anything in particular in this context.
What you call "facts" are actually opinions. The "white privilege" myth has been formulated to try to explain the failure of the black underclass to thrive, particularly in light of the success of nonwhites such as Chinese and Japanese and African and Caribbean immigrants.
What you call "facts" are actually opinions. The "white privilege" myth has been formulated to try to explain the failure of the black underclass to thrive, particularly in light of the success of nonwhites such as Chinese and Japanese and African and Caribbean immigrants.
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"I don't see how I owe any particular person anything in particular in this context."
Of course you don't. That's one of the defining characteristics of white privilege.
Of course you don't. That's one of the defining characteristics of white privilege.
4
Of course white privilege was formulated to explain the failure of the black underclass! If not, then the explanation as to why the black community struggles is left to the assumptive explanation of, "because they're black". Then what happens? The never ending cycle of impulsive labelling and perpetual struggle. Example: homeownership denial to generations of black families, followed by the flee of factories away from inner cities, followed by intense poverty, followed by a devastating War on Drugs, followed by out-of-control incarceration rates. This goes beyond just the meager mistreatment of immigrants.
Also, championing the success of other nonwhites blindly erases their continuing struggle, such the confrontation with being looked at as the "Model Minority" for many asian ethnicities. Different groups experienced different histories, so it's incredibly disingenuous to make a light comparison and say you don't see anything.
When we talk about white guilt and inequity, we are not talking about some awkward, unpleasant once-in-a-lifetime toy drive hosted by white people to self-exonerate. We talk about it because there exists immense benefit and "privilege" to being the majority demographic. And all of that translates differently, throughout our political, economic, and cultural landscapes. Without a doubt, very complex, but at the same time, very dynamically inter-connected.
Also, championing the success of other nonwhites blindly erases their continuing struggle, such the confrontation with being looked at as the "Model Minority" for many asian ethnicities. Different groups experienced different histories, so it's incredibly disingenuous to make a light comparison and say you don't see anything.
When we talk about white guilt and inequity, we are not talking about some awkward, unpleasant once-in-a-lifetime toy drive hosted by white people to self-exonerate. We talk about it because there exists immense benefit and "privilege" to being the majority demographic. And all of that translates differently, throughout our political, economic, and cultural landscapes. Without a doubt, very complex, but at the same time, very dynamically inter-connected.
So how is this article not considered racist again? What if I said being black a moral problem?
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I think you may have missed the point on this one
37
You missed her point. It's not the people, it's the system that assigns benefits to one group at the expense of the other (and the favored persons accepting their treatment as just). She is saying that there is no "whiteness" but rather an unjust system assigning resources to one --in the form of favorable access to housing, loan terms, criminal justice system etc. It is for this reason that she posits that you can be white, and hate whiteness, yet not hate yourself. Read it again.
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Read it again?? Are you kidding?
24
This is a tremendously thoughtful and smart piece of writing; I am full of admiration. Thank you.
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Amen.
And for male privilege? Companion article?
18
Yes, please. If you look at gender privilege in this country, and many others, it is jaw-dropping. The stories of what my female ancestors gave up, weren't entitled to, had taken away are legion and staggering. Property, money, jobs, social standing, where does one even begin? There was no recourse--still isn't, in many countries. While I am glad that there is more and more conversation about racism, I wish that sexism was discussed with as much fervor.
Yes, please. I cannot begin to tell you how much my female ancestors gave up, had taken away, lost because of their gender. Property, money, inheritances of all kinds, opportunities--their stories are legion and jaw-dropping. My mother quit her job after her boss took her out to lunch and put his hand on her knee (this was in the 40's). I asked her why she didn't do something. She replied: "To whom shall I complain...?" I look forward to the day when sexism is discussed with the same fervor as racism.
Author John Scalzi did a pretty good job of that a few years ago.
http://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/05/15/straight-white-male-the-lowest-dif...
http://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/05/15/straight-white-male-the-lowest-dif...
What is the point of this? I somehow made it through only to find that it is a whole lot of words that don't really amount to anything. Something about whiteness being a myth, but actually, for the purposes of shaming you, we'll pretend it isn't a myth and you should feel guilty about stuff the ancestors of your ancestors of your ancestors did.
Also, good job. You used your privilege to expound on how guilty you feel on a national platform. Did it "enhance your sense of social status" and "increase the pleasure of [your] cruelty?" How about we stop pontificating on theories and problems for which everyone admits (including yourself) there is no solution and instead write essays identifying specific problems and solutions that can create a fairer and more just society?
Also, good job. You used your privilege to expound on how guilty you feel on a national platform. Did it "enhance your sense of social status" and "increase the pleasure of [your] cruelty?" How about we stop pontificating on theories and problems for which everyone admits (including yourself) there is no solution and instead write essays identifying specific problems and solutions that can create a fairer and more just society?
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Yes. The author gets an A in naval gazing.
6
"For me, whiteness is not an identity but a moral problem" I have never read more drivel in my life than this article. People don't carry collective guilt for the sins of their ancestors. Trying to live a good life and be a good person doesn't require someone to walk around 24/7 thinking about how things would be harder if you are the son of a single black african-american teenager or how much easier they would be if your parents are billionaire hedge fund managers. The world is a complicated place and not especially fair but the kind of mindless self-loathing that author espouses certainly won't make it any better. Pieces like this make the Times less the paper of record in this country.
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Apologizes for poor proof reading. Should read african-american, not black african american.
1
I disagree. By publishing thoughtful, provocative pieces like these they CEMENT their status as America's paper of record.
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Todd Stuart: Your comparisons are specious and racist. Consider that someone who others identify as black but has identical education and so forth WILL be discriminated against in terms of jobs, service by businesses and the criminal justice system and is at a substantially greater risk of being harassed or killed by police. These are facts. Life is hard and unfair but when the system is rigged to be more unfair to a specific group -- you should consider that wrong and want to do something about it. This remains true regardless of your ancestry.
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Overall, the incarceration numbers, lifespans, income, and on and on show that African-Americans are worse off than other groups--"whites" in particular.
How can it not be a privilege to have better odds of college instead of prison, higher income rather than lower, etc?
Like most privileged groups, many whites provide reason why they deserve (have earned) their privileges; and they also provide the reason why others have not. All this assumes equal opportunity.
So, do African-Americans not have equal opportunity? Personally, I don't think that I'm strong enough to have had equal chance of success if I were African-American rather than "white" American.
I'm not talking about anecdotes and exceptions. Sure, I'd rather be born into a black, successful family than into a white poor dysfunctional family. But...what are the odds in our real world USA?