Greg is from the Midwest, grew up in Nebraska, lived in northwest Arkansas (the hills where the Waltons of Wal-Mart and other wealthy folks live) and now resides in southern California. He has a Bachelors in Philosophy, is a trained chef, and works in social services.
He is also a very great father to his son Logan, seen below.
Greg sent me his thoughts (below) on the reality of "White privilege" in American history and current American life. I am sharing them, with his permission.
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Robin Morgan is a poet and an author and is using poetic language for artistic and metaphoric effect. Don't take it literally.
“My white skin disgusts me. My passport disgusts me. They are the marks of an insufferable privilege bought at the price of others’ agony. If I could peel myself inside out I would be glad. If I could become part of the oppressed I would be free.” Robin Morgan, a key radical feminist member of the American Women’s Movement
This was posted to facebook, with a meme that stated "This si why Feminist are scary".
Below are my thoughts on the subject.
Yes, we (feminists) are scary!
Being born an US citizen is a privilege and grants us certain benefits in this world. It's not very fair that a baby born in a third world nation will never be given those benefits. That baby could try to earn them, but it's hard and takes real effort. You and I personally did nothing to earn them. We got em. That foreign baby doesn't. That baby is of equal value and worth and yet we inherently have it better and easier in life.
It is shameful that the human race hasn't resolved this global inequality yet. It is shameful that many people on this bountiful planet are starving, especially as so much food is wasted. It's shameful that American consumers rely on low prices that still generate massive profits for the 1% leaders of American corporations that utilize third world slave wage labor.
American Privilege is real. White Privilege is real. So is Male Privilege. And it shouldn't be.
That's what feminism is all about, eliminating privilege and advocating for equality.
Acknowledging your own privilege and actively recognizing that others do not get to benefit by the nature of their birth is the very heart of feminism: seeing all men and women as equals and advocating for that ideal.
Those who reject the label of feminism and reject the very concept of privilege usually do not understand the word equality in this context. They incorrectly think that political and social equality means that all people are identical. They obviously are not.
Think of it as of equal value, worth, and limited only by personal differences.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..."
Notice it did NOT say All men are created identical! And obviously, the Founding Fathers didn't think women and black people were their equals, because they saw them as inferiors and subordinates.
The Founding Fathers thought of blacks as 3/5ths a person and some owned slaves and some even had sex with those slaves while denying their very humanity. Thus, bestiality with these 3/5ths manbeasts. The Fathers were highly flawed. And they were wise enough to accept that possibility and build in the ability to amend the Constitution.
A majority of them agreed to the 3/5ths and all of them signed off on it, with a minority of them compromising their own beliefs. A bunch of white men decided everyone else was worth less than they were. The rest of the white men across the newborn nation benefited from it too, for many generations to come.
That... is white privilege!
The dominant group in almost all areas of life in America is white. Look at the latest award shows for actors. Almost zero non-white nominees. Minority groups of all kinds can only gain power and status in society by banding together, along with allies. And those in power recognizing their unfair treatment of those minorities.
This isn't about racism, it goes beyond that. It's about the abuse of power and the effort it takes for the less powerful to rise up. Compare it to the labor unions against the owners and corporations. If they don't organize and band together, the powerful mistreat them.
The powerful have no ethical need to band together and it is wrong for them to be exclusionary. What's the purpose of that... to pool even more power? That's White Power in a nutshell.
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I (Ed Garren, blog host) would add to this that the other more personal element of "privilege" is that those who are privileged never have to ask the question "Do THEY let people like me do that?" Members of minority groups live with that question constantly, along with "Will I be safe?" "Will my children be safe?" etc. Most "majority" people never even think about these issues, much less feel constrained by them.
This is a constant issue in Mental Health for members of minority groups, and completely off the charts for majority folks. This is why it is called "Privilege."
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Greg read this post, noted my closing comments (above) and sent me this to add:
I have a white friend in Albuquerque who is married to a Black Woman. They have three children obviously of mixed heritage. He worries about exactly those things when it comes to his kids. Are they safe. What discrimination are they going to face. He has had to deal with a considerable amount of it himself just by walking around in public with his wife.
I have another friend in Phoenix that is married to an Indian, he worries about the same things and has endured the same level of discrimination,
I was talking to a lady from Oklahoma who lives out here went out on a few dates, we really were hitting it off. Then one day something set her off about the Native tribes of the America's and she went on a tirade about how they aren't even humans less then animals etc. etc. I finally had to stop her and tell her that I was part Native American, that my great great grandmother on my fathers side was a Cherokee survivor of the trail of tears, and with that I walked out of the restaurant and have never spoken to her since.
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