Picture this: Barack Obama has a 17-year old pregnant daughter, and the father of the unborn child brags about his guns and how hardcore he is.
This is obviously an impossible scenario because no black politician in this circumstance would ever appear on a ticket for the White House. Which begs the question, what role does "white privilege" play in allowing Sarah Palin to be on the Republican ticket?
Before today I had not heard of the concept of white privilege. I had generally accepted that this country was far along the path of eliminating racism from our mainstream and that it only exists in pockets of daily life. Today I came across a blog by Tim Wise entitled: White Privilege, White Entitlement, and the 2008 Election. You really should read the whole thing. Here is an excerpt:
For those who still can’t grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are constantly looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help.
White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because "every family has challenges," even as black and Latino families with similar "challenges" are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.
He goes on to list over a dozen different examples of white privilege as they exist in the 2008 election. The article really opened my eyes to the serious double standard in our society today. It goes on to say
White privilege is when you can call yourself a "fuckin’ redneck," like Bristol Palin’s boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you'll "kick their fuckin' ass," and talk about how you like to "shoot shit" for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.
Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks gives his take on the issue in this sobering and must-see video.
Imagine what the Rush Limbaughs and Bill O'Reillys of the world would do.