All white people are racists...or "white fragility" ??

[Dystopia]

Someone mentioned Asia - If people think whites are super racist, you really need to examine Japan and figure out why 98% of it is the same ethnicity - And also why there aren't laws protecting minorities

I actually like being who I am, regardless of how someone would classify my ethnicity - I like my hair shape, my facial features, my skin color, I'd probably be labelled as white by most people but with tanned skin color, I don't care, I like myself.

The problem with discussing race issues is that it's very different between countries. Being white or black in America is not the same as in France, England, etc. To show a fundamental difference - While in America there's the term "African-American" and an effort to tell people everybody born in America can be an American, in Europe the tendency is to label anyone who isn't white and native as an immigrant even if they have been living here for centuries - So basically all African citizens in my country are seen as immigrants from the ex-colonies, and not as true natives, etc. This is actually something that makes racial integration harder in Europe despite the higher police violence against ethnic minorities in the US.

[Faith No More]

Lol at all the butthurt over minorities asking white people to check their privelage.

Sure, teaching colorblindness is great, but that is not the reality minorities live in. It's easy for white people to say we should teach colorblindness, because we live in a world where their skin color isn't an impediment. The fact is that skin color still creates a huge divide in how people are treated and the opportunities available, and insisting we just teach colorblindness is ignoring the fact that minorities constantly face obstacles that white people do not.

That may not be the popular opinion here, but that's my $0.02.

[Longhorn]

.....this is all completely alien to me ._.

[paulpablo]

This kind of white privilege, ignoring the claim by building a strawman and waving off the entire issue without truly examining it, is the entire issue: "Hey, bad things happen to white people, too! Therefore no problem."

I didn't say there was no problem throughout any of my post.  I'm not waving off any issue.
What I'm saying is it's stupid to make blanket statements about towns of people, even more stupid to make blanket statements about nations of people, and droolingly retarded to make blanket statements about whole races of people.
The article is full of things that the white race supposedly does, and the dangers black people face from white people.
It's stupid to tell white people to check their privilege and say "white people do such and such a thing" When theirs millions and millions of white people on earth, we don't have a uniformed gang and we aren't all privileged.

I personally like articles that if they express a subjective opinion it's written in a way that makes it clear it's a subjective opinion written from a certain perspective in a certain situation.
If the sentiment was "I've noticed white people in America freak out when called out about race." It wouldn't be annoying in the slightest. But the whole article is very focused on a one sided perspective, while at the same time as making blanket statements presented as objective facts.
I never said any such thing as this means there's no problem.

Also building a strawman would be if I was attacking a claim that the article DIDN'T make. I can quote directly from the article including the title of the article which is directly linked to exactly what I'm saying is wrong with it, I did make a lot of exaggerations admittedly if that's the strawman you're talking about.

[Faith No More]

It's stupid to tell white people to check their privilege and say "white people do such and such a thing" When theirs millions and millions of white people on earth, we don't have a uniformed gang and we aren't all privileged.

But that's the thing. We are all privelaged when it comes to our skin color. A white person may grow up in a life we wouldn't consider privelaged, like growing up in poverty, but they are privelaged in the sense that they are in a better position to overcome their adversities compared to a black person growing up in the exact same scenario. That's the kind of stuff we need to be aware of.

[paulpablo]

It's stupid to tell white people to check their privilege and say "white people do such and such a thing" When theirs millions and millions of white people on earth, we don't have a uniformed gang and we aren't all privileged.

But that's the thing.  We are all privelaged when it comes to our skin color.  A white person may grow up in a life we wouldn't consider privelaged, like growing up in poverty, but they are privelaged in the sense that they are in a better position to overcome their adversities compared to a black person growing up in the exact same scenario.  That's the kind of stuff we need to be aware of.

But I can think of a scenario where it wouldn't put a person in a better position to be a white person.  A white person in a poor neighbourhood and he is targeted for being different because there's a large demographic of another race within that neighbourhood.

Statistically yes it would be correct to say you're more likely to be privileged if you're white.  But it's incorrect to say if you're white you are privileged.

But that's really besides the point anyway since I don't think the article did say that all white people are privileged.

I can pin point the statements that did annoy me and form less of a strawman exaggerated type argument than my other post.

 The arrogance of white people faced with questions of race is unbelievable.

We're all arrogant when it comes to questions of race, not just some white people, every white person on this thread who commented on the question of race answered it unbelievably arrogantly, not necessary arrogantly if a black person is answering the question though, it's ok in that situation.

Why White People Freak Out When They're Called Out About Race

So any white person reading this, do you freak out when being called out about race?

SAB: Something that amazes me is the sophistication of some white people’s defensive maneuvers. I have a black friend who was accused of "online harassment" by a white friend after he called her out in a harsh way. What do you see going on there?

It couldn't be that the black person was calling the white person out in a way that was harsh enough to constitute harassment, it's just a case of white people's sophisticated defensive manoeuvres.

 Yes. One of the things I try to work with white people on is letting go of our criteria about how people of color give us feedback. We have to build our stamina to just be humble and bear witness to the pain we’ve caused.

At this point it just sounds condescending to the "People of colour" The article is talking about.  Why shouldn't white people standards of how "People of colour" give us feedback?  I'd have standards of how other white people give me feedback and how other white people speak to me in general, "People of colour" don't have special needs in this area.
Also white people need to be humble and bear witness to the pain we've caused?  I've done nothing more than have light friendly chat with the few black people I've met and I'm being told as a white person I must be quiet, humble and bear witness to the pain I've caused.

They (people of colour) cannot always share their outrage about the injustice of racism. White people can’t tolerate it. And we punish it severely—from job loss, to violence, to murder.

In this part he's saying black people must trust him because they're willing to express their anger of racism to him.  I wonder how he managed to tame the people of colour into trusting him not to fire them from their jobs or kill them?
It's phrased in a way that's just idiotic. SOME white people do kill black people and punish them unfairly in certain situations, but you don't say white people kill black people, white people punish black people unfairly, as if that's just something we all do.

What if someone wrote an article saying "Black people can't resist white women, they rape them, they can't stay awake on the job they just fall asleep." It's phrased wrongly, it's a stupid blanket statement and it's insulting. Some black men might rape white women in certain situations, some black men might fall asleep on the job, but you don't say that's what black people do.

[Neo-Scholastic]

It's easy for white people to say we should teach colorblindness, because we live in a world where their skin color isn't an impediment.  

In today's culture, being a straight white male is an impediment to speaking freely and substantively about identity. The notion of "White Privilege" is used as a weapon to invalidate the opinions, attitudes, and contributions of European descendants.

Straight white males are also at much greater risk of being falsely accused of sexual harassment and racial discrimination. Most EEOC complaints have nothing to do with correcting wrongs but seeking revenge or expressing spite. I know because I was falsely accused of sexual harassment by female co-worker to cover for her poor performance. Even though her complaint was completely unsupported, her accusation alone was enough to put my job in jepordy.

[mr350]

Roght, so...I should I focus on race instead of teaching colorblindness?  

I'm legitimately confused here.  When I raise my very, very white daughter, how do Ido so in a way that she won't contribute by to racism?

Currently, we don't discuss it. We live in an area with a heavy hispanic population, and most of her friends are hispanic or black.  I do not talk about it, and neither do their parents o their kids. Why would we?  This seems to be working for us.  But this article, and BQ's comments here seem to imply I'm doing it wrong?

/facpalm

This is not an easy issue.  And it seems to place all the onus on me.  I guess that's why it's distressing.  I don't want to hurt people!  So how do I avoid it?

I think that people are insulted because of one's lack of knowledge of traditional cultural differentiations. In the past there have been countless genocides, due to cultural differences in morality since the dawn of intelligence. Where there is a clash in perceived cultural morality, there exists racism.

Moderator Notice
Pandæmonium - Amended quite attribution

[Faith No More]

In today's culture, being a straight white male is an impediment to speaking freely and substantively about identity. The notion of "White Privilege" is used as a weapon to invalidate the opinions, attitudes, and contributions of European descendants.

I get that there are people that go overboard, like the people that say only whites can be racist, but when your opinion is so blinded by the fact that you haven't had to face adversity because of your privelaged positions and fail to put yourself in the shoes of others, you need to be called out on your privelage. For instance, when you're a dumbass moron like Bill O'Reilly and talk about straight, white males being under attack, you're going to be told to check your privelage, because what we're seeing is not an attack on white males but a leveling of the playing field, which will inevitabley lead to the number of white males in positions of prominence dwindling.

Look, it's a tough subject, and there are dumbasses of all races weighing in on the issue. But despite the fact that you have idiots on Tumblr saying ridiculous shit about racism, that doesn't mean that white privelage isn't a legitimate concept that you need to be aware of when you form your opinions.

[Longhorn]

And this is all because we look different from each other ._.