Friday, August 23, 2013

Using your white privilege




I loved this vid. It brought into focus how I felt watching Carly Fiorini on last Sunday's "This Week" dancing around her support of New York's controversial "Stop and Frisk" program. Although she doesn't think it's unconstitutional, Ms. Fiorini thinks we need to apply some "introspection and examination."

Gee, Carly, what pretty and polite words those are. They're so easy to say, particularly when you're not getting thrown against a brick wall while some cop shoves his hand in your crotch. But Carly never has to worry about that. Neither does her fellow "This Week" panelist Bill Kristol, which is precisely why they support something they perceive as keeping them marginally safe. After all, the cost in dignity and fairness is at someone else's expense.

News flash, Carly: if you can walk down Fifth Avenue without being accosted by law enforcement, the African American kid in the saggy pants behind you ought to be able to do the same thing.

White privilege indeed.


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8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am as certain as one man can be that Kristol's head is filled with styrofoam.

The entire Conservative agenda is an exercise in preserving privilege.

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.”
― John Kenneth Galbraith

RJ

Bill said...

The white privilege card didn't work for Christopher Lane or Shorty Belton.

Anonymous said...

@Bill-

It didn't work for Emmett Till either. Does that make it invalid?

RJ

Bill said...

I know that white privilege exists. I've personally benefitted from it. For example, I was pulled over recently, at 11PM, for unsafe changing of lanes and speeding. The Hispanic officer didn't even ask for my DL. Just told me to slow down and be careful. On the other hand, as a Jr. High School kid in Tularosa NM, a long time ago, I was one of very few white kids in town. I was hassled constantly and had my ass kicked regularly for the crime of being white (the big mouth didn't help either). I understand the point but, just wanted to add a little perspective. Hate comes in all colors.

Erin O'Brien said...

Hate comes in all colors.

True, that, Bill.

Nice comment.

Michael Lawless said...

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter," - Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 - 1968).

Bill said...

"Our lives begin to end the day they begin." Bill

Anonymous said...

Food for Thought:

"I Am"

Tom Shadyac

Netflix

RJ