Privilege and the 200 points

[AthenaAwakened]

When I was in high school there was a popular myth that black students got 200 points on the SAT simply for being black.

White students lamented the horrible unfairness of it. Giving such privilege to black students. It just wasn't fair. There ought to be a law.

From time to time you would even hear, "I wish I was black so I could get 200 points."

Now first, there were no 200 points. Second, even if there were 200 pts, you don't get to black just long enough to take the SAT. Once you become black, you have commit to it, FOR LIFE.

You have to black when you:

1. Listen to loud music at a gas station.

2. Walk home from a snack run to 7-11.

3. Wear a hoodie.

4. Drive after swimming.

5. Drive in a car with a white girl.

6. Appear in public in New York City.

7. Walk on the wrong side of the street.

8. Wait for a school bus to take you to your high school basketball game.

9. Drink iced tea in a parking lot.

10. Seek help after a car accident.

11. Inspect your own property.

12. Show up at your job.

13. Talk trash after an NFL game.

14. Throw a temper tantrum in kindergarten.

15. Buy designer accessories at Barney’s.

16. Buy designer accessories at Macy’s.

17. Are a 13-year-old boy.

18. Enter your own home.

19. Botch a science experiment.

20. Are a tourist.

21. Lay face down in handcuffs.​

The list can be found here. Thank you Mother Jones.

When I read the attempts to paint a single incident as some universal example of privilege bestowed upon a political minority, I think of the white boys in the front hall of my high school and their lamentations over the 200 points.

When I see cisgendered heterosexual white anglo-saxon males with incomes of $250,000 a year (and all their wannabe kin) running out en masse to have sex changes and to have melanin injected into their skins and are moving in great migrations to trailer parks, I'll buy their claims of victimization from the privileges of groups not them.

Until then

Quicherwhinin'

 

[Jolly_Penguin]

Because you don't seem to want to see people as individuals. And because you don't want to admit that people can face disprivilege and privilege at the same time.

Putting your fingers in your ears and denying things like that black people are ABLE to be racist or that women able to be privileged only shows that you are not truly interested in social justice. Most, if not all, of us here oppose racism and sexism and realize there is a problem there that needs to be fixed, but some here also realize that this has been caused by a psychological failing not exclusive to having white skin and a penis, and that even white people and males can be unfairly discriminated against.

Discrimination against you in one regard and compared to some people, does not justify discrimination in your favour in another regard and compared to other people. And yes, "not all men". And no, that some white people set up the system, doesn't mean it favours all white people in all ways, or that white people shouldn't seek to change it.

Quicherwhinin'

Please do.

 

[Derec]

Now first, there were no 200 points.

Maybe not, but they are points given by admission offices of many universities for race.

Once you become black, you have commit to it, FOR LIFE.

Not if your name is John Howard Griffin.

1. Listen to loud music at a gas station.

There have been many instances of road rage shootings where the victims were white. I do not see the Dunn incident as fundamentally different than road rage.

2. Walk home from a snack run to 7-11.
3. Wear a hoodie.

You mean you "whoop ass" a person who happens to be armed.

4. Drive after swimming.

Not familiar with that one. Anyway, it is well known that black people don't swim.
Note that this was relayed to me almost as a point of pride (we were discussing some drowning death I think and his words were "blacks don't drown because we don't swim") by a black coworker at an old job. Of course, that was shortly before the tragic incident mentioned in the BBC article I linked to above.

5. Drive in a car with a white girl.

I've driven in cars with black girls before. Does that count?

6. Appear in public in New York City.

Huh?

7. Walk on the wrong side of the street.

Nobody should be walking on the street anyway.

8. Wait for a school bus to take you to your high school basketball game.

Not familiar with the incident.

9. Drink iced tea in a parking lot.

10. Seek help after a car accident.

You mean approach some cops to within a foot or two after you have been already ordered to stop and cops already attempted to taser you.

11. Inspect your own property.

???

12. Show up at your job.

???

13. Talk trash after an NFL game.

14. Throw a temper tantrum in kindergarten.

Are we talking about a kindergardener or a parent with emotional maturity of a kindergardener?

15. Buy designer accessories at Barney’s.
16. Buy designer accessories at Macy’s.

17. Are a 13-year-old boy.

???

18. Enter your own home.

???

19. Botch a science experiment.

???

20. Are a tourist.

???

21. Lay face down in handcuffs.

???

22. Rob a store, then attack a police officer

23. Reach for a realistic looking Airsoft gun with orange tip removed when cops tell you to put your hands up

The list can be found here. Thank you Mother Jones.

Don't you think a similar list of unfortunate incidents could not be compiled about people of any ethnicity? For example, do you think nothing bad ever happened to white tourists or 13 year old boys?

When I see cisgendered heterosexual white anglo-saxon males with incomes of $250,000 a year (and all their wannabe kin) running out en masse to have sex changes and to have melanin injected into their skins and are moving in great migrations to trailer parks, I'll buy their claims of victimization from the privileges of groups not them.

I think the $250,000 is the most important metric here. You can be transgendered homosexual black female and your life will be very good if your income is over $250,000.

 

[laughing dog]

Because you don't seem to want to see people as individuals. And because you don't want to admit that people can face disprivilege and privilege at the same time.

Putting your fingers in your ears and denying things like that black people are ABLE to be racist or that women able to be privileged only shows that you are not truly interested in social justice. Most, if not all, of us here oppose racism and sexism and realize there is a problem there that needs to be fixed, but some here also realize that this has been caused by a psychological failing not exclusive to having white skin and a penis, and that even white people and males can be unfairly discriminated against.

Discrimination against you in one regard and compared to some people, does not justify discrimination in your favour in another regard and compared to other people. And yes, "not all men". And no, that some white people set up the system, doesn't mean it favours all white people in all ways, or that white people shouldn't seek to change it.

Quicherwhinin'

Please do.

This OP is not about discrimination against "other people". It is about what happens to black people that do not happen to "other people". Now, I suppose disputing items in the list in Mother Jones would be relevant. While it is true that white privilege is not evenly applied or experienced by white people, it is not relevant to the OP subject. In fact, nothing in your response appears relevant to the subject of the OP. Did you have an actual point to make?

 

[Horatio Parker]

Because you don't seem to want to see people as individuals. And because you don't want to admit that people can face disprivilege and privilege at the same time.

Putting your fingers in your ears and denying things like that black people are ABLE to be racist or that women able to be privileged only shows that you are not truly interested in social justice. Most, if not all, of us here oppose racism and sexism and realize there is a problem there that needs to be fixed, but some here also realize that this has been caused by a psychological failing not exclusive to having white skin and a penis, and that even white people and males can be unfairly discriminated against.

Discrimination against you in one regard and compared to some people, does not justify discrimination in your favour in another regard and compared to other people. And yes, "not all men". And no, that some white people set up the system, doesn't mean it favours all white people in all ways, or that white people shouldn't seek to change it.

Quicherwhinin'

Please do.

Thank goodness. I was beginning to worry that we have a race problem.

 

[Jolly_Penguin]

This OP is not about discrimination against "other people". It is about what happens to black people that do not happen to "other people". Now, I suppose disputing items in the list in Mother Jones would be relevant. While it is true that white privilege is not evenly applied or experienced by white people, it is not relevant to the OP subject. In fact, nothing in your response appears relevant to the subject of the OP. Did you have an actual point to make?

I was responding to this:

When I read the attempts to paint a single incident as some universal example of privilege bestowed upon a political minority, I think of the white boys in the front hall of my high school and their lamentations over the 200 points.

When I see cisgendered heterosexual white anglo-saxon males with incomes of $250,000 a year (and all their wannabe kin) running out en masse to have sex changes and to have melanin injected into their skins and are moving in great migrations to trailer parks, I'll buy their claims of victimization from the privileges of groups not them.

Until then

Quicherwhinin'

 

[EricK]

When I see cisgendered heterosexual white anglo-saxon males with incomes of $250,000 a year (and all their wannabe kin) running out en masse to have sex changes and to have melanin injected into their skins and are moving in great migrations to trailer parks, I'll buy their claims of victimization from the privileges of groups not them.

Until then

Quicherwhinin'

You can't possibly be suggesting that we, for instance, look at how many women are opting for gender reassignment surgery before we pass judgement on the existence of male privilege. So what are you suggesting here?

 

[laughing dog]

I was responding to this:

When I read the attempts to paint a single incident as some universal example of privilege bestowed upon a political minority, I think of the white boys in the front hall of my high school and their lamentations over the 200 points.

When I see cisgendered heterosexual white anglo-saxon males with incomes of $250,000 a year (and all their wannabe kin) running out en masse to have sex changes and to have melanin injected into their skins and are moving in great migrations to trailer parks, I'll buy their claims of victimization from the privileges of groups not them.

Until then

Quicherwhinin'

And you think your response is relevant to that because....?

 

[Jolly_Penguin]

And you think your response is relevant to that because....?

Because it directly addresses it... If you still can't connect the dots, I don't think I can help you. Sorry.

 

[laughing dog]

And you think your response is relevant to that because....?

Because it directly addresses it... If you still can't connect the dots, I don't think I can help you. Sorry.

If it directly addresses the OP, as the writer, you ought to be able to "connect the dots". Perhaps you are unable to connect the dots because, as it seems with many of your posts on this topic, the dots are not there to connect.

 

[Arctish]

2. Walk home from a snack run to 7-11.
3. Wear a hoodie.

You mean you "whoop ass" a person who happens to be armed.

You don't have to be black to do that. Lots of white people do it, too. White people have a fancier name for it, though. They call it "self-defense".

Must be a dialect thing.

 

[Derec]

You don't have to be black to do that.

My point for pretty much the entire list.

Lots of white people do it, too. White people have a fancier name for it, though. They call it "self-defense".

Sorry, but evidence in the Trayvon case does not suggest that he was engaging in self defense.

 

[thebeave]

I think Athena's message about white privilege is finally sinking in. I'm seeing more and more white self-loathing out there. Here's a couple of examples:

http://www.campusreform.org/?ID=6097

http://www.campusreform.org/?ID=6069

Hopefully, within just a few years, we'll have most white men wake up everyday, stare in the mirror in the morning and cry, " I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!! Oh, why did I have to be born white?! I'm so ashamed of myself! I can't even look at a brown person in the eye without sobbing uncontrollably!"

Keep up the good work AA!! You're almost there!

 

[Arctish]

My point for pretty much the entire list.

Lots of white people do it, too. White people have a fancier name for it, though. They call it "self-defense".

Sorry, but evidence in the Trayvon case does not suggest that he was engaging in self defense.

If that's what you believe, why did you say "whoop ass"? Clearly you are once again quoting Rachel Jeantel, and she uses the term to mean defending one's self if attacked and in fear for your life.

White people often defend themselves against armed attackers by means of "whoop ass", just as black people do. If that was your point, then I agree with you. If your point is that "whoop ass" is not justified when blacks do it, well that's just another example of blacks not being treated the same as whites, and obviously I disagree with you. Self defense is not a Whites Only privilege; it's a right shared by all.

 

[Derec]

If that's what you believe, why did you say "whoop ass"? Clearly you are once again quoting Rachel Jeantel, and she uses the term to mean defending one's self if attacked and in fear for your life.

There is nothing within the definition of the term "whoop ass" that indicates defensive whooping only. In fact, Meriam Webster defines "whup" as
1: to administer a beating to especially as punishment
2: to defeat decisively
Examples of WHUP
His father whupped him for swearing.
Our team got whupped in last night's game.
Not a word about self defense.

I agree both blacks and whites have the right to self-defense. But just because somebody is black and unarmed doesn't mean they weren't the aggressor.

 

[Toni]

My point for pretty much the entire list.

Lots of white people do it, too. White people have a fancier name for it, though. They call it "self-defense".

Sorry, but evidence in the Trayvon case does not suggest that he was engaging in self defense.

Enormous disagree. Frankly, I would have advised any of my kids who was being stalked, especially at night, and especially by an unknown adult male, to run. Which is what Trayvon did. He also told a friend that he was being followed and that he was afraid. Now, I would have preferred that my kid call ME but I know how teenagers are. Pretty often, parents are the last to know even if there is significant peril or reason to be concerned.

NO ONE ALIVE except Zimmerman saw exactly how the physical confrontation began. The incident was overheard by the friend on the phone and that certainly did sound like Zimmerman started the confrontation. While armed. Because for some reason, he just didn't think that a black kid belonged in his neighborhood, although he certainly did belong there.

The rule is that the he who wins writes the history. Zimmerman won by surviving, so his version prevailed.

 

[Toni]

I think Athena's message about white privilege is finally sinking in. I'm seeing more and more white self-loathing out there. Here's a couple of examples:

http://www.campusreform.org/?ID=6097

http://www.campusreform.org/?ID=6069

Hopefully, within just a few years, we'll have most white men wake up everyday, stare in the mirror in the morning and cry, " I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!! Oh, why did I have to be born white?! I'm so ashamed of myself! I can't even look at a brown person in the eye without sobbing uncontrollably!"

Keep up the good work AA!! You're almost there!

Personally, I'm just hoping that more people start pulling their heads out of their asses and get a clue. But I am not holding my breath.

 

[dx713]

Thanks for your attention

 

[NobleSavage]

When I was in school blacks got 400 points. They must be getting smarter.

Seriously, what do you think gave these white students that idea?

 

[laughing dog]

I think Athena's message about white privilege is finally sinking in. I'm seeing more and more white self-loathing out there.

Pretty convincing evidence there is a long way to go.