I've been reading all these posts about white privilege and I was going to stay out of this debate, but I've changed my mind.
I keep reading how wonderful and perfect life must be for me since I'm white. I'm sure it is for some white people,but for those who weren't born with a silver spoon in our mouths, it's far from perfect. I don't dispute that many people of other races have it hard dealing with white bigotry and I think it's very wrong. I also know that racism is very alive and well, even in the liberal bay area.
I grew up in a middle class minority majority area. I didn't get any extra points in life because of my skin color. If anything, being white in some instances worked against me. It meant being singled out for physical and verbal abuse by people of other races. Every other race will defend members of their race from attackers of other races. Whites didn't. Why? Because our society considers it "racist" to band together for being white. We must have done something to deserve these attacks by people we didn't know. Some whites will even cheer on the attackers since it's politically correct to be on the side of the person against a white person. Nothing like self hatred.
You hear constantly of sterotypes and unfair portrayals of other races in the media and entertainment industry. I agree these are wrong. However it's ok to make white males look stupid on TV and in the movies. NEVER snyone else. It would be racist. White males are cause and enablers of all the world's problems.
I'm not complaining, more like telling it how it is. I've been stopped and harrassed by police officers as well as followed around in stores. It's not just black people that are unfairly treated this way. In addition, I've been the victim of reverse racism in employment and education. Yet I've worked hard and done what I can to overcome these obstacles.
What's really funny is that I could go to some of the predominately white affluent parts of the bay area, and I wouldn't be automatically accepted either. I don't dress or talk like them and they know I'm not from there. And soon as I mentioned where I was from, I'd instantly be labeled as "poor white uneducated trash" even though I'm far from that. These people don't like non-whites and they don't like whites not of their income levels. It's their sheltered ways of thinking.
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