Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Does a Fish Know It's "Water?"

Image result for white privilege cartoon
Other than the proselytizing part, I could have composed this.
"The problem isn’t that I am white, or male, or Christian or American. The problem is that this culture teaches me consciously or subconsciously to believe such accidental traits make me superior to people who aren’t like me.
It isn’t my fault I was taught a version of history where white people like me felt a duty to colonize and “civilize” other peoples. I was told not to ever speak of the trail of blood white people like me had left behind. I was told such imperialism is for their good.
It isn’t my fault every movie I saw as a child starred a male hero who rescued a helpless female. It did not occur to me that women might not need or want such dehumanizing help. I was told it is for their own good.
It isn't my fault I was taught a version of religion where other people are said to be born lost and must be recast into the image of Christians like me. I did not learn about the torture and violence resulting from that strange evangelism. I was told forcing my Christianity into the public square is for their own good.
It isn’t my fault I was taught my nation has a right, even a duty, to violently interfere in the internal affairs of other nations. I learned not to read the literature or newspapers from other lands. Such interference, I was assured, is for their own good.
It isn’t my fault that I was taught these kinds of cultural narcissism, but it is my solemn duty to unlearn them."
~ Jim Rigby, Minister, St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Austin, TX

White privilege is so deeply inscribed in USer culture that its influences are ubiquitous, and irresistible until a certain age and level of experience begins to reveal the injustice in which one has unknowingly been participating--or one does not experience it; and as such, it might be described as "genetic" in the national ontology.

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