As a white woman who studies the function of power structures that utilize the rape and murder of women and other minorities as a tool to maintain dominance, power and control, I gotta say this:
Being anti-white privilege is not synonymous to being anti-white people. Being anti-systematic, institutional violence is not being anti-people who are police officers. Being anti-militarization of police officers that cultivates internalized racism is not being anti-people who are cops who entered the field to genuinely try to help others. Being aware of the power dynamics between police and citizens and being critical of the displaced authority that is given in spite of all of the above issues — those are the root issues that everyone needs to be thinking about, contemplating, wrestling through and chewing on in order to better understand our society’s and criminal “justice” system’s history, and what its function and purpose has subsequently lent itself to becoming today.
Let’s attack the system that relies upon white male privilege to dictate its laws and actions, recognize that it breeds tangible consequences and become more aware of how this ideology embodies itself through government constructed spaces and institutions and inadvertently upheld and supported by everyday people like you and me.
Again, as a white person, it’s definitely my responsibility to take ownership, acknowledge and seek to become more actively aware of and learn how to fight against the privilege I have. And though I will be nowhere near guns in my career — hopefully, at least, my fear stemming from the not uncommon recurrence of shootings, including the recent tragedy here at UCSB — I will assume a power position that uses a red pen to determine someone’s grade within an entirely different screwed up institutionalized system — education. And that authority complex, institutionalized, systematic racism, sexism, classism, ableism, etc. and governmental power dynamic exists there too because it is structurally built within its very core.
However, when guns allotted to kill others are supplied in quantities that only the military are authorized to use and contain, I think it is well worth commanding our attention to and becoming critical of police forces. The lack of empathy and integrity that police regularly display is a consequence of capitalism and the profound dissonance that lies between humans and their humanity.
We live with a broken justice and prison system that capitalizes upon the arrest, incarceration and liquidation of women, people of color, and the impoverished — and that is what we aim to change.
Sincerely,
Natalie Holstead
“Being anti-white privilege is not synonymous to being anti-white people.” Except that white privilege comes from a white identity, which is a label the individual cannot choose, so you are directly attacking a person’s identity based on something they have no control over. This is why white people hate it so much when you tell them to check their privilege. You are using aggression against another to make your point, even if that aggression seems necessary. Instead of trying to fix the system by fixing individuals (which you are doing when you say check your privilege), we should be fixing… Read more »
Only White people are expected to have a morality which does not include our own existence.
Actually, she was critiquing whiteness as structure of power and framework of privilege in our society. It does not necessarily refer to white skin, however it is usually perpetuated by white people and generally affords whites advantages to the direct disadvantage of people of color. White privilege creates a culture that makes it easy for whites not to acknowledge racist structures. To combat white privilege, we must actively work on unlearning this ignorance and educate ourselves to confront the issues. This is what she means by “check your privilege.” Obviously you can’t change the skin you are born with and… Read more »
The August 9, 2014 shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO by Officer Darren Wilson was the origin of a national myth. Myths are sacred stories that serve to explain the world view of a people. They often originate as distorted accounts of real historical events that storytellers repeatedly elaborate on until the primary figure in the account achieves the status of a saint or a god. A culture’s myths provide a sense of identity, shared lifestyle, affirm beliefs and values and are expressed in symbols and rituals. A national myth is a fictional narrative that omits important historical details,… Read more »
That might be the longest way to say “I disagree” I’ve ever seen.
There are 193 white on black murders every year. There are 448 black on white murders. There are 2447 black on black murders. If there is an assault on black lives, it is a self-inflicted wound.
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cj…
Arafat- Firstly, it’s fine if you need to quote the definition of “national myth” from Wikipedia, but please, put it in quotes. Don’t try to pass it off as your own words. You do have a point that the Michael Brown shooting has become a national symbol of racism, police brutality and social injustice. The minute details and specific facts of the case may be argued about at great length, however, due to our limited perspective that is filtered through what is revealed by the media, it is impossible to ever know the truth of what actually occurred, despite our… Read more »
“If there is an assault on black lives, it is a self-inflicted wound.” In case readers missed it, according to this equation, then: If there is sexual assault on women, it is a self-inflicted wound. If there is starvation amidst the impoverished, it is a self-inflicted wound. If there is violation of human rights against undocumented workers, it is a self-inflicted wound. If there is a tuition raise for students who are already in debt, it is a self-inflicte wound. If there isn’t someone to sleep with a sex-hungry guy, violent crimes – much like the one at our school… Read more »