Updated: Aug 23, 2022
White privilege as a tool for learning is acknowledging how white people have benefited from the oppression of people of color as a society.
White privilege as an affliction is the misconception that white people’s racism does not exist or that at an individual level white people might not be racist so white people are therefore not responsible for the racism of others.
The system of white supremacy is a result of the collective actions of white people. As such, all white people benefit from white privilege.
Who is anyone accountable for if not to each other? Only themself? Privilege is only holding oneself responsible to oneself.
The concept of privilege allows the line of self preservation to become muddled in greed if confused with entitlement rather than a blessing. There is nothing wrong with doing what is best for oneself. There is something wrong with screwing someone else’s life up to do it.
When people stop thinking about how what they do (or allow to happen) affects others, they begin to do things like make it legal to imprison others for money.
Funny how white people do not want to address their white privilege when it was created for and by white people. It is almost like white people cannot be confronted with their own actions.
It is as if people know taking responsibility for the role of white privilege in criminal justice is accepting they contributed to something wrong. What is more important? Hiding an issue or fixing it?
The first step is admitting there is a problem. The next step is making amends. After that the only thing there is to say is do better.
Links for Thought + Action = ?, Parts 1 - 4:
1. New Orleans Police Appear to Use Surveillance to Initiate Investigations
2. The Truth About Juvenile Crime in New Orleans
3. Letters: Plan to experiment on Louisiana inmates is disturbing; implants not approved by FDA
4. Is ‘Abolish Prisons’ the Next Frontier in Criminal Justice?
5. Dozens of ICE Detainees Were Pepper-Sprayed by Guards for Protesting at a Louisiana Jail
7. Asylum Seekers Housed at Louisiana Private Prison Named in Abuse Scandal
8. People Are Trying To Donate To Detained Migrants. Border Patrol Won't Accept It
10. A firsthand report of ‘inhumane conditions’ at a migrant children’s detention facility
11. ‘There Is a Stench’: Soiled Clothes and No Baths for Migrant Children at a Texas Center
13. Lawyers say children are going weeks without adequate food and sanitation at border detention site
14. Multiple Health Crises Break Out Among ICE Detention Centers
15. Trump Administration Argues Detained Migrant Children Don’t Need Toothbrushes, Soap
16. US opens new mass facility in Texas for migrant children
17. Trump Administration to Hold Migrant Children at Base That Served as WWII Japanese Internment Camp
18. Camp is Always a Bad Idea: An Op-Ed
19. Bank of America Will Stop Financing Private Prisons and Immigrant Detention Companies
20. 4 Arizona Women Convicted for Leaving Water for Migrants
21. Federal prisons must now provide free tampons and pads to incarcerated women
22. South Florida felons owe a billion dollars in fines — and that will affect their ability to vote
23. How a 1992 Rent-A-Center contract and an outdated warrant landed a man in the Orleans jail
24. Pa. Judge Sentenced To 28 Years In Massive Juvenile Justice Bribery Scandal
26. How Mass Incarceration Takes a Toll on the Environment
27. The Connection Between Mass Incarceration and Environmental Justice