Comments on: The First Encounter (of Many)

By: Taylor Beckman

Taylor Beckman — Sat, 22 Oct 2016 21:09:03 +0000

The fact that you had to deal with this situation is unfortunate, but you were skilled to handle a comment such as his. In response to your question, I think that a main characteristic of White privilege is that it affords the White person to not have to think about how their comments might have racial implications. They are privileged to not have to speak to police officers in an overly polite and passive way in fear of being misunderstood. It might be that White parents do not teach their children about the oppression of people of color because they do not experience it firsthand. I was taught by my parents to treat everyone with the same respect in a way similar to colorblind ideology, which we have recently discussed how problematic this can be. I think it is the responsibility of all parents to teach their children about power and privilege, but this would assume that they are aware of its existence. If children were made aware to check their privilege in social situations, then maybe this comment would not have been made.

By: Victoria Marsala

Victoria Marsala — Sun, 16 Oct 2016 02:54:04 +0000

This friend of yours definitely seems to have instilled in him a just-world hypothesis, which may be due to either 1) a lack of education and exposure, or 2) his need to buffer/ease cognitive dissonance that he may have about the fact that he does know bad things can still happen to good people, including POCs who work just as hard if not harder than White Americans. I tend to find this among a lot of my friends as well, and trying to explain to them why that’s not the case can be very frustrating. I think you raise a good question, and I think a good White ally should definitely address that in conversations with their kids. I hope in your conversation with him you were able to shed some light with some of what we’ve learned in class as to why what he said was problematic, and even if it didn’t totally get through to him the exposure to accurate information is at least a good jumping off point.

By: brittanysmith2

brittanysmith2 — Sat, 15 Oct 2016 18:07:18 +0000

I remember the article that you’re describing from Facebook because I think I shared the same one, which I felt like pretty accurately and concisely reflected what we’ve learned in class so far. I think your friend’s perceptions are symbolic of the larger issue of belief in meritocracy in our country despite large systemic inequality. I also think it was really admirable of you to have such an open and honest conversation with your friend, particularly because, due to your identity, these are not only academic issues but personal experiences for you as well.