“White Privilege” is more than just the acknowledgement
that, on the average, whites have more money and education than blacks. (For
that matter, Asians have us all beat, and perhaps they should. They study more
a least twice as much as do others.) Wikipedia defines this concept more
robustly, as do others:
·
White privilege denotes both obvious and less
obvious passive advantages that white people may not recognize they have, which
distinguishes it from overt bias or prejudice. These include cultural
affirmations of one's own worth; presumed greater social status; and freedom to
move, buy, work, play, and speak freely. The effects can be seen in
professional, educational, and personal contexts. The concept of white
privilege also implies the right to assume the universality of one's own
experiences, marking others as different or exceptional while perceiving
oneself as normal.
This definition, as do others, suggests that whites look
down upon non-whites. Whether they do this more than other groups is highly
debatable. Instead, surveys have indicated that blacks have a higher
self-esteem than whites, and they commit suicide at a rate of almost three
times less than whites.
In any event, “white privilege” has been used as a battering
ram to shame whites, reasoning that they have been enjoying their privileged
status at the expense of blacks. As a result, universities require whites to
attend “white privilege” (WP) seminars, racial reconciliation groups often
require white participants to recognize that their duties begin by listening
and adopting the WP, “systemic racism” narratives. They must atone for their WP
by also acknowledging that they no longer have a right to speak about these
issues. Nor does the humiliation stop there. These malleable youth are then
called upon to become “allies,” who then prove their allegiance by joining
their black tutors in their pursuit of “social justice.”
The key question is why do these youthful whites submit to
this degraded and unequal status? What do they derive from this form of self-hating
masochism? Absolution from their “guilt” and the offer of a virtuous identity,
which, to some extent, has been stripped from them! Black Lives Matter (BLM)
offers these fledgling social justice warriors (SJWs) a ladder by which they
can now achieve a sense of value and worthiness, as does any cult, which
proclaims, “We are superior to others,” the new racism.
However, to depend upon anyone for our value is psychological
slavery. It forces us to tow-the-line and to constantly seek the approval of
those who grant us our value. Once we try to pursue an independent course, approval
is replaced by scorn and condemnation.
But are these SJWs truly helping their black brethren in the
long run by adopting their narrative of victimization and “systemic racism?”
Many black conservatives have argued persuasively that, by reinforcing this dysfunctional
identity, SJWs have caused the black community more anguish than had Jim Crow. In,
“Shame: How America’s Past Sins have
Polarized Our Country,” Shelby Steele argued that White guilt, the terror
that Whites experience of being labeled a “racist,” has harmed the Black
community:
·
It has spawned a new white paternalism toward
minorities since the 1960s that, among other things, has damaged the black
family more profoundly than segregation ever did.
·
Post-1960s welfare policies, the proliferation
of “identity politics” and group preferences, and all the grandiose social
interventions of the War on Poverty and the Great Society—all this was meant to
redeem the nation from its bigoted past, but paradoxically, it also invited
minorities to make an identity and a politics out of grievance and inferiority.
Walter E. Williams, professor of economics, George Mason
University, does not think that the problems that the Black community are now
experiencing are a product of slavery, Jim Crow, or even systemic racism, but
of welfare programs, white guilt, and “political correctness”:
·
A major part of the solution should be the
elimination of public and private policy that rewards inferiority and
irresponsibility. Chief among the policies that reward inferiority and
irresponsibility is the welfare state. When some people know that they can have
children out of wedlock, drop out of school and refuse employment and suffer
little consequence, one should not be surprised to see the growth of such
behavior. The poverty rate among blacks is about 30 percent. It’s seen as
politically correct to blame today’s poverty on racial discrimination, but
that’s nonsense. Why? The poverty rate among black intact husband-and-wife
families has been in the single digits for more than two decades.
According to economist Thomas Sowell, the Black community had
been far better off before white liberalism had gotten a hold of them:
·
Many things that are supposed to help blacks
actually have a track record of making things worse. Minimum wage laws have had
a devastating effect in making black teenage unemployment several times higher
than it once was.
·
In later years, as the minimum wage was
repeatedly raised to keep up with inflation, black teenage unemployment from
1971 through 1994 was never less than 3 times what it was in 1948, and ranged
as high as more than 5 times the 1948 level. It also became far higher than the
unemployment rate of whites the same age.
What does “white guilt” and BLM need? The same thing as the
rest of us! They need to know that they are loved and washed entirely clean of
their sins by Christ’s payment of our sins and the love we receive through
faith. This is an empowering love that has transformed the lives of many
millions and has freed them from the opinions of society and its oppressive
power to value or to devalue us. When we know that we are beloved by our Savior,
we have the courage to live according to our God-given conscience and to
take-a-knee to the only One who really matters.
Knowing that He will always be there for us has enabled us
to face all the indignities of our malignant society and even martyrdom.
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