WHAT IS “WHITE PRIVILEGE” AND HOW DOES IT AFFECT US?

“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.