for those of you that are still confused: this is what white privilege looks like 

[Reddit thread comments.

Oooh-yea Forgive my ignorance. What is the difference between being poor and white and poor and black in America?

TSOD I can chime in here as a white person who grew up in a poor area that was primarily black.

The main advantage was that when it came to school, I was treated much better by the (primarily white) teachers. I did my fair share of stupid shit but compared to my black friends, I was always given more leeway and teachers went out of their way to accommodate me in hopes that I’d “make it”. It was never anything huge, but the effects were pretty obvious to everyone, including my friends. I was always brought up as a candidate for special field trips or after school programs that really helped me make it out.

When I was acting like a shithead, I would be called in, told I was “better than that”, and sent back to clas. My best friends would do the same thing and get suspended, written up etc. It was easier for me (and I think white people overall) to get into accelerated track (although I do need to track down a source) which made it much easier to get the college-prep education I needed to move on.

In other areas of life, it also affected my family and I. We would routinely carpool with our neighbor to the grocery store, and the looks we got using food stamps and the looks they (being black) got were very different. My dad was never pulled over randomly while driving through our own neighborhood, and I was never stopped randomly by cops while walking. These things have happened to black family friends of ours, resulting in some of my friends getting in legal trouble for having weed on them. Might it have been random chance? Maybe. But it’s more likely that they saw a white kid and just didn’t have the subconscious connection to the idea that I was a criminal.

I can’t say that being white completely changed my life, but being poor and white was much easier than being poor and black, at least in my case. And not all of these things can be 100% confirmed as due to race. But in my honest experience, it more than likely was.

dratthecookies Just to add to this, and not meant to be negative towards you at all, but I think it’s funny that no one believes racism is real until a white person talks about it. If a black person said this, they’re be whining and “blaming white people for their problems.” How funny that you can’t even talk about your own life experiences without being treated like you’re lazy and a liar. Racism is so pervasive.]

I was on Reddit and found a couple comments on how our skin color makes it more difficult for us than others in the exact same situation.

The third and last comment really is definitely true as well

I want all of my white followers to read this very carefully. Racism is more than just screaming epithets and shouting ‘white power’ at people. Read this and digest it. Process this fucking information. I don’t care if you ‘get it’ or not. Just read this shit.

May Day Protests in Seattle...

I am not diminishing the presence of Black anti-capitalists at this protest, I recognize that there are plenty of Black anarchists fighting for what they believe in. HOWEVER the media/police response to this event is surrounded in white privilege. There may have been plenty of Black protesters and other non-Black POC but the main face of these marches were white and because of that, the response was very different. 

The response was not Ferguson or Baltimore, and the language used was certainly toned down. “Protesters” and “marchers” not “thugs” and “savages.” No state of emergency declared. No tanks. No guns fired from the police. No snipers posted. No curfew. No denying children school access for weeks. 

Instead there were police on bicycles. Protesters threw bricks, flares, rocks, and molotovs at police and how extreme was the response? Some pepper spray? There were people physically attacking police and you watch the cops simply push back and let them go on their way. 

Now, this is not to say that I agree with extreme police response. But we have to acknowledge the obvious difference when the crowd is overwhelmingly Black versus overwhelmingly white. We have to recognize the coded language used when covering these news stories. 

When we march for Black lives we are not only labeled differently and treated differently, but we are arrested. Less than 10 people were arrested in Seattle. Meanwhile hundreds and hundreds were arrested in Ferguson. Hundreds and hundreds were arrested in Baltimore. Warrants were still being issued a year later. There’s a huge difference here when the bodies are mostly white. 

Once again, I am not saying that I agree with the police action in Ferguson and Baltimore. I am not saying that these protesters should face police violence because we do. I am not saying anything like that. It’s just important to see the differences, especially when so many anarchists want to tell us it’s not about race. Or that we’re all equal out there, because we’re not. You’re held off by bikes, we were held off by tanks and snipers and riot gear.  You’re treated differently and to ignore that and pretend it doesn’t exist is racism. 

the distinction between “crafts” and “fine art” is probably driven by misogyny and the devaluation of women’s labor

art forms that have traditionally been practiced by women like embroidery are devalued and called just “crafts” while art forms that women historically were mostly barred from (painting, sculpture) are “fine art”

It’s also hella racialized. For a long time Indigenous arts were devalued as crafts

Which is weird because men apparently have no imagination, are practical and women are more emotional, so wouldn’t we be better at art inherently? Hmm…

COLORISM EXISTS

Light-skinned black people do not experience the same level of oppression as other DARKER black people.

We cannot combat racism without first acknowledging the degrees and complexities of it. There are levels to racism, some black people have it worse than other black people, and that’s a fact we have to acknowledge and fight to change.

Colorism is a very real issue and needs to be discussed more openly.

Colorism is internalized racism.

The Nightly Show, September 15, 2015

They’ve learned since the last time, and are trying to smother the movement in the cradle.

Re: Sick and tired of hearing “source?” or having to explain white privilege and systemic racism? [reformatted]

Hello all! This is a reformatted version of this post originally compiled by randymusprime​.

On Preparing for Arguments… Identifying and Avoiding Logical Fallacies

On White Privilege & Systemic Racism… 7 Facts That Prove White Privilege Exists On Racism and White Privilege The New Jim Crow Where White Privilege Came From White Privilege from Taking Action Against Racism Denying White Privilege White Privilege: An Insidious Virus 1 in 3 Black Males Will Go to Prison in Their Lifetime What is a ‘System of Privilege’? White Privilege 101 Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack 14 Examples of Systemic Racism in the US Criminal Justice System Black Student Graduation Rates Young Black Men and Gun Violence Operation Ghetto Storm Top 10 Most Startling Facts About People of Color in the US Racial Profiling in Vermont DoJ Stats Show Clear Pattern of Racial Profiling OK, fine. Let’s talk about ‘black-on-black’ violence. Why Police So Often See Unarmed Black Men as Threats

On the Difference Between Racism and Prejudice… Toward an Understanding of Prejudice and Racism Ferguson Cops More Inept Than Strategic 10 Simple Ways White People Can Fight Everyday Racism Ferguson’s Massive Cover-Up How Moral Leaders like MLK Approach Neutrality Why It’s So Hard for Victims to See Justice America’s Stop-And-Frisk Policies Proof of Racism Examples of Institutional Racism in the US On Why White People/Americans Are Afraid to Admit Racism Exists… The Racism That Still Plagues America Why We’re Still Unwilling to Admit to Systemic Racism in America Why American Racism is Impossible to Defeat

On Reverse Racism… A Look at the Myth of Reverse Racism Why Reverse Racism Isn’t Real Why There’s No Such Thing as ‘Reverse Racism’ Enjoy my lovelies, and feel free to add to this post or to the original!

- Mod D

don’t forget that african-australians are also routinely subjected to arbitrary force and racist mockery at the hands of police

ecstatic-peace:

You’re white, ecstatic-peace. You’ve never had to fear for your life upon seeing the police. Instead, you grow up thinking that they’re your best friends. That’s your privilege. You’re lucky that you feel you can trust them. You don’t really get a say here.

Let me list for you some instances of police brutality IN AUSTRALIA.

(warning for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples: the below text and links contain names and images of Indigenous persons now deceased):

There are many more stories like those listed above.

The police are being extremely peaceful, polite and professional here, right?!

Racism is global. Talking about police brutality in Australia is extremely relevant and you’re ignorant if you believe that anything is any better here.

Anyone who thinks that *their* country isn’t as racist as America needs to take a close look at their prison population. If it’s disproportionately full of black and brown people in a mostly white country, then guess what: your country IS racist. Same with disproportionately hiring less people of color for good paying prominent jobs, disproportionately suspending children of color in schools, housing discrimination, etc. All that doesn’t just somehow happen on its own. That’s structural racism

The amount of things that some white people tell themselves to convince themselves that their country isn’t racist, despite clear evidence right before their very eyes, is endless

Australia? Not racist? In what universe?

You are a bunch of white people running a country that isn’t in Europe. Your country is racist as fuck you fucking invaders.

Our country is founded on violence and invasion, we have had slavery, we held Jewish people in camps during WWII, our immigration policy is designed to kill people, we are in constant violation of the UN’s Convention Against Torture, the stolen generation, our police are violent and corrupt and this corruption has been publicly exposed many, many times. 

Stop lying. Australia has always been racist, always been violent and ignoring it only makes it worse. 

“That isn’t in Europe” – Europe is also full of white supremacy and racism, though. Like, this is a global problem. To the person who said Australian police are polite and friendly: kindly look into how USA police treat white people. By and large, they’re polite and friendly to us, too. You cannot judge how violent or racist police are – society is – by how white people are treated. Cannot. Which is why as white people we will always be absolute shit at judging whether racism “exists” around or not. Our privilege protects us from it. We need to listen to what everyone else is saying about how the police and society treats them.

Just to reiterate the most important line in this whole discussion, for white people at least:

“You cannot judge how violent or racist police are – society is – by how white people are treated. Cannot.”

Re: Sick and tired of hearing “source?” or having to explain white privilege and systemic racism? [reformatted]

Hello all! This is a reformatted version of this post originally compiled by randymusprime​.

On Preparing for Arguments… Identifying and Avoiding Logical Fallacies

On White Privilege & Systemic Racism… 7 Facts That Prove White Privilege Exists On Racism and White Privilege The New Jim Crow Where White Privilege Came From White Privilege from Taking Action Against Racism Denying White Privilege White Privilege: An Insidious Virus 1 in 3 Black Males Will Go to Prison in Their Lifetime What is a ‘System of Privilege’? White Privilege 101 Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack 14 Examples of Systemic Racism in the US Criminal Justice System Black Student Graduation Rates Young Black Men and Gun Violence Operation Ghetto Storm Top 10 Most Startling Facts About People of Color in the US Racial Profiling in Vermont DoJ Stats Show Clear Pattern of Racial Profiling OK, fine. Let’s talk about ‘black-on-black’ violence. Why Police So Often See Unarmed Black Men as Threats

On the Difference Between Racism and Prejudice… Toward an Understanding of Prejudice and Racism Ferguson Cops More Inept Than Strategic 10 Simple Ways White People Can Fight Everyday Racism Ferguson’s Massive Cover-Up How Moral Leaders like MLK Approach Neutrality Why It’s So Hard for Victims to See Justice America’s Stop-And-Frisk Policies Proof of Racism Examples of Institutional Racism in the US On Why White People/Americans Are Afraid to Admit Racism Exists… The Racism That Still Plagues America Why We’re Still Unwilling to Admit to Systemic Racism in America Why American Racism is Impossible to Defeat

On Reverse Racism… A Look at the Myth of Reverse Racism Why Reverse Racism Isn’t Real Why There’s No Such Thing as ‘Reverse Racism’ Enjoy my lovelies, and feel free to add to this post or to the original!

- Mod D

Thank. You.

WHEN WHITE WAS GLORIFIED AS BEING BEAUTIFUL NOBODY HAD AN OPINION. NOW THAT WE'RE SAYING THAT BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL ALL OF A SUDDEN WHITE PEOPLE CARE ENOUGH TO SAY THAT EVERY COLOR AND ETHNICITY IS BEAUTIFUL.

THEY FUCKING WENT THERE.

omg

tonight on twitter. this trend is golden.

being referred to here is uk’s slavery abolition act of 1833

“Get over it!” “We’re all human!” “My great great grandfather was a nice slave owner!”

Status Quo politics preserve the power and privilege. Remember, conservatives hate change, they will do anything to ‘conserve’ their advantages.

Yeah, we need some kind of 3rd party organization that is responsible for keeping the cops accountable for their actions. “Internal affairs” is a farce, it’s cops investigating other cops.