White commentary on race is hardly irrelevant, nor is it unwarranted.
The idea that there is a privilege accorded to people who have whiter and lighter skin is an interesting one, and regardless of whether or not there is a privilege afforded by skin color alone, it hardly negates that person’s right to speak.
Austin Zoot’s Sept. 17 article “A Column About Nothing,” suggests that the first and only requirement to have a valid opinion on race or identity is to be a “person of color.”
I suspect that Zoot discounts white commentary because of the fabled white privilege.
It would seem that white people do have some kind of privilege, just not the kind we might first imagine.
White people are, more than anyone else, at higher risk of being accused of negative bias toward Zoot’s “people of color.”
Imagined or real, petty or prominent, there doesn’t seem to be a statute of limitations on these offenses either.
Don’t believe me? Just ask Paula Deen about her dismissal from the Food Network.
Deen said the word “nigger” years in the past and was somehow still punishable for it today.
White people also have the privilege of having savage and brutal murders ignored by national media outlets.
Don’t believe me? Let’s ask Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom.
Unfortunately, we can’t. These two white people were brutally gang raped, murdered execution style and then their bodies desecrated after the fact.
Did I mention that the attackers are black?
If you haven’t heard of this case before, I don’t blame you.
The attackers’ motivation is not explicitly clear, but the point is that the Christian-Newsom murders have been “invisible” on national news networks.
Nothing spells privilege like having nightmarish victimizing crimes ignored by national media.
Ignoring crimes because the victims aren’t the right color is an unfortunate consequence of newsroom and readership dynamics, but to say that a person has no valid opinion because of skin color is a truly despicable crime.
— tcbuhls@indiana.edu
The idea that there is a privilege accorded to people who have whiter and lighter skin is an interesting one, and regardless of whether or not there is a privilege afforded by skin color alone, it hardly negates that person’s right to speak.
Austin Zoot’s Sept. 17 article “A Column About Nothing,” suggests that the first and only requirement to have a valid opinion on race or identity is to be a “person of color.”
I suspect that Zoot discounts white commentary because of the fabled white privilege.
It would seem that white people do have some kind of privilege, just not the kind we might first imagine.
White people are, more than anyone else, at higher risk of being accused of negative bias toward Zoot’s “people of color.”
Imagined or real, petty or prominent, there doesn’t seem to be a statute of limitations on these offenses either.
Don’t believe me? Just ask Paula Deen about her dismissal from the Food Network.
Deen said the word “nigger” years in the past and was somehow still punishable for it today.
White people also have the privilege of having savage and brutal murders ignored by national media outlets.
Don’t believe me? Let’s ask Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom.
Unfortunately, we can’t. These two white people were brutally gang raped, murdered execution style and then their bodies desecrated after the fact.
Did I mention that the attackers are black?
If you haven’t heard of this case before, I don’t blame you.
The attackers’ motivation is not explicitly clear, but the point is that the Christian-Newsom murders have been “invisible” on national news networks.
Nothing spells privilege like having nightmarish victimizing crimes ignored by national media.
Ignoring crimes because the victims aren’t the right color is an unfortunate consequence of newsroom and readership dynamics, but to say that a person has no valid opinion because of skin color is a truly despicable crime.
— tcbuhls@indiana.edu
