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Articles that sparked arguments with my parents, natch.
I'm 29. I don't see myself ever owning a house, let alone a second one. I'll acknowledge my relative privilege- I grew up solidly middle class with two professional parents. and I'm educated/continuing in my career path. https://twitter.com/BreeNewsome/status/1287021246132125696
I'm 29. I don't see myself ever owning a house, let alone a second one. I'll acknowledge my relative privilege- I grew up solidly middle class with two professional parents. and I'm educated/continuing in my career path. https://twitter.com/BreeNewsome/status/1287021246132125696
Still, if I want to live as a black man in a safe, progressive, cosmopolitan part of the US where I wouldn't have to fear as much raising a family- it'll be nearly impossible for me to pay for a home.
One heavily overlooked aspect of white privilege is freedom of movement.
One heavily overlooked aspect of white privilege is freedom of movement.
Even outside of the usual economic disparities between black and indigenous people of color (as well as other POC) in comparison to white people- my white friends in the same economic/professional space as me don't have to worry about racism, police misconduct, or other factors.
I have friends who have moved to places in America where I'm scared to visit. Because the danger isn't there for them. When I have visited them, it has often been the only time they've been cognizant of the experience I have as a black man navigating their spaces.
Three of my best friends live in segregated, southern cities with histories of differential treatment and negative outcomes for black men. Two of them have had lynchings recently. All are Dem enclaves, and the friends in question are between progressive and socialist. Still....
They moved for jobs, or for school, and didn't really care. They didn't have to go on forums, ask people if they "had people there", look up policing records or to see if any Black men had been killed there. It was a nonfactor and it's something I cannot imagine.
When I visited (a year ago to this day) my closest friend from community college- a teacher in suburban Dallas- it was the first time that she'd noticed the segregation, the sets of questions l, the following in stores- the brandishing of open carried weapons. My experience.
In spending time with me- she didn't have as much of the shield of her whiteness. She'd never gotten dirty looks in stores or been asked "so, what's your business with him?" in restaurants. She hadn't ever been pulled over by a cop "just checking, because the car isn't yours".
As soon as I returned to NJ, I knew that she wouldn't experience that differential treatment by association anymore. But she still can live in a space that is cheaper than NJ, without any drawbacks- because she is white. She doesn't have to worry about these other factors, ever.
Meanwhile: I can't see myself living anywhere that doesn't have liberal representation, that isn't near a diverse population center, or in a space that is overwhelmingly white. So much of that is fear-based, and it's a point of frustration.
I know I'm going to pay much more, just to be in a space that is marginally safer for my black body. Yet it STILL won't magically be perfect, because racism/differential treatment occurs everywhere in this country, just slightly less in some places. Call it harm reduction.
A lot of my white friends were genuinely surprised, growing up in NJ- that some towns were deemed as 'racist towns'. Because it doesn't affect them- even though the towns has a long documented history of redlining and lily-white schools. Looking at you, most of Morris County.
When a Chatham cop followed @TokenBlackNerd and I on the way back to D&D one night in 2013 after a food run and pulled us for driving while Black- my white friends "didn't think that their area would be so racist".
When I had a crush on a college friend who lived in a very rich, white suburb in the hills of Morris county- she was shocked to realize that I'd get pulled over and questioned by cops every time on the way to or back from her house, because 'i didn't look familiar'. Privilege.
I know this thread is getting long- but my point is: so much of white privilege is not having to worry about basic parts of life: especially where you choose to live.
To my white friends: ask yourselves- why are your towns and spaces so white? What can you do to change that?
To my white friends: ask yourselves- why are your towns and spaces so white? What can you do to change that?
