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Trayvon Martin and Making Whiteness Visible (The acknowledgement of "white privilege")
Time Magazine ^ | July 17, 2013 | Eric Liu

Posted on 07/18/2013 11:10:35 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

If there is one hopeful note amid all the anguish and recrimination from the acquittal of George Zimmerman, it’s that growing numbers of white people have come to appreciate whiteness for what it is: an unearned set of privileges. And as a result of that dawning awareness, it’s become possible to imagine a day when that structure of privilege is dismantled — by white people.

Recall that immediately after the killing of Trayvon Martin, people of every race took to the Internet to declare “I am Trayvon Martin.” They wore hoodies. They proclaimed solidarity. That was a well-meaning and earnest attempt to express empathy, but it also obscured the core issue, which is that Martin died not because he was wearing a hoodie but because he was wearing a hoodie while black. Blackness was the fatal variable.

And so now, postverdict, a more realistic meme has taken root. On Tumblr and Facebook and elsewhere there is a new viral phenomenon: “We are not Trayvon Martin” (emphasis mine). Huge numbers of white Americans are posting testimonials and images to declare that it is precisely because they are not black that they have never had to confront the awful choices Martin faced when Zimmerman began to pursue him.

This isn’t about empathy or the posture of equivalency that empathy can tempt us to assume. It’s about owning up to the unequal privilege of being nonblack and saying, in essence, “I am George Zimmerman.” And because I am George Zimmerman, I get to have my fears trump reality. I get get-out-of-jail-free cards. I get a presumption of innocent victimhood, no matter what my own acts or attitudes....

(Excerpt) Read more at ideas.time.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: blackrage; blacks; holder; racecard; trayvon; whites; zimmerman
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

The writer, as an Asian, what is the privilege he enjoys in America?

Is he hunted why by white hispanics like Zimmerman?

Is he routinely stopped and frisked?

Is he watched diligently inside department stores for the threat of shoplifting?

Do people lock their car door when he walks across the street?

Do bartenders ask him for proof of age when he has gray hair?

And why do none of these things happen to our Asian writer, because he is not white, yet enjoys white privilege?


61 posted on 07/18/2013 11:40:54 AM PDT by Titus-Maximus (Light from Light)
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To: MrB
"....empowered to express it now."" INDEED! Empowered and ENCOURAGED
62 posted on 07/18/2013 11:41:40 AM PDT by MeshugeMikey
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To: MrB
I think his advice stemmed more from the idea of tactical safety ie you should not show your weapon unless you were ready to use it and that any hesitation might allow your opponent an opportunity to bear their own weapon or disarm you.

He stated it to me in the sense of being an absolute for emphasis of his point but I know he didn't mean it to literally be an absolute. It would be quite possible to see a reversal of mindset in the aggressor in that split second and take control of the situation without firing. But the onus should be on their behavior to alter a decision you have already made. Communicated quickly and unambiguously! lol

63 posted on 07/18/2013 11:43:40 AM PDT by TigersEye ("No man left behind" is more than an Army Ranger credo it's the character of America.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Yep. We’ve reached the part of this where it’s starts to get really easy to not care.


64 posted on 07/18/2013 11:44:08 AM PDT by moehoward
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

The unearned privilege of being railroaded by the media when defending yourself. The unearned privilege of having other less qualified people get the job you are trying for because they are not your skin color. The unearned privilege of being beaten to death in your retirement years because you are not black. And other such wonderful things...


65 posted on 07/18/2013 11:44:55 AM PDT by American in Israel (A wise man's heart directs him to the right, but the foolish mans heart directs him toward the left.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
We'll still be granted the unique privilege of being the only race that can be racist.

I'd give them one "Get off my lawn!", and consider that more than generous.

66 posted on 07/18/2013 11:45:04 AM PDT by tacticalogic ("Oh, bother!" said Pooh, as he chambered his last round.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Using the Left’s logic, what would anyone named Liu know about being white?


67 posted on 07/18/2013 11:45:22 AM PDT by skeeter
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To: MeshugeMikey

“Trayvon was a fun-loving child. .” said Tracy Martin
___________________________________________

Yeah its fun to play with guns
and get high on drugs
and beat people up
and break into houses and steal...
and get suspended from school
and attack law enforcement
and bash gays...
(we wouldnt want to forget that fun-lovin virtue..)


68 posted on 07/18/2013 11:46:45 AM PDT by Tennessee Nana
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

more like the reveal of the quest for black supremacy

the three fold strategy to silence and control white people.

1. yell racism at every white person you disagree with
2. use threats of violence
3 A. make a huge deal over it anytime a white guy is alleged to have committed a crime against a black person.
3 B. completely ignore the more commonplace black person committing a crime against a white person.


69 posted on 07/18/2013 11:52:11 AM PDT by Cubs Fan (EVERYTHING IS RACISM!!! except hating whitey)
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To: RoosterRedux
I earn my White privilege by working hard and acting like a good citizen. A Black person can have the same privilege.

BTTT!!

A lot of blacks do that too...but they're "Uncle Toms", not down with the struggle and sheite.

70 posted on 07/18/2013 11:54:01 AM PDT by Las Vegas Ron (Rats vs. GOPe = Same train, different speed.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Contrarywise, blackness is assuming the mantle of dysfunction over the obvious success of the American norm.


71 posted on 07/18/2013 11:55:32 AM PDT by Uncle Miltie (The Tipline for Zimmerman's Inquisition is: Sanford.florida@usdoj.gov ... Use it.)
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To: massgopguy

However, Asians are not allowed to compete freely in the UC system because too many of them quality, and they have to make space for “minorities.” So Lui why don’t you give up your next gig to a deserving Mark Lamont Hill or Dr. Hill as BOR respectfully calls him. That would be fair.That will give him some of your white privilege.


72 posted on 07/18/2013 11:57:06 AM PDT by lulu16 (May the Good Lord take a liking to you!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I am decidely NOT Trayvon Martin. I am a white man. To the degree I think about it at all, I am proud of being a white man. My so-called “white privilege” includes the privilege of getting up every day and going to work and doing my job so I can get paid. It also includes the “privilege” of paying for hordes of ghetto spawn that DON’T work and DON’T get paid but who spend their days preying on me, my family, my friends, and my race.

My ancestors were given the “privilege” of farming a section of hardscrabble prairie in South Dakota. They did. Raised a family there. Taught their children and their children’s children old-fashioned values of thrift and hard work. My “privileged” father worked dawn to dusk in a slaughterhouse while my Silver Spoon mother luxuriated in a job as a bookkeeper and sold women’s shoes part time. Whenever the yacht was in drydock, she’d cook and clean for four sons and her husband.

I worked my way through high school, tech school, and college. Now, with what little the government lets me keep of my own money, I’m trying to put two daughters through college.

So thanks for the “privilege,” but frankly, I’ll pass.


73 posted on 07/18/2013 11:59:52 AM PDT by IronJack (=)
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To: IronJack

Bump, thumbs up, +1, etc!


74 posted on 07/18/2013 12:00:39 PM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

1. Doesn’t it suck that racist white people, any time they see a black person walking the streets late at night, automatically fear that person because they think black people are more likely to be thugs? Obvious manifestation of white privilege.

2. Doesn’t it suck that sexist women, any time they see a man walking the streets late at night, automatically fear that person because they think men are more likely to be rapists? Obvious manifestation of female privilege.

/sarc


75 posted on 07/18/2013 12:02:28 PM PDT by PapaBear3625 (You don't notice it's a police state until the police come for you.)
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To: House Atreides

I’ve seen a lot of Time magazine’s resting on the top of other people’s commodes.


76 posted on 07/18/2013 12:02:39 PM PDT by lulu16 (May the Good Lord take a liking to you!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

A latino man posing as a white man has the idiots convinced the rest of the morons yet?


77 posted on 07/18/2013 12:04:30 PM PDT by ronnie raygun (Yesterdays conspiracies are todays truths)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Same here to H*ll with them. Attack me as "The Trayvon" attacked Zimmerman then expect the same result.

What the complainers about the verdict really mean when they complain that the Zimmerman verdict was "unjust" is that any white resisting any physical assault by a black should be punished to the full extent of the law. I will not be a slave to a black impulse! I'm hoping others feel the same.

78 posted on 07/18/2013 12:05:02 PM PDT by AEMILIUS PAULUS (It is a shame that when these people give a riot)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I’m wondering when the anti-white pogroms are supposed to start?


79 posted on 07/18/2013 12:15:33 PM PDT by MeganC (A gun is like a parachute. If you need one, and don't have one, you'll never need one again.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Time Magazine has been a voice for Leftist agitation, since the 1930s.

This is par for their historic "mission." Because they have writers who manage a decent cadence, and cover a wide variety of subjects of public interest, they continue to draw readers. But they remain what they have been.

William Flax

80 posted on 07/18/2013 12:18:02 PM PDT by Ohioan
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