Originally Posted by
Guisslapp
We are talking about “systemic racism” and its corollary “white privilege”. These are not individualized concepts such as individually held beliefs of prejudice or (white guilt). In fact, the very act of attempting to tie the two concepts of prejudice and system racism together is dismissive to the reality of systemic racism/white privilege and perpetuates the “second tier” status that POC face here and elsewhere.
Sure, prejudice remains, but that is not even the main problem that we are talking about. It is the act of pretending that our experiences as white and black Americans that are the same that, in effect, reinforce beliefs that “black culture” are to blame for the very real struggle that POC face. Talking about black culture/breakdown of the family unit/etc sound convincing to white people (and even some black people), but such arguments actually inflict racial stereotypes that fail to account for the very real systemic racism that contributes to the black experience being different from the white privilege we enjoy.
I have had this conversation many times, and I have been on your side of the argument. It takes awhile to start to truly empathize with the plight of POC (at least it did for me). Some of this is an effort to avoid guilt - which is not what you are being asked to do - no guilt is involved. Some is also an affinity to the argument that rural or poor whites also face disadvantage. That is a discussion that we can properly have too - but when you tie it to issue of systemic racism it only serves to perpetuate systemic racism.
Btw, Trump is incapable of undertstanding systemic racism because he has no empathy. He is a psychopath. I don’t expect everyone on BBB to understand either, because there are a few that lack the capacity for true empathy - statistically that has to be true.