This Is Your Nation on White Privilege

No. Not everyone who is planning to vote for John McCain is a racist. And voting for Obama does not make racism a thing of the past.

I think what Obama's candidacy has brought to center stage, more than anything, is not the tradition of racism and dualistic thinking from which this country has suffered for a long time. We already know about this. Obama's candidacy, in other words, has not opened people's eyes to overt discrimination. That is not news in 2008, and in fact I believe the U.S. has made improvements to mitigate discrimination in its raw form since the civil rights era of the 1960s.

Rather, Senator Obama's candidacy has really raised questions about privilege--white privilege, that is: a phenomenon alive and well in this country, albeit officially undiagnosed in many parts. Recognizing that white people take certain things for granted that people of color cannot does not make you a racist; instead, recognizing white privilege makes you simply honest in your attempts to eradicate racism once and for all.

We DON'T all have to look alike; we DON'T all have to be "colorblind" (as if that were possible or desirable). But we DO have to be conscious of structural violence that embeds social inequity and injustice along racial lines throughout our society. And Tim Wise's Sept. 13th article addresses that in relation to this 2008 presidential race better than anyone else I've heard. Please take 6 minutes to read his lucid thoughts on the subject.