by Julio Rivera
I am sick and tired of hearing about “white privilege.” It has become the go-to buzz phrase for Caucasian social justice warriors seeking a participation trophy for their self-assumed part in “the struggle” of racial and ethnic minorities in America.
Ever since one of America’s foremost angry victims, Brooklyn native Peggy McIntosh, published her self-hating anti-white manifesto, White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, the seed of accepted racism by all races against whites has grown to the point where it is a generally accepted practice by the clown college currently jockeying for position in 2020 Democratic presidential primary.
Of white privilege, former Texas congressman and noted gringo Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke remarked on NBC’s “Meet the Press”: “As a white man who has had privileges that others could not depend on, or take for granted, I’ve clearly had advantages over the course of my life.”
O’Rourke is probably confusing “white privilege” with the fact that his race-obsessed political party assisted him in carrying out an identity-politics ruse over the years designed to make him a more palatable candidate when winning his heavily Mexican-American congressional district in 2012, 2014, and 2016.
Or he could be confusing “white privilege” for the fact that despite his repeated attempts to portray himself as an “everyman,” his elite social status as the son of county judge Pat O’Rourke allowed him to avoid jail time for a burglary at the University of Texas at El Paso and for attempting to flee the scene of a DWI in which he caused considerable damage.
That had nothing to do with color, however, as we’ve seen numerous examples of elites of color avoiding jail time for crimes ranging from failing to pay millions in taxes (Al Sharpton), to staging and playing up phony crimes (Jussie Smollett and Sharpton again).
The Playground of Liberal White Politicians
We’ve also seen Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) attempt to claim the mantle of “white privilege whisperer,” at the July 31 Democratic debate. “I can talk to those white women in the suburbs that voted for Trump and explain to them what white privilege actually is,” she said.
Thanks, Senator Gillibrand. Not for articulating any necessary explanation of a real phenomenon that actually has an effect of race relations in America, but for continuing to engage in the same inaccurate and divisive rhetoric that is almost guaranteed to ensure another four years of the Trump administration.
Gillibrand, who dropped out of the race on August 28, had the audacity to say of white mothers in the suburbs, “When their son is walking down the street with a bag of M&Ms in his pocket, wearing a hoodie, his whiteness is what protects him from not being shot. When their child has a car that breaks down and he knocks on someone’s door for help and the door opens and the help is given, it’s his whiteness that protects him from being shot.”
Gillibrand’s conjuring of the imagery of the infamous “stand your ground” shooting of Trayvon Martin in Florida not only irresponsibly ignores the facts of the case, but her repeating of the ridiculous assertion that white people are looking through the peepholes on their doors, guns cocked, waiting for a person of color to ring the doorbell is reminiscent of the kind of language used at times by former President Barack Obama, in rolling back 50 years of racial progress in America.
Golf clap anyone?
A Dangerous and Condescending Game
As the rest of the sane-minded world continues to roll their eyes at increasingly ridiculous assertions from the unhinged Left, the dangerous language contained in McIntosh’s magnum opus continues to have influence three decades later, particularly the line, “Being of the main culture, I could also criticize it fairly freely.”
This line of thinking has not only let politicians like O’Rourke and Gillibrand spout off about white privilege, but it has also infected a growing number of celebrities, such as comedian-activist Chelsea Handler. Her recently released Netflix documentary called “Hello Privilege, It’s Me Chelsea,” is an unnecessary and self-absorbed attempt at exoneration for what she considers to be a career built on advancement due to the color of her skin.
The fact that she feels, whether justifiably or not, that she was the beneficiary of certain breaks during the course of her career based strictly on the color of her skin displays her inherent belief that white people are superior to people of color. Whether that belief is conscious or subconscious, the fact that she is so openly apologizing for “getting over” on people that she alone has deemed unworthy of such breaks says more about her personal feelings about race than it does about supposed societal ills.
Is it just me, or does her apologies for her success project a complete lack of confidence in her talent as a comedian?
Another equally puzzling question is whether or not she is oblivious to the rich and storied history of black comedians in America. I mean, the hottest and most controversial comedian in the country today is none other than Dave Chappelle. Is she ignoring the success of Chappelle and others?
Touting her documentary, Handler had the gall to say, “Everyone should watch it. Especially you, Mr. President.” That would be the same President Trump who has done more to empower blacks economically than any other president in our history, including the first black president, Barack Obama.
One of the many symptoms of Trump Derangement Syndrome is a pronounced detachment from reality. It seems, based on Chandler’s assertion that the president has something to gain from the Netflix snooze fest, that TDS shares overlapping symptoms with those afflicted with another disorder known as “Unsolicited White Guilt.”
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Julio Rivera, editorial director at ReactionaryTimes.com, is a small-business consultant based in New York City.
Photo “Beto O’Rourke” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.
