I think there's a massive misunderstanding of what 'privilege' is, whether that's 'white privilege' or 'economic privilege' or 'health privilege'. The over simplification of human behaviours down into any one facet of identity is problematic. You run the risk (as has happened) of pitting competing privileges against each other. When a black man meets a white woman and they have an altercation of some sort - who has the privilege? At the moment the pendulum would spring towards 'Karening' the white woman - I don't think that will last. I see the entire concept of white privilege as hugely alluring (because it does exist) but a philosophical non-starter, because it's so easily rebutted or muddied. I don't think I've muddied the water too much here - and anyone who reads my work and goes away more racist than when they arrived, isn't reading it properly.
My work is a rejection of identity politics, most of what I write can also be found written down by Steve QJ, which is where a lot of 'woke' people have a huge level of cognitive dissonance, he's a black man writing about the problems inherent with the current way we conceptualise race discussions - that makes him unchallengable by woke white folk. I'd love to debate the man, but alas we agree too frequently.
Race does play a part in class mobility, but I would argue that is less true in the UK than in the USA. We have a complicated and nuanced class system here - and the wholesale 'copy and paste' approach of US politics into the UK is problematic. Our demos shifted to the political right after Corbyn and our left-wing is trying to centralise itself. In appealing to the London metropolitian voter on key identity politics issues, Labour lost the heartlands (The North) and the white working class turned out in their droves to elect a bumbling blonde thundercunt with clear racist credentials. I'm not saying we should be stifling BIPOC voices, not at all, but we have to be somewhat careful about the law of unintended consequences. Nobody on the left wanted Johnson, but they were so busy fighting each other that his inexorable rise became inevitable.
Race is indeed a social construct - and I think the smart response to racism is to try and move 'skin colour' to be a recognition of melanin levels in the skin and no more. It needs to be seen the way we see height, there are certain privileges with being tall, and certain privileges with being short - but there's no judgment made after the observation. Neither racism or anti-racism offers this solution - as both centre race as the defacto central idea. I think both are making the world a worse place and we should return to an economic empowerment model for all and make a concerted effort to reduce systemic racism through law and limited social engineering. This would be especially effective if combined with a stable (rather than swinging) liberal democracy and well-funded community projects. Tax funded initiatives that take from the elites and fund the integration of groups of people who wouldn't normally meet. Socialism. Still a dirty word in the USA.
Such a view is considered to be 'upholding white supremacy' - a sort of linguistic backhand for 'racist'. I normally get referred to MLK's Letter from Birmingham, as if I haven't read it (I have) - but slow and steady progress has been made. You don't get from MLK to Barack Obama without significant in-roads in race relations.... much of that has been set back since social media started encouraging people to cluster together in ideological groups and listen only to people who support their world view. That happened for much of 2020 on this platform, where it was pretty much open season on every white man who ever existed. Some deserved it and some will always deserve it. The catharsis was palpable and necessary, but I'm not convinced it's making things better in the long run.
Great debate to have though, so thanks for stopping by and holding me accountable for my views. That's what Medium should be about.
