Being White is Unfair
The thing about noblesse oblige is that guilty rich people can allay some of their guilt by giving money to charity, or starting foundations, or advocating redistributive policies such as the "Buffett Rule."
But what redress exists to ease the burden of white guilt? To the chagrin of a group calling themselves the "Un-Fair Campaign", sponsored by the University of Minnesota — Duluth, it's simply not possible to transfer one's own whiteness to those whom the cosmos cursed at birth with the affliction of a higher concentration of melanin. So the Un-Fair Campaign's solution? Confessing their guilt upon their faces with black Sharpie.
In the video, we white folks learn that we're "privileged" to be white, "privileged that people see us and not a color", "privileged that we don't get stared at when we walk into a room," and "privileged that society was set up for us." (What does it mean for a society to be "set up", anyhow?)
The problem with this approach is that those decrying how wrong it is to see a color instead of a person are the very ones insisting on labeling themselves and others (with a Sharpie, no less!) by color. As one student at UMD wrote in response to the campaign, "It may be drawing awareness to factors that we might otherwise not pay attention to, but it's creating a gap between people. It's only making people more racist on both sides."
Update: A senior at UMD (and sibling of a Ricochet Member) sent me the following note:
The Unfair Campaign has [a] feel that I think is off-putting. I'm interested in hearing what they have to say, but when I read into their reasoning, I feel as though I am being accused of actively perpetuating a problem simply because I am white. Perhaps there is a conversation worth having [about racism], but placing it in the context of ‘dismantling white privilege’ is frankly demotivating.
I would be more interested in building underrepresented people up than deconstructing ‘over privilege.’ I hesitate to get involved in the conversation at all for fear that my skepticism that ‘white privilege’ is the problem will be misconstrued as racism. I believe I am not alone in that fear. This is a sensitive subject and the current framing of it is polarizing.
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Comments:
Aug '11
Re: Being White is Unfair
It seems the message is that the only way to feel good about yourself is to feel bad about yourself. Proudly.
Jun '11
Re: Being White is Unfair
If this were a tweet, it would win tweet of the week. Brilliant.
PS, isn't this of a piece with what the Hollywood morons do when they go to Europe or some such place and decry how bad America is?
Aug '11
Re: Being White is Unfair
I can't even process this. Or as they say in internet-meme-speak: "What is this I don't even."
Mar '11
Re: Being White is Unfair
I hear ya... Racists Against Racism?
Are they asking for forgiveness? Am I supposed to ask for forgiveness? Should I spend tomorrow afternoon in the hot sun with a low SPF?
Aug '11
Re: Being White is Unfair
I think this is one of those areas where absolution is granted merely by "raising awareness." And the neat thing is that if you "raise awareness" you don't actually have to do anything. Ego te absolvo.
Jul '11
Re: Being White is Unfair
People like this are a breed apart and make no sense.
Mar '11
Re: Being White is Unfair
Unfair?
Maybe. But perhaps not in the way you think.
Jun '11
Re: Being White is Unfair
Having now watched this video, I am praying that the Obama campaign, with its normal finger on the pulse ability, picks this up and runs with it.
May '10
Re: Being White is Unfair
Winning The Future?
Jun '12
Re: Being White is Unfair
Am I the only one who has noticed they don't offer any solutions? Maybe that's because there are none. What am I supposed to do...stop being white?
It's been right around 40 years since a persons race was a factor for me...strangely enough, that's just about the time I moved Right.
Jul '10
Re: Being White is Unfair
Whitewash
May '10
Re: Being White is Unfair
I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize to short people. I will let you fetch the stepladder to get things off the high shelves from now on.
So unfair.
May '12
Re: Being White is Unfair
I didn't think the Left could top their insanity after the 'Dear Woman' video last year but this is just outstanding. Tim Wise (the man responsible for this) has really outdone himself with this campaign. He's making comedy writers jobs too easy.
Aug '11
Re: Being White is Unfair
The way they toss around the word "lucky" really sets me off. It's of a piece with the belief that no one ever succeeded on his own. Anyone who succeeds is simply "lucky." Hard work is never a factor. Education is never a factor. It's all about "luck."
I'm happy that many of the comments at Diane's link express a very negative view of this ad campaign. It gives me hope.
Aug '11
Re: Being White is Unfair
THANK YOU! I've been trying to find that again. (For reasons of mockery.)
EDIT: Ugh . . . I watched it again . . . now I feel very, very ill.
Edited on June 22, 2012 at 12:35amJun '12
Re: Being White is Unfair
DrewInWisconsin
THANK YOU! I've been trying to find that again. (For reasons of mockery.) · 0 minutes ago
"Always bet on stupidity."
Babylon 5
Aug '10
Re: Being White is Unfair
"privileged that people see us and not a color"
Yes...this is exactly what I experienced during the 5 years I lived in Crenshaw. No one ever saw a color and not a person...[/sarc]
"privileged that we don't get stared at when we walk into a room"
Right...no one stared at me or threatened me with violence during a screening of a film when some one else reported them for smoking in the theater. They didn't just look at the white guy and assume, they were thoughtful. [/sarc]
and "privileged that society was set up for us.
Exactly...the fact that my mother died of Heroin addiction, that I was the victim of physical abuse, that my family lived in another family's camper trailer when we were homeless..those are how well society was set up for me. Good job society! [/sarc]
Re: Being White is Unfair
Words fail me.
Nov '11
Re: Being White is Unfair
Look at me. Look at the guilt written on my face. Look at how sensitive and caring I am. Look, it's all about me.
Sep '10
Re: Being White is Unfair
Yeah, run a commercial rubbing "white guilt" in Americans' faces, that will help Obama a lot.