> > What is the difference between acknowledging white privilege and
>renouncing
> > the white race? Is renouncing the white race simply going a step
>further
> > than acknowledging white privilege, or is this something entirely
>different?
>
>i think we get into trouble with the verbs "acknowledging" and
>"renouncing." acknowledging white privilege is exactly what white folks did
>for hundreds of years--but they acknowledged it as perfectly legitimate!
>renouncing the white race is certainly an improvement but strictly
>speaking, its no better than, say, simply renouncing capitalism: the act of
>renouncing the white race may entail an ideological orientation but it is
>not, in and of itself, a political act.
>
>i don't mean to say that 'acknowledging white privilege' and 'renouncing
>the white race' are phrases to be avoided, not at all. only that
>terminological precision, as in all crucial matters, is important, that
>context is important, too, and that one must not simply substitute saying
>these things for political action.
I will try to give context to my use of the phase acknowledging white privilege.
I have be involved in protecting the environment. Once a man posted on an environmental listserve expressing his opinion that the environmental movement mostly benefited white middle class people, and he said the movement was racist. Naturally, I wanted to defend my own interest and position, and explained that I was concerned with all living things on the planet. This was a situation where I could have admitted or acknowledged that groups like the Sierra Club, or the Nature Conservancy tend to benefit more affluent predominantly white folks. The folks with the SUV's to get to these remote areas, the folks with money to buy all the hiking paraphernalia, the folks who have nice boots and LL.Bean!
By admitting and owning the faults of the environmental movement, I could have begun to discuss with this man situations where folks with very little political power are exploited by pollution. Where poor communities with stagnate economies buy toxic waste, allowing themselves to be dumped on. That time I missed an opportunity for coalition with another person, because I was busy defending my position with intangible Taoist one with the universe B.S.
Jennifer Young _____________________________________________________________________________________ Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com