At what point does a person stand up and say enough? Every one of us possesses a unique limit that triggers reason. Unfortunately, that trigger is so far up the bar for the average white liberal that no amount of logic can reach it. Modern liberalism is heavy on ideology and light on reality. These people never seem to amaze me with their mindless babbling. Social conservatives sometimes get under my skin, but nothing like a modern, ill-informed, college-aged, self-professed liberal.
White privilege is a term that has a growing, cancerous chorus that has a chilling effect not only on speech but on the pursuit of happiness itself declared in one of the greatest documents ever written. Today, I read this article https://medium.com/@johnmetta/i-racist-538512462265 that a friend had posted on social media. The author makes some fair points. I always try to at least understand someone whom I fervently disagree with's point of view. I try to put myself in their shoes and make an honest effort to see through their eyes. While I will never truly know what it's like to be black in America, I can at least admit that on some levels that institutional bigotry exists. I, myself, am a bigot. Ironically, my bigotry came about from the institutional polices put in place by the generation before mine. Affirmative action, in its various forms, perpetrated my distrust of the system as a whole. You see, when I was in high school, I was constantly and relentlessly heckled, belittled, and humiliated by the black students. When they would start something with me and I defended myself, I would be punished and they would walk free. They could take a swing at me in front of an administrator and they were simply told to go to class; where if I were to block said swing and fire back, I was sent to the office where I would serve time in the ISS gulag. I was taught that because my race was responsible for the atrocities committed against another race, that I was guilty by association. One time, I was told to write my thoughts down concerning my problems with the black students, and when I did, I was fucking punished for that too. So the author of aforementioned article offers no reprieve, let alone any suggestions for correcting our current course. He states his opinion and would have all white people believe that even though you're not personally racist, you're still a racist.
I disagree. Again, I'm a bigot. On some level, we all are whether you want to admit it or not. I could care less really, it's your cross to bear. I steadfastly reject the notion that I'm a racist. I read words on a literal level. The term racism gets thrown around so loosely that it has lost its meaning. I do not believe that any one race is genetically inferior to another. I do believe, however, that certain cultural traits give folks pause in certain situations; which makes me a bigot. I exercise an extreme amount of caution when I'm in certain parts of town; which makes me a bigot. I have completely stopped going to Braves games all together because the amount of violent crime in the area of Turner field makes it not worth the risk to my life, limb, or property; which makes me a bigot. At night when I see someone in hoody with his hands in his pockets walking towards me, I consciously put 15 to 20 feet of lateral space as we pass; which makes me a bigot. I enjoy crude, racial humor from every race. I laugh the hardest when black comedians rip on white stereotypes; which apparently makes everyone involved a bigot. I could go on, but you get where I'm going.
All that said, it is really getting on my fucking nerves that a large segment of society believes what little success I've achieved in life so far is because I'm white and I have white privilege. I grew up as poor as they come. I didn't have much, but I had enough. I had an intact family unit that gave me my work ethic and ambition. Work ethic and ambition are not white-only traits. Intact family units are not for whites only. I decided at a very young age that being poor sucked balls so when I became an adult, my number one goal in life was to fix that. I am far from being rich. Money still gets tight. But even after coming out of a school system that actively discriminated against me because of my race, I own a home and a new car along with other material belongings that are outrageously expensive. I sacrificed my social night life for two years to go to tech school on the Hope Grant that anyone, regardless of color, can get. It was me, not white privilege. When I get stopped by the police, they always have a hand on their taser or firearm, I am asked to get out of my vehicle and am almost always unlawfully detained while they threaten me and try to bully me into performing an illegal search on my vehicle. An Atlanta police officer told me point blank one time that he wouldn't of hesitated to kill me had he known immediately that I was (legally) carrying a firearm. So I would appreciate it if someone could call the local metro police departments and tell them that I'm supposed to have white privilege
I guess in closing I can say that I don't have the answer to our boiling over race issues in this country. All I can do is tell my story. I don't want sympathy, I'm not blaming victims. I simply want to live my life with as much personal liberty as possible. I will never accept that I am responsible for someone else's problems. I will not accept blame because someone failed in life and decided that I am somehow the problem because of my race. MTV has a new show in which white people are belittled and shamed because of the sins of their fathers. Without a doubt, there will be hoards of guilty white liberals crying right along the side of these fucking idiots. So sit back and prepare to listen to this horseshit for the rest of your lives, folks. It's only gonna get worse. Captain Positive signing off....
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