The video on White Privilege amazes me. Tim Wise who is a White male and assumably middle class is calling himself and his peers out. I feel that because of those factors, this makes the video that much more effective. If the person lecturing was a female minority, would people just roll their eyes and dismiss the message they were trying to portray? They would probably think they were just "another one" complaining about inequality.
Initially, I wonder why Tim Wise has decided to invest so much time into this topic given the fact that he is his a "privileged White male." I commend him and believe he must genuinely care about straight facts and strong morals. His main focus is the inequalities between Whites and Blacks in the U.S.A. When Wise addresses the beginning of White Privilege, he discusses the White elite giving the poorer White class some land to control them and at the same time convinces them to create slaves out of Black people. The wealthy White people used the sparkly image of power to control people. As soon as someone got a taste of power, they wanted in on the deal no matter what it took. So someone had to suffer and it was going to be the slaves who weren't White.
Money, power, and greed has controlled everything historically and presently. White men were the first ones to get their hands on those controlling factors and they have not let them go since. The facts about Katrina were new to me and the White families receiving the privilege of being able to pass down their homes and land strictly to their relatives only was their way of controlling where Black people can or cannot live is disturbing. I was recently in New Orleans and I could literally feel the tension between White and Black people in most areas. I know the south has always had a lot of racial tension, but since Katrina a lot of the unresolved have resurfaced.
The video is very intense and Tim Wise brings up a lot of interesting points, most of which I believe are true. Is the battle between races ever going to change for the better? I'm not saying there has been zero progress, but I still believe there is still a very long way to go and who knows if there will ever be an end, ever.
“Until the philosophy which hold one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned...
Everything is war. Me say war.
That until the're no longer 1st class and 2nd class citizens of any nation...
Until the color of a man's skin is of
no more significance than the color of his eyes, me say war. That until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race me say war!”
-Bob Marley
Link to video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2mjvFNOwmc
Like you, a song came to mind that I included in my post. Thank you for that! I agree it was an interesting speech from Tim Wise. There used to be a cartoon on TV when I was a little girl many years ago: Underdog. The villain in the cartoon would always say: "Money and power; money and power!!!" as he was endeavoring to conquer the world. Of course he would lose each time, thanks to Underdog. Whenever I hear/read about any entity striving to have power over another, this villain's voice comes to mind. As I think about it, it always seems that that is the primary quest of any villain. However, I don't think all whites are villains and hope that that is not a misconstrued conclusion. Because whites have inherited so many privileges, we have a responsibility to help bring about change that is long overdue. I appreciated this point in the closing remarks that Tim Wise made. I'm not sure how we are to accomplish this, however. I'm wondering what you think needs to happen in New Orleans to remedy the issue you witnessed. Is it a one-sided issue or are both races at fault.
ReplyDeleteI also wrote about the video and the impact it had on me. I really like how you related the message from the video to the Bob Marley quote. “Until the philosophy which hold one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned... Everything is war." I think this statement really speaks to the heart of the problem. I also really like how Tim Wells ended his video talking about the responsibility we have to end this problem. It is important to remember that we need to eliminate a superior race altogether not just fix the inequalities that one race experiences.
ReplyDeleteEmily
I think the video was very moving. Mr. Wise was a very compelling speaker. I think he did a very good job of creating moving images in the audiences mind, and you do an excellent job of connecting these to music. I think the references to Katrina are also interesting. I've found some of these issues to be more disturbing since my school was a relocation "home" for quite a few of the kids. These kids AND the parents have had a tremendously difficult time adjusting and I can't seem to figure out why. One of the strangest things to me is that they don't want to be here, and they clearly don't want to be there either (and not just because of the destruction.) I definitely don't have an answer to why they are so unhappy here, I'm just curious as to whether or not anyone else has experienced this.
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