Thought + Action = ?: Part 4, Privilege

White privilege as a tool for learning is acknowledging how white people have benefited from the oppression of people of color as a society.

White privilege as an affliction is the misconception that white people’s racism does not exist or that at an individual level white people might not be racist so white people are therefore not responsible for the racism of others.

The system of white supremacy is a result of the collective actions of white people. As such, all white people benefit from white privilege.

Who is anyone accountable for if not to each other? Only themself? Privilege is only holding oneself responsible to oneself.

The concept of privilege allows the line of self preservation to become muddled in greed if confused with entitlement rather than a blessing. There is nothing wrong with doing what is best for oneself. There is something wrong with screwing someone else’s life up to do it.

When people stop thinking about how what they do (or allow to happen) affects others, they begin to do things like make it legal to imprison others for money.

Funny how white people do not want to address their white privilege when it was created for and by white people. It is almost like white people cannot be confronted with their own actions.

It is as if people know taking responsibility for the role of white privilege in criminal justice is accepting they contributed to something wrong. What is more important? Hiding an issue or fixing it?

The first step is admitting there is a problem. The next step is making amends. After that the only thing there is to say is do better.

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Links for Thought + Action = ?, Parts 1 - 4:

1. New Orleans Police Appear to Use Surveillance to Initiate Investigations

2. The Truth About Juvenile Crime in New Orleans

3. Letters: Plan to experiment on Louisiana inmates is disturbing; implants not approved by FDA

4. Is ‘Abolish Prisons’ the Next Frontier in Criminal Justice?

5. Dozens of ICE Detainees Were Pepper-Sprayed by Guards for Protesting at a Louisiana Jail

6. Breaking: Immigrants Pepper Sprayed and Possible Beatings Inside ICE Bossier Parish Detention Facility

7. Asylum Seekers Housed at Louisiana Private Prison Named in Abuse Scandal

8. People Are Trying To Donate To Detained Migrants. Border Patrol Won't Accept It

9. Hundreds of Louisiana inmates held in isolation, called 'torture,' for more than a year, reform group says

10. A firsthand report of ‘inhumane conditions’ at a migrant children’s detention facility

11. ‘There Is a Stench’: Soiled Clothes and No Baths for Migrant Children at a Texas Center

12. Leaked photo shows mass trial with 37 accused unauthorized immigrants — shackled hand and foot — being processed all at once

13. Lawyers say children are going weeks without adequate food and sanitation at border detention site

14. Multiple Health Crises Break Out Among ICE Detention Centers

15. Trump Administration Argues Detained Migrant Children Don’t Need Toothbrushes, Soap

16. US opens new mass facility in Texas for migrant children

17. Trump Administration to Hold Migrant Children at Base That Served as WWII Japanese Internment Camp

18. Camp is Always a Bad Idea: An Op-Ed

19. Bank of America Will Stop Financing Private Prisons and Immigrant Detention Companies

20. 4 Arizona Women Convicted for Leaving Water for Migrants

21. Federal prisons must now provide free tampons and pads to incarcerated women

22. South Florida felons owe a billion dollars in fines — and that will affect their ability to vote

23. How a 1992 Rent-A-Center contract and an outdated warrant landed a man in the Orleans jail

24. Pa. Judge Sentenced To 28 Years In Massive Juvenile Justice Bribery Scandal

25. Criminal Justice Facts

26. How Mass Incarceration Takes a Toll on the Environment

27. The Connection Between Mass Incarceration and Environmental Justice