Listen now (9 mins) | Perhaps the best way for white people to celebrate Black History Month is to discuss with each other our white privilege, income inequality and institutional racism — and how to bring it to an end.
Michael, I am a 75yo woman who is embarrassed to be white. I have four grandchildren who are black or 1/2 black. They are the light of my life. I see and worry how they are treated one just got a drivers license. I will do anything I can to support your idea and please make the movie to get it started
I just moved to Connecticut about 5 years ago. Looking for something meaningful to do, I signed up to volunteer with the alliance on aging and was assigned to help an elderly woman who needed assistance. She can no longer drive because of an injury, lives alone, and needs help with groceries. I pick up her groceries once a month from the food pantry and bring them to her home. I call her on phone and visit regularly to make sure she's okay. I help her with some medical issues. Last summer I brought her vegetables from my garden which she really enjoyed. After struggling with red tape, I was finally able to get her a free cell phone.
I've been doing this for the past 2 years and will continue doing it until I am unable to.
She is 82. I am 79. She is black. I am not.
She is only one person that I can help, but it's something that I can do.
We are back to that "right to vote" legislation which is buried in Washington right now. Why is this even a thing? So we need legislation to tell a supposed democratic country "hey you might want to consider letting people vote". Seriously?
As a straight white woman, I made a New Year's resolution in 2016, to simply step outside my bubble.
Whenever I encountered a beautiful woman with a gorgeous hejab, or lovely locks; I would simply Complement her loveliness. No strings attached. I gave words to thoughts I have had for years.
I often kept quiet because I did not want to be misunderstood. Perhaps I kept quiet because I could lose my straight, white privelege. I have found that the honesty has opened up conversations both short and long, where I can Listen and Learn.
Privilege lost is not equivalent with Inisights Gained from reaching out.
Today, Republican political action committees and groups of white nationalists are working to ban books like those that tell the story of Ruby Bridges, Martin Luther King Jr., and other Black movement leaders in an attempt to exploit Black history education as a wedge issue.
“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never has and it never will.”
Michael, as usual you hit the nail on the head. We (white people) need to acknowledge our privilege, get past it, and DO something to change it. Just the fact that Black History was given the shortest month is telling. White privilege is so endemic that many whites can’t even believe it’s there. It is and WE must be the keys to real change.
I listened to “White Privilege II” it is my very first time hearing it.
I am a 72 year old woman who is trying to understand what in the hell is happening to our world. We are tearing society apart by allowing the injustices to humanity to continue while billionaires race to space ! The taxes the 1% should be paying would make a difference!
We are human beings each and everyone of us, we are exactly the same on the inside!
These days it is the size of your pocketbook that counts! The lies you can get away with!
What will it take to wake up the world? I don’t think there is too much time left to find that answer.
Thank you Michael for each and everyone of your podcasts! They calm me!
You are my trusted truth teller! I am proud to support you!
I know so many white people who are reading the books about anti-racism, joining groups that explore diversity, equity, and inclusion, AND who are rarely in spaces where they get to work the courage muscle of having hard conversations with other white people. They feel good about themselves because they read every book and join every discussion group. AND they live in their elite communities. Sigh. I have had people come up to me after speaking and tell me I am not going to change anything and they claim to be allies. I reject that idea. I believe that if I interrupt white supremacy, there will be impact. I believe.
Perfect timing (my post just disappeared, so I'm trying again). I needed more music for a presentation I'm doing for my husband's Unitarian Universalist fellowship ("Waking Up at 60"). I'm in this study and action journey for the rest of my life. I did have to look up the lyrics, as these 65-year-old ears don't hear as fast as some people sing/talk. And thanks for the Chris Rock story! Keep up the good work.
Michael, I am confused. Where did you get your statistics? The Pew research website shows Trump getting 46% and 47% of the vote in 2016 and 2020, respectively. I don't understand your stat of "60%+, twice." I find it ironic and confusing that for some reason, white people are supposed to make the movie about white people dumping their advantage and control. I would be surprised, that if a white person had already made that movie, there would be cries of outrage that a person of color hadn't been enlisted to do so. We are talking about leveling the playing field. If successful, that means that millions of people are going to lose power, opportunity, material security, and sense of safety, to name a few things. Not that it shouldn't happen. That isn't the question that is important here. I think the discussion needs to include EVERYONE involved. White men, White women, White non-binary, White SGBTQ, their black counterparts, their Asian counterparts, their Native American counterparts, their Moslem/Mid Easter counterparts, etc. AND the discussion needs to include what everyone will gain AND lose, how to approach the losses, and whether or not there will be an ensuing hierarchy that simply has different groups trade places on the Titanic. Primates, including Humans, have hierarchical social order, by nature. It can be transcended by prefrontal cortex efforts, but not easily. If there is inevitably going to be some kind of hierarchy of power and control, who is going to be the new "bottom"? The new "Butts"? Should we rotate every ten years? What is it that you think we can really accomplish besides stating that what we have is not fair and just. We surely know how to establish an unfair and unjust system, how to criticize it and how to demonize it. Do we really know how to create and maintain a fair and just social order given the psychology of human primates, and the dangers that freedom comprises?
White Privilege is money and power. Most whites don't have that and turn rabid because they "are delusional ". I'm going to sound like Whoopie - this is not about race - it is about the ability to raise money and power and give everyone else austerity - debt. "Little people" don't get money - corporations do. The 1% weaponizes racism, classism, sexism, fanaticism and hatred. We don't have capitalism in this country or the world for that matter - we have world oligarchy. 2020 was a decoupling of financial markets due to Covid - but the real hits came in 1929 and 2008 (bailing out of banks worldwide). You give the money to corporations so they can drive up their share price. Inequality for the many - politics (propaganda) to maintain this unsustainable economy for the few. We are ALL living on the reservation. Wake up.
My Pandemic Playlist #3: “White Privilege II” by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, featuring Jamila Woods
Michael, I am a 75yo woman who is embarrassed to be white. I have four grandchildren who are black or 1/2 black. They are the light of my life. I see and worry how they are treated one just got a drivers license. I will do anything I can to support your idea and please make the movie to get it started
I just moved to Connecticut about 5 years ago. Looking for something meaningful to do, I signed up to volunteer with the alliance on aging and was assigned to help an elderly woman who needed assistance. She can no longer drive because of an injury, lives alone, and needs help with groceries. I pick up her groceries once a month from the food pantry and bring them to her home. I call her on phone and visit regularly to make sure she's okay. I help her with some medical issues. Last summer I brought her vegetables from my garden which she really enjoyed. After struggling with red tape, I was finally able to get her a free cell phone.
I've been doing this for the past 2 years and will continue doing it until I am unable to.
She is 82. I am 79. She is black. I am not.
She is only one person that I can help, but it's something that I can do.
We are back to that "right to vote" legislation which is buried in Washington right now. Why is this even a thing? So we need legislation to tell a supposed democratic country "hey you might want to consider letting people vote". Seriously?
As a straight white woman, I made a New Year's resolution in 2016, to simply step outside my bubble.
Whenever I encountered a beautiful woman with a gorgeous hejab, or lovely locks; I would simply Complement her loveliness. No strings attached. I gave words to thoughts I have had for years.
I often kept quiet because I did not want to be misunderstood. Perhaps I kept quiet because I could lose my straight, white privelege. I have found that the honesty has opened up conversations both short and long, where I can Listen and Learn.
Privilege lost is not equivalent with Inisights Gained from reaching out.
Today, Republican political action committees and groups of white nationalists are working to ban books like those that tell the story of Ruby Bridges, Martin Luther King Jr., and other Black movement leaders in an attempt to exploit Black history education as a wedge issue.
“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never has and it never will.”
- Frederick Douglas
Michael, as usual you hit the nail on the head. We (white people) need to acknowledge our privilege, get past it, and DO something to change it. Just the fact that Black History was given the shortest month is telling. White privilege is so endemic that many whites can’t even believe it’s there. It is and WE must be the keys to real change.
Make the film! Pat Sax
I listened to “White Privilege II” it is my very first time hearing it.
I am a 72 year old woman who is trying to understand what in the hell is happening to our world. We are tearing society apart by allowing the injustices to humanity to continue while billionaires race to space ! The taxes the 1% should be paying would make a difference!
We are human beings each and everyone of us, we are exactly the same on the inside!
These days it is the size of your pocketbook that counts! The lies you can get away with!
What will it take to wake up the world? I don’t think there is too much time left to find that answer.
Thank you Michael for each and everyone of your podcasts! They calm me!
You are my trusted truth teller! I am proud to support you!
❤️🌻❤️
I know so many white people who are reading the books about anti-racism, joining groups that explore diversity, equity, and inclusion, AND who are rarely in spaces where they get to work the courage muscle of having hard conversations with other white people. They feel good about themselves because they read every book and join every discussion group. AND they live in their elite communities. Sigh. I have had people come up to me after speaking and tell me I am not going to change anything and they claim to be allies. I reject that idea. I believe that if I interrupt white supremacy, there will be impact. I believe.
Let's end the so-called war on drugs. You know its real targets, right? And how much it costs?
Powerful. I looked up the lyrics and learned even more.
Perfect timing (my post just disappeared, so I'm trying again). I needed more music for a presentation I'm doing for my husband's Unitarian Universalist fellowship ("Waking Up at 60"). I'm in this study and action journey for the rest of my life. I did have to look up the lyrics, as these 65-year-old ears don't hear as fast as some people sing/talk. And thanks for the Chris Rock story! Keep up the good work.
Well said
Michael, I am confused. Where did you get your statistics? The Pew research website shows Trump getting 46% and 47% of the vote in 2016 and 2020, respectively. I don't understand your stat of "60%+, twice." I find it ironic and confusing that for some reason, white people are supposed to make the movie about white people dumping their advantage and control. I would be surprised, that if a white person had already made that movie, there would be cries of outrage that a person of color hadn't been enlisted to do so. We are talking about leveling the playing field. If successful, that means that millions of people are going to lose power, opportunity, material security, and sense of safety, to name a few things. Not that it shouldn't happen. That isn't the question that is important here. I think the discussion needs to include EVERYONE involved. White men, White women, White non-binary, White SGBTQ, their black counterparts, their Asian counterparts, their Native American counterparts, their Moslem/Mid Easter counterparts, etc. AND the discussion needs to include what everyone will gain AND lose, how to approach the losses, and whether or not there will be an ensuing hierarchy that simply has different groups trade places on the Titanic. Primates, including Humans, have hierarchical social order, by nature. It can be transcended by prefrontal cortex efforts, but not easily. If there is inevitably going to be some kind of hierarchy of power and control, who is going to be the new "bottom"? The new "Butts"? Should we rotate every ten years? What is it that you think we can really accomplish besides stating that what we have is not fair and just. We surely know how to establish an unfair and unjust system, how to criticize it and how to demonize it. Do we really know how to create and maintain a fair and just social order given the psychology of human primates, and the dangers that freedom comprises?
White Privilege is money and power. Most whites don't have that and turn rabid because they "are delusional ". I'm going to sound like Whoopie - this is not about race - it is about the ability to raise money and power and give everyone else austerity - debt. "Little people" don't get money - corporations do. The 1% weaponizes racism, classism, sexism, fanaticism and hatred. We don't have capitalism in this country or the world for that matter - we have world oligarchy. 2020 was a decoupling of financial markets due to Covid - but the real hits came in 1929 and 2008 (bailing out of banks worldwide). You give the money to corporations so they can drive up their share price. Inequality for the many - politics (propaganda) to maintain this unsustainable economy for the few. We are ALL living on the reservation. Wake up.
Powerful piece of music