White privilege

by Dee Gibney, Hamilton

Something I am sick of hearing lately is White Privilege.. According to an article I read it is an advantage that protects white people against any form of discrimination related to their ethnicity and race. Ethnicity is defined as a group of people who identify with each other based on common ancestral, social, cultural or national experiences.

Race is a category of humankind that shares certain distinctive physical traits.

Well that can describe almost any country in the world as many countries share distinctive physical traits and ancestral and cultural experiences.

I grew up where we had groups of different nationalities, from black to Jewish, to Italian, Irish, German and Polish. Each of these groups of people also at one time or another experienced discrimination based on their looks and cultural background. P.S. also based on their last name! If you have not grown up in the East especially in the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s you will not have any idea what i am talking about.

But, i have seen prejudice against each of these groups through out my life time and it did not matter what the color or ancestral background they came from in the past. Many of these groups were poor, went to schools of lesser quality, had slurs thrown at them, denied jobs because of nationality or looks and had to overcome struggles many do not face today.

My father could not speak English when he first started Grammar School and no one in the educational system spoke his language nor did he get any special interpreter! He had to learn English quick. Because his family came from another country, he was considered dumb and called ethnic slurs by others and teachers alike. He had to work hard at school and later in life to overcome the disadvantages he experienced in life. So there is not anyone group of people who can claim poor me! The advantages for any adult and child today are far greater than any of us who are older have had in the past.

Saying someone had white privilege is labeling any white person unfairly and is racist! You don’t know what their background was nor what they may have had to contend with in life. I am sick of the Liberal college professors and now our school systems trying to divide our country if you don’t like it here please leave. We are a melting pot that has become melted together and we need to get along, not regurgitating hateful meaningless rhetoric thought up by the liberals to divide and destroy this country.