We try not to be racist, and we may not accept the concept of white privilege. But sometimes we say things that are racist and privileged. Those ideas are so ingrained in us that we don’t notice or understand the significance of what we’re saying. That’s why I found the Huffington Post article 6 Things White People Say That Highlight Their Privilege enlightening. I’ll list them here and you can go the article for an explanation of each.
1. “It’s not my job to fix racism because I’m not racist.”
2. “I don’t see color.” [Or, I might add, “I’m color-blind.”]
3. “There’s no need to worry about the police if you’re not doing anything illegal.”
4. “I don’t want to post about racism on social media because I’m scared of the backlash.”
5. “I don’t have white privilege.”
6. “I’m not sure when I should start talking to my kids about racism.”
Compassion in Social Media
People are frustrated by virus restrictions and political warfare. We’re so tied up in knots that some things that we’d normally take in stride become a major offense against us. Like someone not picking up after their dog or giving a handout to a homeless person or having an opinion contrary to our own. So we express it on social media. And the tirades against us for what we’ve said pour into our “comments” section. Which adds to our feelings of unfairness and being personally attacked. In the process, we’ve missed an opportunity to build up the human family, failed to protect its members. Instead, we can try to understand what the poster is feeling, especially since we’re feeling just as frustrated and powerless. We can respond not with attacks but with “I’m sorry this is happening to you” or “I disagree but understand your position.” These are difficult times, times when our responses need to be compassionate and empathetic, not angry, vicious, and dismissive.