Two different (and well-meaning) people sent me Prof. Tim Wise's recent article on "White Privilege and the Election" (see http://www.alternet.org/rights/98915/what_privileges_do_mccain_and_palin_receive_because_they), which alleges that "white privilege" is THE problem -- even, apparently, the central issue of this election.
What I want to know is this: when people in this country start making noise about "equality," why don't they ever want to be equal to people like you and me? Have you noticed that they always want to be equal to Bill Gates or -- God help us -- Donald Trump?
Well, guess what: I want to be equal to those fat cats, too. Where do I sign up? I'm as white as they come, but I'm not privileged -- and that's the real flaw in Wise's entire thesis. The problem is not "white privilege" so much as privileged whites, and the behavior of so many of them over the last thirty years.
One of our bad habits in this country is to say "equality" when what we are really talking about is "transfer of privilege."
