re: #578 HappyWarrior

One thing I’ve noticed since my friend turned into a conservative meme post a thon is that conservatives seem to think we liberals want them to be guilty about the past. To me, it really isn’t that. I know you nor your parents or even grandparents owned slaves but the point is that the side-effects of slavery did and arguably still do exist well in to our lifetimes. As LH brought up, things like segregated neighborhoods aren’t that distant memories. So, yeah you didn’t own slaves and maybe even none of your ancestors did but that’s really not the point. The point is for years because of slavery we had a system that treated black people like second class citizens and many whites benefited from such a system.

Acknowledging that the past history of segregation and discrimination has present day effects would contradict their need to be self-made. And often Conservatives seem unwilling or unable to comprehend complexity. That’s why the most useful analogy is that White Privilege is like playing the game of Life on ‘Easy’. Anyone who’s played videogames will understand that!

Mind you, many will STILL cling to the belief that THEY are the biggest victims. I have repeatedly pointed to the University of Chicago study showing fictitious resumes with ‘black-associated’ names got 1/2 the callback rate of identical resumes with ‘white associated’ names in responding to job ads. Some folks get it, even admitting they get an emotional reaction to the name on a resume based on their own prejudices.

But you’ll also get the “Chicago, huh? Bet they knew what result they wanted before they started!” Or “You’re saying all those hiring managers are racists!” No subtlety. No ability to admit that they system is full of unintentional racism, that it might be harder for a black person to get a job than a white person with the same qualifications.

“Self made” is a HUGE thing for a lot of them. I was discussing this with one, pointing out he’d worked hard and earned his place, but also that he’d been fortunate. He was OUTRAGED!

Then he allowed as how his parents paid for his college, and helped him with Law School.

Asking them to acknowledge the cumulative effect of history? Yeah, good luck with that.