An interesting article on diversityinc.com by Luke Visconti about why white people may not understand the ongoing struggles of Blacks.
My favorite pull-outs from the piece:
In my observation from personal experience, almost 100 percent of white people have almost no concept of the “struggle” that African Americans face today. They may think they do, but it’s not so.
… I watched Carson Daly and Wanda Sykes co-host a New Year’s special in 2005. After showing a Johnny Carson clip, Daly was musing over how much simpler things were back in 1963. Sykes commented on how they weren’t simpler for blacks and mentioned that she certainly wouldn’t have been a co-host in 1963. Daly wrinkled up his nose and said, “Oh, come on, it wasn’t so bad?we had Sammy Davis Jr.” Sykes’s desire to “discuss” this with Daly was written on her face, but with 15 seconds left until midnight, she swallowed it and went on.
… blissful ignorance is not without a cost. The majority culture blames the victim in just about every case when it comes to outcome (although the alternative is more accurate, it is understandably less comfortable for the majority and therefore avoided like the plague). However, blaming the victim costs money and decreases performance.
There’s no better expression of ignorance than a white person describing themselves as “colorblind.”
Oh come on, whites don’t know the struggle. Gimme a f—– break! I live in Belfast in Northern Ireland and Irish Catholics here struggle in a way that you Americans will never, and I mean never, understand, white or black. Your neighbors didn’t have rocket launchers aimed at their homes by the UDA just because they wanted their freedom. I have complete respect for the black struggle for equality thats taken place throughout the past few centuries, especially in the 20th century with Dr. King and so on, but whats done is done and you guys all need to live together instead of separating each other based on “who’s struggled more.”