Lord knows I’ve never been a fan of faux-feminist (oh sorry, I mean “ifeminist”) Wendy McElroy. But her latest column for Fox News takes the big fat racist cake.
A White Oppressor? Who Me? is a self-involved diatribe in which McElroy essentially argues white privilege (which she has no real concept of at all) doesn’t exist because she has black relatives by marriage and none of her ancestors owned slaves. Uh huh.
McElroy uses a recent Women’s Studies conference as the jumping off point for her bullshit argument. The Women’s Studies department at Northeastern University held a conference, “Breaking Bread: Women of Color Dialogue” that was meant to be a safe space for women of color, and white women were asked not to attend. But because of student government rules prohibiting racial discrimination, anyone was allowed to attend.
Dr. Robin Chandler, the director of women's studies said, “I think it's a shame that one or two white students based on white privilege, a lack of awareness of racial issues and a lack of generosity of spirit complained to the office of the provost and were able, because they were white, to gain admission to the morning session that I was forced to open up.”
McElroy completely misses the point and ironically makes the notion of white privilege all about herself:
For most of my life, I have been neither proud nor ashamed of being white — although I rather enjoy being Irish. My race is not something I achieved; it is a circumstance of birth over which I had no control. I judge people, including myself, on the content of their character and their actions.See, I don’t care about race--people in my family actually marry other races! By arguing that she sees everyone the same, McElroy is completely dismissing any experience that a person of color has had because of their race. It’s like the whole “I don’t see you as being black” thing. Not okay.My family through marriage includes blacks, Hispanics, and plain vanilla sorts like me. Race is simply not an issue.
McElroy starts off by wrongly defining white privilege (and of course, brings it back to her damn self):
“White privilege”: the phrase has different meanings depending on the context, but most often the accusation rests on historical analysis.Namely, due to the great historical wrong of slavery — a wrong that no one denies — whites are said to have sins to expiate.
McElroy goes on (and on and on) to explain how her family weren’t slave owners but in fact were oppressed folks themselves fleeing famine in Ireland. She then continues by completely dismissing the idea that white privilege even exists:
There are no laws that grant my blonde-haired nieces any privilege due to skin color. Such laws have been methodically removed from the legal system for decades now.
Dear lord, she really doesn’t get it. I’m too annoyed to go on.
For a real definition/explanation of white privilege, check out Peggy McIntosh’s White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack and Robert Jensen's White Privilege Shapes the U.S.
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well, I don't think it is that she does not get it. She just does not shair your point of view based on larger issue philosophical disagreements. Isn't it amazing the way two sides on an issue are both convinced they are right? well, there is no scientific way to test most of these issues, so it is subjective. Then, every person alive thinks their own subjective experience is the one true valid perspective. Maybe if people stopped trying to prove how smart they are, listened, and realized they are not infallable, people could all learn something.
As for that conferance at northeastern.. um, If they have a policy like "on campus activities cannot discriminate based on race" or something similar.. I don't think that has anything to do with privilage. It is just a school policy that if properly inforced will apply to all. If a white group met on campus and other races "forced" their way in, what would that be, minority privilage? For god sakes, white people are a minority race on earth. If what they say is true maybe in 20yrs we will all be cow towing to chinese people. who knows.
I like how the author refers to "plain vanilla sorts like me." Being able to see whiteness as "plain," as the default, as the vanilla to every other flavor, is a really basic expression of white privilege. That reveals a lot more about her than saying "Some of my family members are black!"
Exactly Semicolon. It's the same in law: black judges and/or women judges are often accused of bias towards their race and/or gender, but not white male judges. (Same goes for jurors). Because being white and male is the standard, and the privileges tied up with that are completely invisible. Because white men rarely if ever experience anything but a positive response to their skin color or gender, they can easily claim they have no bias because they experience no bias. Not so those of us who may not be so lucky.
I have traveled in south china. If any whites ever want to feel like a minority i suggest a visit. The fact is whites are a MINORITY population globally. People need to get fucking real!!
jjs,
who, other than you, even mentioned the word "minority"? i mean, shoot, you made a great argument as to why the word is really dumb, so stop saying it... thanks... and kudos for going to south china... you're so fucking cool.
as far as the actual substance of this whole situation, i think there's several things at work. one, of course, is the assumed whiteness (and maleness, though that's peripheral to this incident) inherent in western society as the other posters pointed out.
i think some other things are at stake here as well, though. it's clear that the students and faculty who set up this one meeting without white folks wanted to set up a safe space. white people can be very judgemental - especially if they don't understand something (this whole issue here is a case in point) and they often don't understand things because whiteness is the key that opens the door to racial obliviousness.
also, white people (especially white men, like me) tend to talk a lot - like we know everything. this leads to other people silencing themselves because they were raised to be more timid - or at least less brazen. having that kind of spirit in a room can deaden a great deal of powerful conversation - i know because i've done it and still do it despite my best efforts.
oh, yeah, and maybe there are just some things that women of color don't feel comfortable talking about in front of white people and men... maybe, just maybe... and maybe it would be nice to have a safe space where those things don't have to go unspoken...
how's about this one- white people often have a lot of questions when race is the focus - because white people (despite being a global minority) are, as i said, pretty oblivious to race - we don't get followed in stores, we don't wonder if we lost that job because of skin, we don't wonder if the other folks on the subway are judging us because the junkie stumbling around has the same skin color as us, etc. etc.
not only do we have questions, but we're skeptical of the reality of a lot of racial issues (because we don't have the "scientific" "empirical" data to rely upon that race really is a problem post-civil-war or post-1950's or whatever)... this skepticism can really stymie a conversation where women of color want to be talking about supporting each other (rather than whether or not that support is really valid)...
so, yeah, i think white people can really fuck a situation up and we're pretty damn good at being oblivious, assuming, judgemental and loud, regardless of how many first-cousin-twice-removeds we have who are black...
also, your whole scientific/school policy argument is really effective in a sense - i mean, it worked for ms. mcelroy - but it's also really fucking obnoxious.
first off, yeah, a lot of this stuff is subjective - that's why it's worthwhile to listen to folks before judging them... is there any mention in mcelroy's super-insecure essay of what possible motivations there may have been for the exclusion of white people? no. she mentions that professor chandler stated something about "lack of awareness of racial issues" but never thinks about what those issues could possibly be... demonstrating... um... a lack of awareness, perhaps?
next, as far as school policy, great... by that logic, perhaps if there's a meeting of female rape survivors who aren't so comfortable with men around, some guys should show up just to prove that "discrimination is discrimination." really fucking brilliant, jjs...
great logic, man... why don't you go to all the places that may discriminate against letting you in? like prison. i mean, i found out first hand that it's hard to get locked up if you're white... i'm not really down to try much harder than i already have (too busy these days to keep hustling), but be my fucking guest.
peace and blessings
ps. i got more to say, but i'm really tryin'a hold my wagging white tongue...