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Personally I have experienced
racism only once.
I was refused service at
a restaurant because I "didn't speak Japanese".
But that sure didn't seem like the reason.
Many times I have benefitted from being white.
And my unhappy experience was isolated; Japan
has been extraordinarily welcoming to me.
Privilege isn't something abstract. Here is a naked example: I was staying at a university in Switzerland, on the train to speak at a nearby German university. My stomach knots when the border police enter our car: my passport is at my apartment! Silence in the car as I explain, in terrible German. The lead officer asks a few questions, pauses, grins wide, and announces: "I believe you!". Much staring and murmuring after they leave. I'm told how lucky I am. A few rows ahead, a Turkish fellow with a guitar stares, jaw hanging. He cannot imagine the police treating him so gently, and says so. Others reinforce his sentiment. My sympathy diminishes my relief. The Swiss don't enter my car on the way back, so I don't have to get "lucky" a second time. But most privilege is invisible. You never learn about the time an officer didn't pull you over because he didn't get a "feeling" about you. Or because your car seems "too nice". Or when the security guard didn't stop just you when leaving a store. (Has one ever?) I invite privilege-deniers to reflect on the story told by our Surgeon General (among many). And compare your experiences being hassled by authority to those of your black friends. The Austin Police asked for my mathematical help in an investigation into a fatal shooting by an officer. I helped, and would again. I appreciated the fact that they didn't tell me the context until after I had said my piece. Avoiding bias that way was very professional. It turned out that the shooting was cut-and-dried appropriate, even necessary. Police officers really do face danger and really do need to shoot people sometimes. But when you shoot someone in the back you should expect to be charged. And orders to fire into peaceful crowds deserve punishment. And what about Of course I support the plain meaning of the words. Everyone should. But I reject the extra meaning added by many people. Black Lives Matter is a cry of frustration with the fact that black lives, to too many people, don't actually matter as much as other lives. Rather than a positive sentiment, "All lives matter" is often just a rejection of that frustration, in effect saying that the status quo is ok. But the frustration is legitimate, and the status quo is not ok. Daniel Allcock University of Texas at Austin Department of Mathematics, RLM 8.100 2515 Speedway Stop C1200 Austin, Texas 78712-1202 |