Privilege in America

So on Friday on 20/20 John Stossel went out and attempted a hatchet job on the subject of race privilege in America. It was unfortunate that Deborah Roberts was tapped to play the "approvative" negro on the topic. No she wasn't the narrator for this particular subject but she was used to say that she would hope that there wouldn't be a racial privilege. What was completely stupid about the segment was that after being presented with facts that were undisputed (if not the weakest of the evidence), Stossel managed to turn the issue of privilege into one about personal responsibility. He did this by anchoring the segment with Shelby Steele who, as expected brought up black irresponsibility.

The first attempt at changing the subject was this statement during the Tim Wise interview:

"If certain folks historically have been elevated above others, their children, their grandchildren are going to be starting out, one, two, five, ten steps ahead," he says. "Meritocracy … is as close to a lie as you can come."

But what about all the successful immigrants, many of color, who come to America and make fantastic lives for themselves?

"How many more of those persons would there be if there were truly equitable opportunity?" he asks.

The subject is privilege not success. No one is saying that success does not happen. the question is whether or not whites are given a leg up in attaining success in America. However, the immigrant issue should be tackled because there is this very large myth about immigrants vs. natives. What should be remembered is that for every immigrant that is in America there are thousands more left in the mother country. If the immigrant's culture is that much more advanced than that of the "american" then why is it that the countries that many of the immigrants come from are in the shape that they are in? It is clear that oft times the comparison is between the best, if not most motivated, of the country's respective people being compared to the entire population of the "native" population. That is simply an unfair comparison.

Back to Steele. He states in the tail of the segment:

"I grew up in segregation, so I really know what racism is," he says. "I went to segregated school. I bow to no one in my knowledge of racism, which is one of the reasons why I say white privilege is not a problem."

That whole thing reminds me of Condoleeza's attempt to attach herself to the Civil Rights movement by talking about how she was raised in Birmingham and knew the four little girls. Steele may know "racism" and "segregration" but the man knows nothing on the subject at hand.

Now, I'm not one to complain when people bring up black irresponsibility. After all the evidence is there for all to see and in the end black people have to held accountable for their own failures. That said black irresponsibility has nothing to do with the topic of the segment. No matter how "irresponsible" a black person may be, it does not negate that, as given as an example, black people with identifiably black names are less likely to get interview call backs when they have identical resumes. It does not negate predatory lending. etc. etc.

Therefore the only purpose that Steele's presence served was to attempt to negate the facts offered by Tim Wise and Marc Morial of the Urban League. It was amusing what Mr Steele had to say about opportunity. He claims that opportunities are available to him all the time. he says:

Steele says today there's "minority privilege."

"If I'm a black high school student today … there are white American institutions, universities, hovering over me to offer me opportunities: Almost every institution has a diversity committee," he says. "Every country club now has a diversity committee. I've been asked to join so many clubs, I can't tell you. There is a hunger in this society to do right racially, to not be racist. … And I feel rather privileged by it. I don't have to even look for opportunities in many cases. They come right to me."

If you know nothing about admissions at white institutions let me clue you in. I worked at the registrars office at Cornel University. They had the same percentage of black students every single year for 10 years. regardless to what white institution you look at you will see, definitively, white dominance. So then, how can there be "minority privilege" if it works to maintain white dominance?

Of course, since he gets paid to bad mouth black folk, a right wing organization pays him to do that. We should not be surprised that given the opportunity he would try to turn the tables. Sad that Shelby Steele gets the last word.