not everyone in this country gets to be confronted with their prejudices in day-to-day life.
Yes. That is pretty much the definition of privilege.
I think sparkymonster's links for clueless white people (http://delicious.com/starkeymonster/forcluelesswhitepeople) is a good place to start learning how privilege works and how to dismantle it. It may not provide a specific answer to your "coloured*" example, but it may provide some understanding of racism.
(I would suggest the racefail09 linkspam (http://rydra-wong.livejournal.com/tag/gcadod+09) too, but people tend to get a bit wide eyed and frightened by the sheer number of posts.)
*What sort of American history are these kids taught in school? Yikes.
Merely being offended is never going to accomplish anything.
If someone said something racist to a POC, even if it was unintentional (they didn't know any better), I don't think that has to turn into a teaching moment for the clueless person -- demanding that is another marker of privilege. If said clueless person is then offended by being called on their cluelessness and privilege (which happens A LOT)... Well, at some point, the onus is on the privileged person to educate themselves, which (IMO) is not all that difficult to do, given that this is the age of the internet and people have even rounded up links (http://handyhunter.livejournal.com/166574.html). It's one thing to be clueless, because everyone is at one point or several -- not that it's okay to hurt people (it's not the intention that matters; it's the outcome), but everyone makes mistakes; it's another thing to be informed of one's ignorance and then not do anything about it, or to continue derailing or denying racism exists.
Also, most POC and allies who discuss racism do not necessarily start out or automatically go to a place of feeling offended. It tends to take some doing - which is different for everyone, and possibly certain offensive actions are invisible to privileged people - to reach that level. There is also this (http://ciderpress.livejournal.com/214072.html):
However, in the intense and almost singular focus on clueless white people in this discussion and the often repeated statement that this was an opportunity to dialogue, that there is solace in the fact that it has been worth all the pain and difficulty, that they are somehow *glad*, the underlying assumption is that:
# PoCs have emotional/intellectual catharsis after such discussions.
# PoC's pain being part of an educational moment for clueless white people is worth it to PoCs because it's worth it to white people.
# Anti-racism matters the same amount, in the same way to clueless white people, allies and PoC.
no subject
Yes. That is pretty much the definition of privilege.
I think
(I would suggest the racefail09 linkspam (http://rydra-wong.livejournal.com/tag/gcadod+09) too, but people tend to get a bit wide eyed and frightened by the sheer number of posts.)
*What sort of American history are these kids taught in school? Yikes.
Merely being offended is never going to accomplish anything.
If someone said something racist to a POC, even if it was unintentional (they didn't know any better), I don't think that has to turn into a teaching moment for the clueless person -- demanding that is another marker of privilege. If said clueless person is then offended by being called on their cluelessness and privilege (which happens A LOT)... Well, at some point, the onus is on the privileged person to educate themselves, which (IMO) is not all that difficult to do, given that this is the age of the internet and people have even rounded up links (http://handyhunter.livejournal.com/166574.html). It's one thing to be clueless, because everyone is at one point or several -- not that it's okay to hurt people (it's not the intention that matters; it's the outcome), but everyone makes mistakes; it's another thing to be informed of one's ignorance and then not do anything about it, or to continue derailing or denying racism exists.
Also, most POC and allies who discuss racism do not necessarily start out or automatically go to a place of feeling offended. It tends to take some doing - which is different for everyone, and possibly certain offensive actions are invisible to privileged people - to reach that level. There is also this (http://ciderpress.livejournal.com/214072.html):
However, in the intense and almost singular focus on clueless white people in this discussion and the often repeated statement that this was an opportunity to dialogue, that there is solace in the fact that it has been worth all the pain and difficulty, that they are somehow *glad*, the underlying assumption is that:
# PoCs have emotional/intellectual catharsis after such discussions.
# PoC's pain being part of an educational moment for clueless white people is worth it to PoCs because it's worth it to white people.
# Anti-racism matters the same amount, in the same way to clueless white people, allies and PoC.