What are your thoughts about the concept of white culture, identity, and entitlement as they were discussed? What are your thoughts about the concept of white privilege?
I know I have white privilege - as a mom, I've never had to teach my kids how to behave when approached by the police, never had to teach them how to make themselves seem to be less threatening, never had to tell them not to hang out with their friends for too long in one place (nor have I ever had to be taught those lessons by my parents). My kids hung out in the mall, they hung out downtown, they hung out in the park and never once were they approached by cops thinking they were up to no good. I've also never had to worry that they'd be shot and killed by a cop or by a neighborhood vigilante. And it's infuriating that there are mothers who live with this reality every day. I've never thought about there being a white culture because I always identify with my Finnish/German/Polish cultures and growing up southern I identify with the southern culture. Really stopping to think about it, I would say there's regional cultures but not specifically a white culture. We don't really have white music (having appropriated everyone else's music and made it our own) or white literature. Further breaking it down, when I hear the term white culture my mind automatically goes to white supremacist groups.