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Read more from CM Campbell: “How to Draw a Black Guy” and “How to Draw a Black Lady, Part 1.”
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Why, as an older white woman who didn’t come from ‘money’ do I find this so offensive? I guess I’m not qualified to comment because I’m white. Yet having had worked since I was 14, waitressing or cleaning houses, put myself half way through college, only to not be able to afford to continue, yet still required to pay back all the requisite loans — only to pursue a glamorous career as an art teachers aid apparently isn’t any struggle compared to what this particular black male has faced. Of course my ‘whiteness’ has allowed me to clean houses for white people, so I’m lucky that way. With the huge sums of money I earned cleaning houses and waiting tables on white people and with my $16k a year teacher’s aid job I was able to buy catastrophic health coverage for $150/month, which was pretty much no help when I went to my white doctors and found out I had cancer. Since white banks don’t care what color you are when they lend you money, I was not able to borrow anything to pay my medical bills. Luckily I was able to get another job as a house cleaner. I had a dream of being an artist at one time, but the barrier to entry was too steep for me, even – shocker – with my whiteness. You know what happens to middle aged white women who had cancer and put themselves through school to be a teacher’s aid in a rural school? They become invisible. There’s no one advocating for 55 year old white women who are trying to get by. There’s no ‘old white women’s lives matter’ movement. So while I appreciate the ‘cartoon’ here, I wonder what would happen if I did a cartoon about youth privilege. Because I wager as a young metrosexual black man who is intelligent and educated, you have a much greater chance of getting a job than I do as a 55 year old handicapped white women. But then who am I to complain, since I’m white and have all this privilege. Stay tuned for my white privilege art career where I make clueless art sure to offend everyone. Please Hyperallergic, do better than this.
If I’m not mistaken, part 1 addresses precisely this/these point/s. With a side order of “I’m not talking about class privilege” from part 5.
Don’t be bitter about your fellow sufferers, bite back at those who make us suffer.
This is everything:
“Don’t be bitter about your fellow sufferers, bite back at those who make us suffer.”
I don’t think the cartoonist thinks the concept of White Privilege means that ALL White people have it easy and are enjoying lives of pleasure sans hardships and misfortune.
(If anyone thinks this is what White Privilege means, then they are sorely mistaken, ignorant, and are just as misinformed as those who believe that ALL Black people are criminals and thugs.)
To me, White Privilege means that we (White People) get to (most of us) walk into a convenience store and just buy our soda without being hassled by a security guard who automatically thinks we’re stealing. It means that when we get pulled over by a cop for speeding, we don’t have to try extra hard to be pleasant and smiley and serene-looking in order to avoid being suspected of harboring drugs — or in order to avoid being shot. It means we don’t always have to be on our “best behavior” while in public places because the consequences aren’t fatal. (If a White woman has a grumpy stress-fueled tantrum in a store, people might roll their eyes and see her as “high maintenance.” If a Black woman does the same, people might call security and see her as danger and a threat.)
I know White Privilege means many more things than all this… sadly, I’m sure I’m not even aware of many of the privileges I have because they are just so built into my life. (And I am writing this as a mid-30s woman who is not without hardships. I have a debilitating mental disorder that prevents me from getting a better job and living a normal life, and the disorder has basically ruined my marriage.)
For what it’s worth, I completely agree with you that there’s no one advocating for 55-year-old white women who are trying to get by. Indeed, there’s no “old white women’s lives matter” movement. And yes — it’s true that a young black man with intelligence and education likely has a much greater chance of getting a job than you do at this point in your life. One of my best friends (58, White woman) was fired last year due to ageism — and it’s absolutely despicable and infuriating and unfair. So I just want you to know I’m not disagreeing with you on that point.
I’m just saying that I don’t think the cartoonist means to imply that all of us White people are walking around with luxurious, carefree, hardship-free lives. I think he’s just using hyperbole in his cartoon (hence the corporate-lawyer-sleazebag White guy) to call attention to the idea that White Privilege does exist.
Well, he missed the point I mentioned below (or above). There are some other very serious instances of privilege or lack of it such as what results from having any kind of interaction with law enforcement and juridical personnel. As usual, it is mixed up with class. The probability of getting shot by the police is higher for poor people than not-poor, just as it’s higher for Black people compared to not Black. That kind of privilege isn’t as closely related to taxes, however.
The cartoonist does not have real enemies. He is just paranoid. And he misspelled a few words.
Au contraire, mon ami: he offers a very astute yet condensed version of what seems irrefutable to me – while making some good jokes at the same time. Now that’s neat.
CM Campbell is my new favorite cartoonist!
Brilliant!