PSA: white oppression isn’t a thing.
We don’t know if you’ve seen this phrase lurking around the Internet — but apparently white people are so upset that others are questioning their privilege that they’ve created their own “movement” called “It’s OK To Be White.” Vom.
What is it exactly? Well, as the fight for equality continues, white people are feeling under attack and, dare we say it, discriminated against. As the saying goes:
“When you’re accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression.”
The problem is, we are still so far from true equality as white people continue to have the upper hand in almost every situation.
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Anyway, we’ve turned to Twitter to help explain why this mentality is flawed, and we thought it was beyond important to share this topic with you.
Get involved with the conversation (below):
whites are not oppressed (impoverished whites, maybe). White America is experiencing their cognitive dissonance shattering as the false notion of white privilege is challenged world wide.
— Lennon English (@LennonEnglish) December 4, 2017
i have zero sympathy for #itsOKtobewhite. #itsOKtobewhite is going to give the world a unique opportunity to hold white people accountable for their atrocities against every other ethnicity they’ve collectively wronged for the last 500yrs. pic.twitter.com/rvDK38FdhS
— Lennon English (@LennonEnglish) December 4, 2017
and for the record, America DOES owe Black America. What White America and the USA gov’t has done to Black People for the last 500yrs is evil. white people killed & enslaved millions of Native Americans and Blacks.
— Lennon English (@LennonEnglish) December 4, 2017
any white person who enjoys white privilege does so at the expense of the continued suffering of the oppressed. any who do not act against the evils of institutionalized racism is complicit.
— Lennon English (@LennonEnglish) December 4, 2017
A movement called #ItsOkayToBeWhite wow what do ya know, in a country where all but one President has been white, most blockbuster movies star white people, most CEOs are white, it’s almost as if being White has never really been taboo! pic.twitter.com/9WAByDGVc6
— Jaime Thomas (@JaimakimNoah) December 5, 2017
#ItsOkToBeWhite is trending.The systematic abuse of black and minority people impacts their chances in life. #ItsOkayToBeWhite is about white people not being able to acknowledge their privilege and being upset when it’s pointed out to them.
— Khuram Ahmed (@KhuramAhmedLive) December 4, 2017
Dear fellow Snowflake White People:
We are not the oppressed. We are members of the majority and we need to own our privilege and use it to stop the oppression we caused so we all can live in the same America. Have some empathy and do something!#itsOKtobewhite
— Captain SassyPants™ (@giedosst) December 5, 2017
Imagine if white people got to experience just 20 minutes of not being white. https://t.co/GlGB4yB4TT
— Travon Free (@Travon) December 5, 2017
This isn’t new…a lot of white Americans have been raised on a story far removed from the reality of America’s oppressive roots. A lot of them are in shock and trying to make sense of the disconnect.
— Tiffany Howard (@HelloTiffy_) December 4, 2017
Here’s the issue: white people feel threatened and guilty for naturally having the privileges our systems have been created for them. They are scared to be the minority because they see how minorities are treated.
— EmpoweringForTheFuture Blog (@EFTFadvocate) December 4, 2017
This “movement” is giving them the platform to say being privileged and having a blind eye to racial injustice is okay when it’s not. Their guilt needs to bring change to these systems but they fear the implications of that.
— EmpoweringForTheFuture Blog (@EFTFadvocate) December 4, 2017
Hello white people, are you listening? Put the tissues down and start doing something productive with your power.
[Image via @BasedStickman_/Twitter.]
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