Diversity and the Myth of White Privilege
America still owes a debt to its black citizens, but government programs to help all 'people of color' are unfair. They should end.
By JAMES WEBB
The NAACP believes the tea party is racist. The tea party believes the NAACP is racist. And Pat Buchanan got into trouble recently by pointing out that if Elena Kagan is confirmed to the Supreme Court, there will not be a single Protestant Justice, although Protestants make up half the U.S. population and dominated the court for generations.
Forty years ago, as the United States experienced the civil rights movement, the supposed monolith of White Anglo-Saxon Protestant dominance served as the whipping post for almost every debate about power and status in America. After a full generation of such debate, WASP elites have fallen by the wayside and a plethora of government-enforced diversity policies have marginalized many white workers. The time has come to cease the false arguments and allow every American the benefit of a fair chance at the future.
I have dedicated my political career to bringing fairness to America's economic system and to our work force, regardless of what people look like or where they may worship. Unfortunately, present-day diversity programs work against that notion, having expanded so far beyond their original purpose that they now favor anyone who does not happen to be white.
In an odd historical twist that all Americans see but few can understand, many programs allow recently arrived immigrants to move ahead of similarly situated whites whose families have been in the country for generations. These programs have damaged racial harmony. And the more they have grown, the less they have actually helped African-Americans, the intended beneficiaries of affirmative action as it was originally conceived.
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This is a provocative article by a very conservative Virginia senator. It's biggest flaw is that it is not based upon any hard evidence or factual data. It is a political viewpoint, not a piece of academic scholarship. In spite of his cursory understanding of American history Webb does make one crucial pont which is that African Americans hold a unique position in American society. I, however, do not think that he clearly understands the extent to which African American are different from other minorities and the the importance of that unique American history, having been the victims of a historically unique, multi-generational genocide that occurred right here in America. He does point out that racial progress has only benefited a small group of African Americans, but his real concern seems to be for his political base who are poor whites.
While discussing the long history of poor whites in America he fails to realize that blacks have been in America equally as long as their white brethren. African American have been in America from the earliest days of the colonization of this continent. No group in America has had their families systematically destroyed and their both their labor and bodies stolen from their own personal control under the color of law. This multi-generational genocide only began to end as a result of the African American "Civil Right's Movement" which resulted in congress passing the historic Civil Rights Act of 1964, The voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Immigration Reform Act of 1965.
There is an always has been white privilege in America. Whites with equal education levels with African American still earn substantially more than their black counterparts though the gap has narrowed. In this current economic downturn African American unemployment is nearly double the rate of white unemployment. These are basic facts that Mr. Webb should consider when he seeks to debunk what he calls "the Myth of white Privilege. Statistical data clearly demonstrates that white privilege remains a fact of life in America despite Senator Webb's misguided fantasies. Look at this study,Unemployment in black and white, a March 2010 presentation made before the Congressional Black Caucus. I have linked another April 2010 article, Statistics show employment rate gap between black and white male graduates. An op-ed editorial does not alter factual reality. Senator Webb should take the time to do his homework and research facts prior drawing such unsubstantiated conclusions, if his motivation is to present the truth as opposed to desiring to simply engage in political posturing.
John H. Armwood
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