Comments for White America and The Need for Enlightened Sensitivity at http://www.izania.com , comment 1 to 1 out of 1 comments http://www.izania.com Thu, 08 Jan 2009 17:12:40 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.izania.com/blog/default-category/white-america-and-the-need-for-enlightened-sensitivity/#comment-289 [b]Do you love white people?[/b] I love everyone -- as my Christian experience leads me to "love my neighbor as myself." It turns out that I live in a neighborhood where most of my neighbors are white. I worked in Corporate America where most of my colleagues, superiors and subordinates were white. I find nothing special about loving whites. It comes with being human. Your next question is the bell ringer. [b]Do you think more of them are willing to support our cause today than they were yesterday?[/b] Whites as a rule are not willing to support our cause. Most whites were born into a position of privilege -- multi-generational stable families; multi-generational job security; multi-generational educational achievement; multi-generational "better off than most blacks." Their natural tendencies are to preserve and protect their position of privilege. They will not support any cause that threatens the security of their privileges. This is not a conscious, planned, or conspiratorial process. It is just human nature. What I do find is that many post-civil rights whites (under age 50) have a wider acceptance of the presence of Blacks in their schools, communities, and work environment. They are more accepting of Black achievement when they consider the achievement is based on merit. So, they support Barack Obama, but that doesn't mean that they support Black causes. They see him as "different." Many of us Blacks who were the "firsts" on white college campuses, in corporate management positions, in our neighborhoods -- are perceived as "different" than the stereotypical blacks that are depicted by American history and the mainstream media, or even by many blacks themselves. This post-civil rights generation of young whites have grown up with Blacks in many cases, and they see fewer differences than their parents. So they are more accepting of the achievement of Barack Obama. Unfortunately, that acceptance doesn't go very far -- just up to the edge of ther privilege. That is why scare tactics will work to erode much of the support for Senator Obama's candidacy. They will say, "We don't know him." "He doesn't have (our)experience." "We don't know what to expect." "He will probably defer to his Black supporters in crunch time." "My children won't have the priviledges I had." Loving whites folks must be balanced with a reality check. - Roger Madison Jr. Fri, 15 Aug 2008 02:42:14 +0100