I’ve wondered about so-called “white privilege” for a while, and recently came to a realization:
White privilege and black privilege are both equally real.
What do I mean by this? In certain situations, people of lighter skin color have social advantages and have less risk of being harmed or discriminated against. On the other hand, in other situations, people of darker skin color have social advantages and have less risk of being harmed or discriminated against.
A bad, incorrect response to this situation would be to deny the experiences that other people tell us about... We shouldn’t say “No, I don’t believe that happened to you”... instead, we should listen carefully.
Good responses to this situation would seem to include:
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Listening and learning from other people’s experience.
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Affirming people’s equal value and worth (as image bearers of the Creator God, ‘all men (men and women) are created equal (worth), and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights’, etc), regardless of the color of their skin or their age (including those who have not yet been born).
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Upholding justice, even if it means contradicting someone in a position of power (regardless of that person’s ethnicity or skin color).
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Becoming aware of our privileges, for the purpose of using our privileges to help other people... welcoming the underprivileged into our circles, seeking to establish them, encourage them, show kindness to them, show ‘agape’-love to them... for the ultimate purpose of pointing them to Jesus so they be truly, eternally, satisfied and happy. Our ethnicity is a tool, a gift, given to us to help other people.
Your thoughts are welcome!.....
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