TonightYou
Well-Known Member
I'm a white guy. I don't think I "rip on whites". Being critical of the apparent privilege I'm granted for being a white male isn't a bad thing. Not looking to change your mind, but let me share a few experiences which would have ended very differently had I been a minority, as I've seen friends who aren't white experience:
1. The most blatant example was the time I received an MIP (minor in possession) when I was sleeping in my car with my friend in a Wayne State parking structure after spending the night partying in Canada for a friend's birthday. I hadn't drove across the border as I was drunk as fuck later at 3:30 am blowing a 1.0. I was asleep in the driver seat with the car off but with the keys in the ignition ( right there I could have had a DUI). Not only that, we weren't put in the drunk tank but told to go to our friend who we were lucky enough to wake up. After a long ordeal of my friend and I going back and forth to Detroit, representing ourselves nonethelesd, we were approached by a prosecutor who saw easy marks. Suburban kids, not dragging mommy and daddy (seriously, you are an adult handle your own shit, so many other dragged their parents) we were asked by a prosecutor "how much money do you have on you? I can have you thrown in jail right now" which I knew was a lie. My friend signed over his paycheck for $412 to him and the prosecutor said the state didn't have a case and he wished to dismiss it. Right there was an example of privilege, do you think the black kids in the same situation got off so easily? Fuck no, and it was crooked and illegal as shit. But it's a game theory, when someone gives you a deal too good to pass up, you take it. This person could have made things worse. Was justice served? No, but I directly benefited and got out on the cheap of $206.
Another example, I get pulled over in a high drug trafficking area with a QP in my car. I'm white, dressed nice, with a great bullshit alibi of studying for class. Officer asks me if he could take a look in my car, I state "Officer, may you tell me what probable cause gives you the right to search my vehicle? Because as I see it no, and my answer is no you may not". Off I go with a "be safe this is a bad area"
I grew up in a 94% white suburb. Not even 10 miles from me, students are not getting the same and equal educational experience as I am. This is troubling as if anyone needs stronger education system, it is the areas most affected by poverty.
I recognize the privilege I have and have exercised. I know others haven't had the same outcomes. Despite me breaking the law, I always received better treatment. Having a racists uncle who bragged about his Maglite being a "nigger beater" and reminiscing of the days of harassing black people showed me how systematic racism is alive and well.
These are just some of the experiences that have shaped me, perhaps this gives you some insight of where I come from.
As they say, 'it takes all types to make the world grind to a halt'....or something like that. 
They probably handed out some cash to those brothers [and some crack], handed them a script, and rolled the cameras. Those bastids ! 
. I know it is a utopian view on politics but it is the only way I could see the gov't actually working for its people, as it should.