Macklemore's "White Privilege II"

http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2016/01/29/464752853/i-guess-we-gotta-talk-about-macklemores-white-privilege-song?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20160129

First I blog about a Hollywood movie, and now a rap song. I thought it was very well done though, esp. how touchy a subject this is for a white rapper.

The key quote to me was, "What are [white people] willing to risk and sacrifice to create a more just society?"

Critics say that guilt trips won't change whites and only makes them dig in. But sometime there isn't a more comfortable alternative. 

Real change and progress has to hurt, and sometime it is zero sum. Otherwise it's just a BS Oscars speech and telethon. Show you care for 5 min and then return to the comfortable status quo. Remember that some white man had to give a spot to Medgar Evers, Jackie Robinson, Sandra Day O'Connor, Obama, etc. justice means fairly sharing resources, responsibilities, and hardships.

It's not good enough to not be a raging racist. And it's obviously not all on whites. But anyone who benefits from privileges/advantages that are associated with bias - do we have the courage to shun them, in order to expose them and not perpetuate them? 

It's like $100 on the sidewalk. You didn't steal it from anyone, and no one will notice if you take it, and it will make your life better. But the right thing to do is to refrain, because you are not entitled to it, and maybe you can find its rightful owner or donate it to a good cause. But that takes discipline and caring. This is such a hostile, me-first culture; do we have the courage to do this for different looking strangers who are subconsciously associated with all things bad, because of centuries of bigotry? Can our better angels prevail?

I know not everyone can fight against injustice, but everyone has the power to not partake in privileges that are paid for by the pain and blood of innocent victims of prejudice.