Thursday, March 10, 2016

White privilege

According to a recent, brief news segment on Fox Network, "white privilege" refers to those doors opened to an elite group of Americans: white males. Any woman can explain it. Any white male, except the poorest and most uneducated group, knows it intuitively. There's no need to explain it.

"White privilege." However, allow me to attempt an explanation. On the final episode of "American Crime" on ABC, a leader in a well-respected business was explaining to Regina King's character why "they" were transferring her. She had used the term "white trash" in a personal email written on the business network. The use of the term was a "hate crime." She struggled to explain to him why her term meant little as a hate crime--to her its use was a way of negating hate terms used against her race. Oh? I failed to mention she is black and the man is "white privilege." There is no way he could understand, she tried to explain--and, because he could not, he kept the transfer in place. She had no choice.

Here's another way to explain "white privilege." February means Black History Month in the nation's schools. I dreaded the assembly every February. It meant white tempers would flare. "Why do they get a month dedicated to them ?" My answer should have shut their mouths but, of course, did not. "Look at your history books," I would say. "Whose pictures dominate the pages?" Their comeback: "That's because we do things. They don't" (with some negative comments thrown in). This occurrence aptly explains King's comment. If you're not us, you cannot truly understand us.

Back to Fox and "white privilege." This "establishment" part of  the Republican party is scrambling to find a way to eliminate the threat to their power-Donald Trump. Why isn't he establishment with his billions? He's white, of course, but he isn't part of their power elite and that's precisely what terrifies them. What's an elite without power? And how do you control an elite if he is not 100%? You don't have power over him.

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A favorite souvenir

A favorite souvenir
These are my two girls from Ireland!

Judy's shared items

Books on my very ambitious TBR list (*denotes read)

  • *Reading Magic: Why Reading Aloud to our Children Will Change Their Lives Forever by Mem Fox
  • The Odd Women by George Gissing
  • The Zen of Fish by Trevor Corson
  • How to Get Your Child to Love Reading by Esme Raji Codell
  • The Cod Tale by Mark Kurlansky
  • In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden
  • *Joan of Arc by Mark Twain
  • Dag Hammarskjold by Elizabeth Rider Montgomery
  • The Wisdom in the Hebrew Alphabet by Rabbi Michael L. Munk
  • Children of Strangers by Lyle Saxon
  • Spiritual Writings by Flannery O'Connor
  • Nightmares and Visions: Flannery O'Connor and the Catholic Grotesque by Gilbert H. Muller
  • The Violent Bear It Away by Flannery O'Connor
  • Flannery O'Connor's South by Robert Coles
  • Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor
  • Sylvanus Now by Donna Morrissey
  • *Vincent de Paul by Margaret Ann Hubbard
  • Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
  • A Briefer History of Time by Stephen Hawking
  • The Library at Night by Alberto Manguel
  • Readicide by Kelly Gallagher
  • *Ruined by Paula Morris
  • Say You're Not One of Them by Uwem Akpan
  • Wandering Star by J.M.G. Le Clezio
  • Silence by Shusaku Endo
  • *The Assault by Harry Mulisch
  • Kari's Saga by Robert Jansson
  • *The German Mujahid by Boualem Sansal
  • Western Skies by Joseph Conrad
  • *The Giver by Lois Lowery
  • *Imperium by Ryszard Kapuscinski

School Library Journal - NeverEndingSearch

Imperium

Imperium
A semester course in one book about the Soviet Union. Click on image for my review.