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Why should highly privileged blacks be favored over underprivileged Indians? http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/the-haves-and-the-have-nots/?_r=0 htt

Why should highly privileged blacks be favored over underprivileged Indians? http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/the-haves-and-the-have-nots/?_r=0 http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/the-haves-and-t... (Note: privileges the black Oaklandians were born with include the right to work in the US, a highly functional education system where teachers show up to work, 24/7 running water and power, etc.)

vfa33 12y ago
No doubt that your average Indian experiences a greater degree of poverty than your average Oaklandian, but that isn't the only factor in privilege. Can you imagine what it does to a child when they see someone get shot in the street outside their house, or get their home raided, or lose family member(s) to incarceration / murder / drug addiction? It's a different kind of struggle, and I wouldn't be so quick to say that one group is more or less privileged than the other.
- yummyfajitas 12y ago
  Personally I feel that "privilege" is an ill-defined concept and should be ignored by intelligent people. I've never seen a concrete definition that a proponent of privilege was actually willing to stand by. (E.g., people show me this essay http://amptoons.com/blog/files/mcintosh.html http://amptoons.com/blog/files/mcintosh.html to explain "white privilege", then rapidly shift the goalposts once I point out that every point applies to me when I live in India.) I suppose you are right that the relatives of drug addicts, murder victims and criminals might have more problems than others. But then why is happyscrappy talking about black people in Oakland rather than the children of junkies? Note that India has junkies, criminals and bad parents too. In addition to having bad parents, the children of Indian junkies are also legally barred from working in the US (unlike, e.g., an Oakland child of junkies). It's true that Indians are less murder-happy than Oaklanders, but they have all sorts of other traumatizing events (e.g. rampant eve teasing, a high rate of traffic fatalities, multi-day water cuts).
happyscrappy 12y ago
Charity should begin at home.
- yummyfajitas 12y ago
  Why does geographic proximity trump other possible orderings? E.g., why not "charity should begin with people of the same race as me" or "Charity should begin in my church"?
  - happyscrappy 12y ago
    Why do you feed your childrn when their are people starving on the other side of the planet?
    - yummyfajitas 12y ago
      Genetic similarity. I guess charity should begin with people of the same race as me.

vfa33 12y ago

No doubt that your average Indian experiences a greater degree of poverty than your average Oaklandian, but that isn't the only factor in privilege. Can you imagine what it does to a child when they see someone get shot in the street outside their house, or get their home raided, or lose family member(s) to incarceration / murder / drug addiction? It's a different kind of struggle, and I wouldn't be so quick to say that one group is more or less privileged than the other.

yummyfajitas 12y ago
Personally I feel that "privilege" is an ill-defined concept and should be ignored by intelligent people. I've never seen a concrete definition that a proponent of privilege was actually willing to stand by. (E.g., people show me this essay http://amptoons.com/blog/files/mcintosh.html http://amptoons.com/blog/files/mcintosh.html to explain "white privilege", then rapidly shift the goalposts once I point out that every point applies to me when I live in India.) I suppose you are right that the relatives of drug addicts, murder victims and criminals might have more problems than others. But then why is happyscrappy talking about black people in Oakland rather than the children of junkies? Note that India has junkies, criminals and bad parents too. In addition to having bad parents, the children of Indian junkies are also legally barred from working in the US (unlike, e.g., an Oakland child of junkies). It's true that Indians are less murder-happy than Oaklanders, but they have all sorts of other traumatizing events (e.g. rampant eve teasing, a high rate of traffic fatalities, multi-day water cuts).

happyscrappy 12y ago

Charity should begin at home.

yummyfajitas 12y ago
Why does geographic proximity trump other possible orderings? E.g., why not "charity should begin with people of the same race as me" or "Charity should begin in my church"?
- happyscrappy 12y ago
  Why do you feed your childrn when their are people starving on the other side of the planet?
  - yummyfajitas 12y ago
    Genetic similarity. I guess charity should begin with people of the same race as me.