Black Lives Matter @BeerAdvocate

I think what you bring up here is part of the problem. The issue at hand is allowing the mistreatment of others because it doesn’t affect us. We, as a society, disconnect our actions from each other. For example I carry a Samsung phone, and I do so without much thought for the human suffering that has gone on in the electronics industries. The same goes for beer. We disconnect from the laborers who work the fields to grow and harvest the grains, for better or for worse. It’s difficult to give up on something we love simply because it’s not fair trade, or dismissed as “just beer”. At the other end of our products are the producers, and in any situation we would be better off supporting companies who hold the same philosophies and ideals. I see this same argument held in AbInbev arguments. It’s just beer, but the company has been known to bend the rules and grow morality to the wind for monetary success.
I digress. My point is we shouldn’t compartmentalize our morality. It should hold true through all of our actions, from protesting against racism, to choosing beers Friday night on the way home.

 

The way people are treated is important. It can also be both a customer service issue AND a race issue. I've seen race issues dismissed here on BA because "they're economic issues," but it's insensitive at best to separate the two. The relationship between customer service and race is definitely something we should discuss with more frankness, openness, and understanding here on BeerAdvocate, but people aren't rioting because George Floyd was turned away from a bar or recommended an adjunct lager over an ipa.

George Floyd was another unarmed black man killed by the police, a continuation of an unjust pattern that's part of a big racist system that needs to be recognized by more, a system that makes it harder to cultivate those relationships you mention. Ben and Jerry's does a pretty good job calling this out while still feeling authentic.

https://www.benjerry.com/home/whats-new/2016/systemic-racism-is-real

https://www.benjerry.com/whats-new/2017/08/ending-systemic-racism

 

Why can't we say "priviledge' without the racial adjective? Many white people have little of what I think people mean by priviledge. Many black people have much priviledge. The substantial overlap between priviledge and income in the US often leads to conflation.

 

Because white people are born privileged because of their skin color. That's it. It is literally that simple.

 

A discussion of racism starts with a clear definition of racism and how to detect it. To me, racism exists only the advantaged group holds animus towards the disadvantaged group. Racial disparities are consistent with animus but may not prove it exists. For example, I don't think that the disproportionate number of black players in the NBA results from animus held by owners towards white players. I realize that some people hold animus towards black people but fear that we stifle constructive discussion and our ability to identify good solutions when we immediately classify any disparity as racism.

 

That is a great point. Are you coming up with that definition on your own or did you go to the literature from people who study race?

 

Think about it this way. No matter whether you are a low-income African American or LeBron James or Barack Obama, you probably get a lot more nervous anytime you get pulled over by the police than the vast majority of white people would (regardless of income, education, or just about any other differentiator you can think of). White people enjoy this “privilege” purely because of the color of their skin.

There are tons of other examples like this and most people are totally unaware of many of them. The aggregate effect is an unspoken, invisible distinction played out on countless levels across society. But it’s absolutely tied to race, skin color, ethnic heritage, whatever term you want to use to describe it.

 

Right. And the first half of your post has already been done / data gathered / results glaringly obvious. So why waste time and energy getting to that point again. Since we know it’s a problem let’s deal with it.

Seems pretty disingenuous to suggest we need to characterize it as a broader dive into police brutality with race not - up front at least - being a factor

 

What Gazorpazorpfield said.

 

I imagine a lot of people have seen this, but Trevor Noah did an incredible job of laying everything out and connecting it all from a black man’s perspective. He touches on the topic of white privilege - that the Amy Cooper incident was shocking for a lot of black people because it showed just how aware some white people are of the dynamics in play - and in this instance was essentially weaponized (his own words).

 

Well not always, you might want to look at the white privilege that those in Appalachia enjoy, or not. The poverty is staggering. A prison might have green grass and trees vs concrete and bricks, but it’s still a prison to those that live there.

 

It’s never that simple.

 

I have friends from that region (Eastern TN and WV particularly), have visited myself, and TBH, deep southern IL is similar in some pockets. I completely agree that the poverty in some of these areas is crushing and beyond what some people may be able to conceptualize.

That said, I'll let @mhucker28 speak for himself, but I don't believe he's specifically talking about monetary privilege. Although, that's certainly a component.

 

I appreciate your willingness to talk about this, but we need to be on the same page in regard to what we're talking about. Please look at what white privilege actually means.

White privilege does not mean all white people are inherently successful.
White privilege does not mean white people can't be poor, or that something is wrong with them if they are poor.
White privilege does not mean white people get everything without working.
White privilege does not mean white people never suffer.

White privilege is a collection of ways that being white makes many aspects of someone's life easier or at least more comfortable.

There are a ton listed here:
https://www.racialequitytools.org/resourcefiles/mcintosh.pdf

1. I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time.

3. If I should need to move, I can be pretty sure of renting or purchasing housing in an area which I can afford and in which I would want to live.

4. I can be pretty sure that my neighbors in such a location will be neutral or pleasant to me.

5. I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed.

23. I can criticize our government and talk about how much I fear its policies and behavior without being seen as a cultural outsider.

25. If a traffic cop pulls me over or if the IRS audits my tax return, I can be sure I haven't been singled out because of my race.

35. I can take a job with an affirmative action employer without having my co-workers on the job suspect that I got it because of my race.

36. If my day, week or year is going badly, I need not ask of each negative episode or situation whether it had racial overtones.

46. I can chose blemish cover or bandages in "flesh" color and have them more or less match my skin.

Things like 46 may seem petty, but it's one of many ways people are "othered" and made uncomfortable that white people don't experience. That's white privilege. Then, if a company does offer bandaids in a variety of colors, they're accused of being "PC culture comforists" rather than just a company making a product for someone else.

 

You're misunderstanding. Those people enjoy white privilege. They may be disadvantaged in other ways, and those ways may even be extreme, but that does not somehow negate or cancel out their racial privilege. I think it's important to address class inequality in almost any sociopolitical discussion... but "white privilege" as a term is speaking only to the racial aspect.

I think this hopefully addresses that other poster's concern ("Why don't we just call it privilege?") as well.

 

My wife’s from nowhere WVa, and the poverty is incredible, I sincerely doubt they feel privileged to be anything to any degree. In their world they’re at the bottom. There’s fine lines here when you start talking who’s privileged, and who’s not.

 

Again, you’re oversimplifying this. I’m here to tell you cops aren’t killing anyone in rich neighborhoods.

 

Correct, there are many different types of privileges one can be born with. Racial is just one of them. Gender, economic, able bodied, sexual orientation, and intelligence are all different privileges that have their own benefits in a prejudiced society. A straight white male is born at an advantage, and recognizing those privileges is the first step toward real change. Glossing over them or pretending they don’t exist is just as detrimental to achieving real change as those that are actively prejudiced.