White privilege vs. black-brown plight
Let’s not blame the students and survivors from Parkland for using what has been bestowed upon them since birth. These students inherited white privilege, which inherently amplifies their outcry for social justice and guncontrol reform. If you are white or classify as white (nonblack), the inconvenient truth is unbeknownst to you: All white people benefit from white privilege.
Don’t believe me? Think about all the unarmed black and brown people shot and killed by law enforcement. It doesn’t resonate the same in this country as a mass shooting at a predominantly white school. Or how about my favorite white supremacist talking points: “What about black on black crime?” “What about Chicago?”
Well, in Chicago for years, there have been youth-led actions calling to stop the violence and enact gun reform. Yet, the voices of our black and brown youth in Chicago go unheard by the mainstream media.
Fox News political pundits love to use fabricated statistics and racist rhetoric to lump all black communities as one. CNN didn’t invite Chicago youth for a live town hall to discuss poverty and economic deprivation, which increase crime in predominantly black and brown communities. We didn’t see lawmakers from communities of color placed on the proverbial hot seat to be held accountable for decades of failed policies and broken campaign promises.
Black and brown youths are never celebrated for their defiance of authority. Our youths are criminalized, called “thugs,” or as Orlando Police Department Officer Robert Schellhorn called them on Facebook, “useless savages.” Nobody will question whether or not the Parkland girl on the cover of Time magazine with no shoes comes from a broken home with no father. Not to mention there are no National Walkout Days to protest gun violence in our neighborhoods or to protest police brutality.
Still, I won’t get upset at the Parkland students for utilizing their privilege and platforms to push their agenda. But it’s an important conversation to be had as to why all youths aren’t afforded the same opportunity to be heard or granted justice.
Let’s be clear: There is no validity to your gun-control-reform debates if it excludes the plight of black and brown youth.
Enough.