Ok, I've made it part-way through the article! Lemme try to address a few.
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1. I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time.
Blacks can't hang out with blacks? Hispanics can't find hispanic friends? Even if that were the case, I don't understand this one aside from being a matter of population. (Which isn't even true in many areas. Where I work, for example, there is a massive hispanic population. Some days I will see many more "minorities" than I will whites.)
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2. 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 want to live.
Ok, what does this prove? That blacks can't make money? This seems to be entirely the opinion of the author.
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3. I can be pretty sure that my neighbors in such a location will be neutral or pleasant to me.
Again, a baseless opinion, just assuming that if you're a minority you can't expect people to be nice? And that if you're white people will just cheer at your arrival, or at least not throw rocks at you? Maybe I'm some advanced Star Trek man from the future, but I'm nice to white, black, hispanic, asian alike and address and treat them all kindly and respectfully until given reason to do otherwise. (And if a black man turns out to be a jerk, I'm sure I'll be a racist if I decide I don't like him.)
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4. I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed.
Again, I don't understand where the author is getting these ideas. Want to REALLY get harassed in a store alone? Be under 18 and walk in the door. But just being black or hispanic? I don't get that one. (Note: If you happen to be black and walk into the door wearing "thug" or "gangsta" apparel and walking/acting like a sterotypical g-dawg or whatever, don't cry race when people react to you accordingly. Double note: People will react the same way when a white person dresses/acts this way.)
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5. I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented.
Granted, there are many more whites on TV than blacks, at least in my experience. I don't understand what advantage this presents to me, or if I should feel better about myself because of it.
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6. When I am told about our national heritage or about “civilization,” I am shown that people of my color made it what it is.
I'm not a history major, but it did seem as though whites were the "big players" in the creation of the nation. Granted, this was probably because blacks weren't allowed to play a role. And yes, there are many historical elements of our nations youth that DO incorporate blacks.
But again, I don't understand what advantage this affords me. I don't identify with those fat, rich white men in wigs and funny outfits any more than a black man does.
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7. I can be sure that my children will be given curricular materials that testify to the existence of their race.
I work in a library. We have tons of books and materials that have hispanic/black pictures/characters. But again, I don't understand what advantage in life it would afford me if every kid in a book was white.
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8. If I want to, I can be pretty sure of finding a publisher for this piece on white privilege.
This one went right over my head.
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9. I can go into a music shop and count on finding the music of my race represented, into a supermarket and find the staple foods which fit with my cultural traditions, into a hairdresser’s shop and find someone who can cut my hair.
Really? Really? You been to a record store lately? I can't swing a dead cat without hitting 4 new hip-hop artists or something.
And as for the hair, I'm sure I can find hairstylists that can't deal with my hair, either. (And I have.)
But for the Nth time, what advantage does finding more Billy Joel CD's than Fifty Cent CD's afford me in life?
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10. Whether I use checks, credit cards, or cash, I can count on my skin color not to work against the appearance of financial reliability.
People will judge you on a LOT of stupid things when it comes to money. Will they judge your financial situation solely on race? I suppose they could if they're assholes.
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11. I can arrange to protect my children most of the time from people who might not like them.
This one went right over my head too.
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12. I can sear, or dress in second hand clothes, or not answer letters, without having people attribute these choices to the bad morals, the poverty, or the illiteracy of my race.
I guess the author has never heard of "white trash" before. But sure, if you're a jerk and happen to be black, someone might call you a black jerk or something. There's also plenty of cases (rednecks, hicks, white trash, inbred southerners, trailer trash, po'white folk, etc) where people's failings get blamed on their race/status/etc and they aren't black.
The flip side is, if you're white, you don't get to blame your lifes failings on white folk oppressing you, either!
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13. I can speak in public to a powerful male group without putting my race on trial.
???
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14. I can do well in a challenging situation without being called a credit to my race.
???
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15. I am never asked to speak for all the people of my racial group.
Ok, granted, this is actually true...you do get a lot of, "You're black, what do you think?" from some people. I don't know what advantage in life this gives me though.
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16. I can remain oblivious of the language and customs of persons of color who constitute the world’s majority without feeling in my culture any penalty for such oblivion.
Really? Sure, if you're totally oblivious I guess you won't notice (That's what oblivious means, after all.) but I'll be damned if us Americans don't take a lot of shit for the stereotype of not caring about any other culture in the world. (Even if we do.)
That's as far as I got so far. Even if many of those things are true (And I'm not saying they are.) I don't see what "advantage" they give me in life. A lot of them are just, "I don't like...." sorts of things.