Dyson: One of the Greatest Privileges of Being White Is to Encounter Police and Live to Tell About It

EXCERPT:

ERIC DYSON: "One of the greatest privileges of being white in this country is to encounter a police person on the street and live to tell about it. When many people say, 'Let’s get rid of political correctness,' that’s a shorthand for, 'Let me keep on being bigoted the way I was before.' As the great philosopher Sean Carter said, 'You was who you was before you got here, player, and you might change, but that’s just the top layer.' When you think about the collective white fragility of many white Americans, you know, black people, brown people, red, yellow people, you know what we do? I’m going to break a secret to you. We’re very cautious and careful about how you might interpret things, because you’re very fragile, your feelings might get hurt. You have had 44 of 45 presidents. Most CEOs of American Fortune 500 companies have been white. Where are the tears of white America coming from? To be white is to be seen as, 'I’m just a human being. I’m just an American. Why can’t you guys do the same?' So, many white brothers and sisters don’t understand they possess a race."