221–230 of 262 posts
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Shit, do you really think that people who get speeding tickets deserve jail time? You understand that the punishment should be proportional to the crime, right?
Where did you get that from?
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Speeding is always illegal, and not just for poor people. So is driving without a license. Do you believe those laws are unjust and/or targeting poor people?
The laws don't affect the rich and the poor in the same way. A poor person with a suspended license cannot afford the cab ride to work and are thus forced to choose between either not going to work, losing their job and watching their children starve or taking the risk and driving. A relatively well off person just catches a cab or an uber. An arrested poor person in jail waits days to weeks for a below average attor…
To paraphrase an excellent line: The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges and steal bread.
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I don't want to minimize racial discrimination, but telling poor people about their white privilege seems not all that different from conservative finger-wagging about how American poverty isn't "real" poverty. Also, even if you only looked at white people American police shootings are at a much higher rate than comparable countries.
Privilege is not a moral judgement. It is a sociological concept. Without the word “privilege”, a different word, or a longer phrase, will have to be used. Ultimately, the concept of privilege is a tool for good, intended to help bring people up. Republican finger-wagging, on the other hand, is used to maintain the status quo.
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While I think it's a very good idea to take stock of one's privileges relative to others, and how these privileges impact the outcomes of our lives, I'm a big proponent of the notion that privilege lies on a spectrum, it isn't binary. The distinction isn't between those with privilege and those without, but instead between different levels of privilege. Certainly whiteness, in a white dominated society, is one exampl…
One of the reasons I was so impressed by this piece was that the author didn't mention any sort of identity, other than just being poor. Anyone who is poor, who has been poor, can identity with some or all of what was written here. Perspective is always important when considering any subject. The subject of "white privilege" when it comes to the debate over poverty and power is often misguided, just like any blanket…
This is something I only thought about after moving away from where I grew up. Poorer white people would moan about black people and Mexicans all day but I wish I had pointed out to them that they're all poor together and have more in common than they do with the rich people they love to watch on TV.
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Where did you get that from?
It's a reasonable reading of your comments. Perhaps you communicated poorly? Browsing the thread, I am far from the only person who read you this way.
I lived this. Being poor is growing up between the trailer park and the dump. Being poor is skipping homework to help repair the $600 car so dad can make it to work tomorrow. Being poor is your mother crying over a $100 invoice for the dental service you just received for the first time in living memory. Being poor is quitting junior college early, because your Pell Grant ran out, and a $12.15/hr opportunity is over…
> Being poor is 2 nights in jail because of a clerical error Tell us more
Going through it all, since it ended ok, was good. I was 20 and learned even more to 1) not trust cops, 2) the courts are fallible and 3) it's more f-cked up for other people than a white kid in college (which I was but sat through a lot of other cases that day and the previous time there).
I grew up living this, we hardly had money to eat, but success came relatively easy after high school by simply trying really hard. I applied for hundreds of programming jobs and interviewed at tens of companies before landing my first gig where I worked my ass off and proved myself, within five years being the lead developer there before leaving for greener pastures. I had taught myself on computers we had been dona…
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Don't think for a minute that our white privilege isn't the major reason we can reflect on having been poor, rather than continuing to live that reality.
While I think it's a very good idea to take stock of one's privileges relative to others, and how these privileges impact the outcomes of our lives, I'm a big proponent of the notion that privilege lies on a spectrum, it isn't binary. The distinction isn't between those with privilege and those without, but instead between different levels of privilege. Certainly whiteness, in a white dominated society, is one exampl…
Agreed, and my genetic combination of healthy, cis, hetero, white, and male put me on the "more privileged" end of that spectrum.
Recognizing privilege in oneself leads to recognizing it—and the desire to have it at least acknowledged—in others. It also empowers me to leverage that privilege to benefit others who don't share it. As an example, I think Tim Cook does a great job of this at Apple.
for anyone who has grown up poor or working class, how do i claw my way out of this? i come from a single parent household, my mom is an elementary school teacher with 4 kids in an expensive city. she barely makes ends meet and cannot support me. i was homeless and addicted to drugs for most of my teenage years, before getting sober and going to college, but dropping out after 2 years - my mom's child support put me…
drop me a line. email in profile. I don't know if I can help at all, but will try. Don't give up. Don't give in, to despair or otherwise. There's a better world out there for you, it exists, and nobody can make it disappear (or take it away from you because of your family, your past, or whatever). I don't want to overpromise as I'm short on time as well, but ping me and I will try to help.
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Speed trap as fund-raiser > clerical error lost paid ticket > license suspended > road block as fund-raiser > zero-tolerance "suspended license == go to jail" > impounded car, $1200 bond, and jail time "waiting on the judge to post bond."
Speeding is always illegal, and not just for poor people. So is driving without a license. Do you believe those laws are unjust and/or targeting poor people?
A law that could target poor people is driving with expired tags. There are people who do this for reasons other than "just not getting around to it".