Contact The Editor
Articles By This Author
As an Hispanic who was born and raised in Spanish Harlem when it was mostly slum tenements, I'm always bemused by these charges of white privilege and other nonsensical calls for reparations from minority demagogues. I also grew up during the Cold War when Communist Russia was our most dangerous enemy instead of wealthy white Americans. The liberal politics of envy hadn't infested the culture yet but it wouldn't have affected me anyway since my mother always reminded us that envy is a sin- a Capital one.
What brought this home to me was listening to a radio program where the host was describing how this neighbor was ranting about a story she had just read in the paper.
Apparently she was upset learning that this couple living in a gated community had just won the lottery.
"Why does this happen to people who don't need it?"
This woman was simply miserable about this couple's good fortune and it had destroyed her day. The hostess of the program then reminded us why envy is a capital sin. It not only causes more pain for the sinner but can actually lead to violence.
Certainly liberals have succeeded in promoting envy as a political stance and thus we have millenials whining about how life is not fair while posting videos on their Iphones and high end laptops.
I was amazed at how NYC put up with that #occupywallstreet mob when each and every one of these fake protesters should have been arrested for anarchy. How often do we hear the leftists demand the redistribution of wealth from the 1% as if this is a Christian principle? It is not. One does not get grace from charity mandated by a government decree. It must come voluntarily from the heart.
Of course, the Democrats have relied on their Saul Alinsky rules for radicals and their community organizer-in-chief, President Barack Obama, was their champion. But the party has also depended on useful idiot whites to further their agenda but now that the people have elected a mega white guy as president, perhaps, it's time to examine exactly how white privilege works. The truth is it really doesn't always work.
When I first met my husband in Miami, decades ago, he appeared to be the ultimate white demi-god- tall, movie star handsome so it surprised me to learn how much we had in common. When we started bonding with our tales of childhood woe, I was shocked to learn he had it even rougher than I had.
Sure, my tenement was infested with all sorts of vermin, including the human kind but I lived in New York City which had an abundance of resources, both cultural and health wise. I was grateful when we could actually move into public housing albeit in a not much safer neighborhood.
My husband lived at times in a shack near the Everglades and when his alcoholic father became voluntarily unemployed; food sources were not plentiful and had to be hunted for survival. His dysfunctional home life was as violent as those in any inner city here and like my brother; he escaped by joining the Marines at the tender age of 17 in the Vietnam era. Before that, he too, was grateful that his family could get shelter in public housing.
I also met another privileged white man who is 6'5"; white blonde-haired, blue-eyed, and talented yet has spent most of his life in and out of prison and is frequently homeless. Schools should be showing images taken during the Great Depression when most of the poor and destitute were devoid of their white privilege.
Many of those illegal immigrants trying to enter here come from circumstances much worse than any existing in our inner cities. We live in a country with abundant resources available to all willing to work for them and that is why President Trump is pushing jobs for all as the real end to poverty.
15 TRILLION dollars have been spent in the war on poverty and yet liberals are still demanding more money for welfare programs so that the poor can vote and keep them in office. Considering that most of these trillions did go to help the non-white, is it time to reflect that there might also be a black privilege?
Most of the NBA is filled with black millionaires. There are also many in the NFL. Oprah Winfrey is a billionairess and the entertainment industry has provided many more opportunities to blacks as compared to other minorities. Asians need not apply. This just goes to prove how senseless it is to validate a political position by restricting it to the color of one's skin.
Beware of those politicians who troll for votes by demanding that the rich pay more; that colleges should be free; healthcare should be free as well and to do this we must raise taxes on the rich; that climate change is the fault of humans; that abortions are a civil right and that illegals are undocumented not criminals. They are just after your vote.
The truth is that there was a time when white privilege did exist but that allegation is now just a political weapon not a fact. That it is now being leveled by progressive white liberals is simply hilarious. Coveting someone else's good fortune or circumstances is forbidden in the Ten Commandments which the liberals always try to eliminate from public discourse but it is in there for a reason. Envying another blinds one to one's own blessings.
When the weather is frigid and I can cover up under a warm comforter or soak in a hot bubble bath, I can't help but remember in my life when these comforts were non existent. Counting one's blessings is a good tool to blunt the politics of envy. I recommend it highly.