Talk Tim Wise White Privilege Analysis

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In the video, “Talk --Tim Wise on White Privilege,” Tim Wise raises an endless amount of affective and thought-provoking truths (and concepts) regarding white privilege and racism in American society.

In order for white privilege to be eliminated and racism to cease in American society, we must “forever abandon the infantile, color-blind model of race relations,” to quote Wise. He further explained that the “problem” in America, isn’t only the philosophy of far-right conservatives, or white nationalists, it’s also the passive and polite concept of being racially “color-blind.” The popular, liberal-leaning culture that propels the notion that we should all be racially color-blind has only exacerbated racism and white privilege in the 21st
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He illustrates a correlation between white (presumed nonviolent) and “colored” (presumed violent) communities and the dichotomy present in the level of coping skills that individuals raised in these communities posses. When coping skills are not present and are coupled with an individual’s loss of presumed power, often what results is a violent exertion of abusive power in what Wise calls “pathologies of control” (child sexual molesters, serial killers, mass shootings, etc.). These statements are supported with statistical data, all of which illustrate a higher concentration of violence associated with “pathologies of control” in wealthy white communities with white males (the archetype of power & privilege) as the common perpetrators. Wise further explains his correlation by discussing the nature of communities where violence is expected (acknowledged by larger community), where discrimination is commonplace. To summarize Wise, this normalized state of discrimination where individuals experience a lack of control in various circumstances of life, necessitates the development, and practice, of coping skills (adaptation) and can be associated with the lower concentration of crimes related to “pathologies of control.” In fact, Wise states, that the criminal acts of violence that occur more often in these communities are personally vetted ones (homicide), in contrast to wealthy white communities where mass, or public, killings