The Racial Experience of a White Working Class American Boy | Hacker News Reader

The Racial Experience of a White Working Class American Boy

andyarclight.com

72 pointsarchhn18 comments

I had a very similar experience. White kid in a predominantly black, poor neighborhood. I was a true D&D playing, sci-fi-reading, sports-hating nerd who had to learn how to fight and physically intimidate people in order not to get beat up. It was not an easy time. I've never been diagnosed with PTSD but it's pretty clear I had it.

Zero racism in my heart. There are assholes everywhere in every race and gender, and truly, transcendentally noble, good-hearted people too. Find, and be, those latter; ruthlessly avoid the former. Most people just want to live peacefully, surrounded by family and friends. If that's your basic operating assumption, you'll have a good understanding of almost everyone.

The racial category "white" is as absurd as "black" or "Asian". These categories are overly inclusive, reductive, and indicate absolutely nothing about the individuals thereof. Whites include European hereditary aristocracy, living survivors of Balkan/Baltic/Caucasus genocide, Barbary pirates, Levantine peasantry, Uralic ethnicities you have never heard of because their populations are in the single digits, on and on.

Anyone who tries to make grand assertions about Asians, Blacks or whites, is, at most charitable interpretation, clueless, ignorant and uninformed. I am super clear about this.

It seems that "the white oppressor" narrative was coined considering the American Society __only__. People tend to neglect other forms of racism experienced in other places in the world.

Agreed. It happens everywhere. I sympathize with the black community, but this rhetoric doesn't do anyone any good. It's shocking.

Narratives about racism in America are about the systemic, structural ways in which our country disadvantages black people, not about individual people's feelings or even actions. It's possible for individuals to have different experiences without negating the fundamental truth that the deck is stacked against black Americans. As just one example, white wealth is tied to homeownership, which was denied to blacks for decades.

None of this is to deny the pain of the author's experiences, which is very real. My point is that this isn't the sort of thing we're talking about when we talk about racism in America; it's about the system as a whole.

+ gerrymandering

I disagree. Race provocateurs are actively saying that white people are inherently racist. Surely you are aware of this?

In a structural context, I think you could argue than anyone who participates in existing institutions which propagate these differences in opportunity/resources is “racist”. Of course, this definition makes it extremely hard to avoid being racist- even by accident. This is how I (perhaps generously) interpret “white people are inherently racist”.

Because many people are born into these institutions, judging someone’s character based on this version of racism is misguided imo. Instead, we must all try to be aware of the effects of our institutions and how our participation affects them.

Curious if you’d disagree?

I am very sensitive to the plight of the white American working class. I'm aware of how the American oligarchs used us to become rich, and then shipped our jobs to third-world countries. There are countless communities of white people that have just flat out died due to this economic betrayal. Many of these areas which have been stripped of industry suffer social blights like heroin use, etc. There are entire areas in America where white people are just killing themselves with drugs because they are completely hopeless. Chris Hedges has written several great books about this. Also, you can look up plenty of documentaries on this subject on YouTube if you are not familiar with this subject.

Do some white people have an unfair advantage in this system? Absolutely. Do all white people have an unfair advantage in this system? Given what has happened to the white working class, I would say that the evidence proves that they don't.

I believe all people are inherently racist. I don't think race is the biggest issue in our nation. I believe class is the central issue, and I can't help but believe that race conflict is a diversion used to avoid class conflict.

All white people in America have an unfair advantage. That’s what white privilege is. If you actually care about this, research Peggy McIntosh and the concept of the invisible knapsack. Two very simple examples:

1. In the majority of industries in the US, a white person can rise to the upper echelons of that industry without meaningfully interacting with majority groups that don’t look like them.

2. White names have a better response rate with equivalent resumes than ethnic names.

There are dozens if not hundreds more tangible advantages that being white has. Does this mean that it’s not hard to be poor and white? No. But no matter what your class is in the US, it is advantageous to be white if you want to move up.

> All white people in America have an unfair advantage.

Statistical advantage you mean, but that does not translate to good outcomes for many people.

I'll agree with you that in a historically white country, white people, in general, have an advantage. But saying this completely disregards the marginalized white working class which has been under siege, like minorities, by a predatory ruling class.

> Narratives about racism in America are about the systemic, structural

What the author experienced happened in a structured institution.

> our country disadvantages black people

You need to add black to your definition of racism so that what the author experienced doesn't qualify as it.

> My point is that this isn't the sort of thing we're talking about when we talk about racism in America;

This is true, and hence the hypocrisy, only caring about a particular oppression, instead of all oppression.

> it's about the system as a whole.

Discriminated people, white or black, are all part of the system as a whole

CT is one of the most segregated states in the US, with some cities there in the top 5. I feel for the author's situation, though to be frank their conclusions strike me as extremely misguided.

What do you think my conclusion was? I, a poor white kid, became the scapegoat for a group of poor black kids. I experienced the poor being set against the poor with the racial rhetoric of my childhood. I feel like it has become much, much, worse today.

If you think my conclusion is that there's no inequality, and that we just need to all hold hands and get along...well, maybe that's poor writing on my part, but this was not the conclusion I was trying to draw!

Doesn’t Howard Stern have a similar story about his youth growing up in NYC?

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