Black Privilege?

What's black privilege? The word "privilege" is defined in Merriam-Webster's dictionary as, " a right or immunity granted as a peculiar benefit, advantage, or favor ; especially : such a right or immunity attached specifically to a position or an office."

People say that it's a privilege that black people get to demean themselves by calling themselves the n-word and using it as a "term of endearment". Examples of terms of endearment are "sweetheart", "baby", "cutie pie", "buddy", etc. Then again terms of endearment can be used to insult people as well.

Greeting: "Hey sweetheart."

Anger: "You need to go get your ears checked, sweetheart."

If you can say "Hey n-word," what's keeping you from saying, "You need to go get your ears checked, n-word,"? IMO I think people want to say it more so that it can be used when angry as a way to shut someone up and get the last word more than a term of endearment. I'm sure a lot of us have been acquainted with the powerful feeling that comes with saying something so harsh to someone that they can't respond an they feel so bad about it that they cry in front of you. I really think that's the main reason why people want to be able to say it without repercussion to get the power that comes from saying it. If someone truly wants to use a term of endearment, there are enough non-offensive terms of endearment that one can choose from to not have to say the n-word. Also, calling someone by their name (ie: Andre) or their accepted nickname if they accept it (ie: Dre) is a good idea too.

It's bad enough that there are black people that use the word and demean each other, they really don't need anyone else's help.

People say that it's "black privilege" that a black person can call someone racist and be believed. I really don't think very many people believe a black person when they call someone racist. It's not about the black person saying it, it's about the white person's reaction. It seems that unless a black person's accusation is followed by a white person(s) cosigning on it and/or very clear video evidence they'll just get brushed off for the most part as making up excuses, being lazy, and just whining. It seems that a lot of white people are more worried about what other white people will say about them rather than the fact that the were dead wrong and offensive. In the case of celebrities, especially those with TV/radio shows, they don't really care that their celebrity said what they said as long as people don't start threatening their sponsors saying that they will patronize their competitors (and then do it). If that happens the show will lose their sponsors thus losing money. The celebrity must then address the issue whether it's in the form of an apology or even getting suspended for a certain amount of time. However, if there's no buzz over what the celebrity did no one, not even the show producer, will say a thing. Anyone who heard it and got offended (whether they were listeners or on staff) would be advised to kick rocks because they really don't care that what they said was insensitive as long as they don't get in trouble for it.

People even go as far as to say that BET, the first TV network geared towards black people, is a part of black privilege because there's no WET. What would be the point of WET? BET shows black people in the worst light possible to make a buck. Believe it or not, black people aren't the only people who watch that train wreck. Heck, BET is having hard time finding an audience with black people. They started to lure some people back with reruns of popular shows like, "Smart Guy", "The Game", and "Thea" but they're still BET: Big Embarrassment Television. While the age and gender demographic of most TV channels is different more times than not the race is the same. White. So why be upset about WET when there are a lot of channels geared towards white people? If you want something that mirrors BET try MTV. They're both by Viacom and BET has (pretty much) become the black version of MTV. (It was headed that way anyway)

Why did BET start in the first place? Founder, Robert (Bob) Johnson, noticed that there wasn't much programming geared towards black people or even showing black people in a way that was favorable. Therefore in 1980 he started the BET channel. BET's mission statement said, "it was created to broadcast the culture, genius, beauty and talents of the black race." (http://bit.ly/c643HN) BET has fallen so short of its mission statement it should be illegal. Unfortunately what started out as a good idea turned out be a monster of a network that the USA could do without.

With that said if there was a WET that truly looked like a white version of BET there would be huge blocks of "r**neck" programming, Jerry Springer, Girls Gone Wild, music videos will have the infamous theme of sex, drugs, and rock & roll with some rap and pop (including pop country) videos since there are white people who like that stuff. There will be reruns of sitcoms like "Friends", "Darma and Greg", "Coach", and other all white cast shows (there's a ton to chose from), there'd be a reality show that takes it's cue from "The Jersey Shore" and pick on and embarrass some other segment of the group of people under the umbrella of white, there'd be a video countdown show that is like a reincarnation of TRL but a bit worse, some Roman Catholic services and preachers like Joel Olsteen will come on before and after "Girls Gone Wild" and on Sundays, etc. Is that what you want, what you really really want? Being a TV prod major I can tell you that something like this wouldn't work not because it would be deemed as racist but because TV is a bit of a good ol' boys club. They're not going to put anything that crazy about white people on one channel.

Still even if they did it's not like it would hurt anything after it gets kicked off the air. Why? Because usually when negative stuff is put on TV about a minority that negativity is projected onto the entire group. When negative stuff is put on TV about a minority there's a lot of forgiveness in that. (And just so you know...white people are still the majority: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html)

It would seem that the things dubbed as "black privilege" actually aren't. There are other things involved in this so called "black privilege" but they all pan out to being something that isn't a privilege or something that is needed because of the type of country the US is.