Much of what I read in the wake of the protests is proposals for reining in out-of-control racist police, and maybe for providing more or different resources to black neighborhoods.
While good for the short term, I fear those proposals don’t get to the heart of the matter. And that lies where the concepts of “Black Lives Matter” and “White Privilege” should intersect, but don’t.
The Economist has an excellent obituary of Mr. Floyd that includes a description of the Houston neighborhood where he grew up. Mr. Floyd didn’t have the wealth of opportunity I did in my middle class white neighborhood. One big difference had to be the schools.
The underlying idea of public education is based on the racist idea that public schools should be funded by local school taxes. This means that white families of means can move to more expensive neighborhoods and be sure their taxes go only to the schools in their neighborhoods.
(And there might also be a history of actively keeping blacks out of those neighborhoods.)
If whites were willing to share some aspect of their privilege, they should support the abolishing of the use of local taxes for schools and instead require public school funding to be solely on a state or federal level. That would ensure at least equal educational options in all neighborhoods. If a white family wanted better public schools they would get it by voting for more money spent on all schools, not by moving to a “good” school district.
To increase the chances of success, homework should be eliminated. I watch my daughter-in-law work with my grandkids on their homework and think it’s simply not fair. Kids who don’t have a mother or parent like her simply aren’t going to get the same education. All the educational work needs to be done in the school so all get the same chance to succeed.
All going well, of course college should be free to anyone ready for that type of education, as well as different types of vocational training. Of course. This would benefit everyone.
Lastly, health care. It needs to be nationalized, so it’s not tied to the nice job someone got based on the good education they got. This too would benefit everyone.
These bits of white privilege will be hard for the white communities to let go of, and that is my fear. To my cynical self it seems the idea of getting more gentle police simply means trying to keep the impoverished black neighborhoods off the front pages. It means being OK with the 30% incarceration of black males as long as we just don’t kill them.
Dennis Merritt is a resident of Shelburne Falls.