EP 15: Post Segregation White Privilege: Why People Believe Systemic Racism Doesn’t Exist

0:00 Hey guys! Welcome back~ Welcome back~ Again! Happy New Year! Kind of, it's still January... so yeah, happy New Year. Getting pretty--- pretty consistent with these. And if you clicked on this, you know we're coming in hot! So we're coming in hot here. Welcome to Reese Grey Analyzes, I am so glad you decided to Adventure with me today. On Reese Grey Analyzes we look at creations and experiences in art, media, music, and even video games to explore exactly why we think the way we think, question what we believe, and learn something new! So, kind of--- what inspired this video was that I got a TikTok comment on a video I uploaded, that was talking about Bo Burnham's "inside" and he talks a lot about his experience as a white male in the United States. And what that means for him, and makes fun of his privilege a lot like---ironically. [Bo Burnham Clip] "straight white man, I know the road looks tough ahead, [Music] the women want rights the gays want kids *shudder* what, what? Can't you just leave us alone, and also no to the things you asked for :)" And I got a TikTok comment that just said, "white privilege is a myth" and I commented back, because I was like genuinely curious why he thought so, but unfortunately no answer there.

1:40 And as everybody knows, there's a lot of people who believe that white privilege is a myth. Because it's really argued that life can quote unquote "be really hard for someone no matter the color of their skin". Poverty affects everyone, violence affects everyone, Etc. It's a really common sentiment, that you hear. So the goal of this video is to learn from different kinds of experiences and to acknowledge the literal different type of experiences that people have and how their sense of reality is Warped by their experiences. And it's really hard to have empathy when you have not had a outright experience, and kind of learning how the these two different types of Life Experiences can interact and clash with each other.

2:32 So we're going to split up this exploration into white privilege into three parts so Part 1.) The sentiment or the feelings and experiences of white privilege in the United States. 2.) Empirical evidence of systemic racism, which is facts and data. 3.) Individual responsibility, because of course you're responsible for what you do and how you act in what you believe. So, it's important to to recognize your your own feelings although this world feels so vast and big, you can have a life-changing impact on the people who you encounter in your day-to-day. Though we may sometimes just feel so so so so so small so small. And even at times insignificant, but the way you treat people it makes a difference.

3:22 So, part one is about a sentiment of white privilege in the United States. So first, let's explore sentiment in general. What is sentiment? So sentiment is a view or attitude on a situation or event basically an opinion or subjective experience. A sentiment is not a fact, but it is valid because it represents a person's experience and how someone feels. As we do here on Reese Grey Analyzes, let's adventure with each other on the concept of white privilege. Now, no matter if you're on the side that thinks White Privilege is a myth, or of course White Privilege exists, this exists as like an area to explore those sentiments. So let me know what you think when you hear like the concept of white privilege. What is your visceral gut reaction like when you hear that? When people are about to talk about it how does it make you to feel? Because how you feel about that concept will determine how the rest of the conversation goes, really. So in noticing your own biases, and what you believe, and what you think, and what you feel when you hear that term, and when you're about to speak on this issue... it's really important to realize like where you're coming from.

4:42 And I've heard from people even in my own family, well if White Privilege is real then where's my privilege? You know? To describe the argument of white privilege being a myth they would say that, well... a white person. a black person. an Asian person can all apply for the same job. they can all apply for the same College. anything is available to learn online. so where is the racial barrier in this day and age... in 2023. A lot of people will concurrently hold the belief that white privilege is a myth in the United States because the United States is a meritocracy and you can work hard for what you want and you can pull yourself up your bootstrap and work because they think well... like how can there be racial barriers when you get out what you put in? So that is the sentiment of someone who believes that white privilege is a myth. The same sorts of people who say that white privilege is a myth will also say that they are not racist and love everybody and love everyone equally, and then concurrently also hold the belief that systemic racism does not exist because of today's laws. So segregation was outlawed and has been outlawed since 1964 by President Lyndon B Johnson who signed the Civil Rights Act, which illegally ended this segregation that you commonly see in textbooks that had been institutionalized by the Jim Crow laws. So these separate but equal laws. The separate water fountains, the separate buildings, Etc.

6:12 So today, we're going to be exploring bring both the sentiment of white privilege is a myth and people who believe that systemic racism still affects people today. And so like we're going to be looking at both sides and their beliefs and the facts and why there seems to not be a sort of agreement that can happen between those two groups. So you can measure sentiment by having people fill out a survey when you hear the phrase white people have privilege how do you feel scale of one to ten one being strongly disagree 10 being strongly agree. And you can use that like Amalgamated data as like empirical evidence once combined to propose like Solutions or not even Solutions just a basic sentiment or feel about how you know what people in a certain area or region believe. So arguably, sentiment is as important as empirical data and sentiment can be data. And have a good research study you can't deny the existence of empirical data or sentiment. So yeah, both facts and feelings do matter. And they intertwine and they connect with each other because sentiment determines how we treat others, and what we value, and ultimately how we move on about the world and the policies that we vote for and how we spend our money.

7:40 Yep! You heard me right. Sentiment, or your feelings... determines economics. For example, the black lives matter movement or the BLM movement which is in the United States, this generated 125 billion dollars in economic output across the United States because this economic activity supported nearly 524 000 jobs that made consumers conscious about the decisions that they were making economically and decided to support black businesses.

8:13 So sentiment also affects government policies as well. And going on with the black lives matter movement in 2020, because of these protests in New York the mayor at the time Bill de Blasio, he saw a budget reduction in one billion dollars in response to the protest. So a one billion dollar budget cut in the NYPD. Some other states that were affected was Nashville Tennessee Mayor John Cooper announced that his administration had successfully negotiated better contracts with body cameras on police. So this agreement reduced the estimated cost of a body camera from 40 million dollars total to 2.1 million dollars total, by improving the contracts. So the use of body cameras in the United States actually isn't anything completely new. Back in 2013, so seven years prior, a study showed that nearly a third of local police departments were already using body cameras and by a survey conducted in California in 2013 at the same time found that there was a 59% reduction in police reported use of force among officers who were wearing body cameras. So, yes. A sentiment in a way puts pressure on those with power and money to make decisions to sway those with that sentiment to appease the public.

9:50 So of course, your---your sentiment is affected by your subjective experience. So let's talk about sentiment and subjective experiences. Sentiment can also be described as say like "identity politics", which gets a really bad rap today, because it's kind of like a buzzword for you're doing something bad because you're making decisions based on your identity... but however, I think that can be a little bit misleading, because everyone, no matter how hard you try, you're going to have bias. Everyone has a personal history and experiences that shapes the lens in which they see the world. And the best way to not let your biases blindly sway your opinion is to be aware of them. So saying that you shouldn't ascribe to Identity politics kind of makes people put these blinders on, so instead of encouraging people to understand why they believe what they believe, you're just encouraging them to go along with the status quo... instead of questioning current policies though acknowledging the patterns in which groups are treated.

11:04 It's also really important to recognize that individuals have experiences that are separate from their groups. So there's no general blanket statement that can dilute whole groups into like "white people experience" and "black people experiences" or "people of color experiences", and obviously, you know, a middle eastern person will have a different experience in the United States than a Asian person or then a black person... So it's really like--- important to denote, even though like these general blanket statements like "the white person experience" and "the black person experience" is good for statistics and grouping and understanding. Then like, in the back of your mind, should also be that individuals have certain experiences that may deviate from the social norm, and to take those deviations, like seriously. And to listen to to people, you know? As individuals, you know? They just lead unique lives based on their varied experiences, and I think it's the lack of understanding of unique experiences that that leads to these misunderstandings and this fear and anger towards people in groups experiences that they are unfamiliar with.

12:20 So here are some like, personal anecdotes of how like white privilege has came up in my life, since we're talking about biases and subjectivity and how it affects your sentiment. So I was actually born in South Dakota, where my mom grew up. I'm half Filipino on my dad's side and half German on my mom's side, and I also grew up a lower class benefiting from WIC which is a food service program(s) [such as] free school lunch, school supplies that were donated from like a local church, so you know lots of like Community handouts. And I also knew people who were like extremely impoverished... Also I'm really reluctant to say that I grew up in like poverty myself, even though we were economically in that threshold, my social experience I feel like was a very different because I had a maybe like a strong sense of community, and a lot of impoverished kids feel like they're alone in the world... So um, you know, like people who grow up in poverty itself like, they all have really different experiences based on who they grow up around or you know what their Community is like.

13:30 And then, like, it's not a nice term of course, but--- but, you know the white people stereotype of "trailer trash", well that is my mother's self-described lineage. Okay. Like she'd agree with that, she's not mad at that. She would not be offended. Um yeah, so like as you can imagine, I'm a first generation college student I go off to college and learn you know about feminism. And as children do, we tell our parents you know what we learned in school that day, and when I told my mom about white privilege.... I mean, she... she... was pretty confused. And like, a little bit upset. Like my mom would say like... you--- you like Believe In White Privilege? Like how could you you do that with with what you know with what you've experienced? My mom was kind of like like where's my privilege, you know? What the hell, you know? Like, and I I love my mom, and like I understand that. And I understand why that would be her visceral reaction, you know she hears that and she's all like well the color of my skin didn't do anything to give me any benefits.... and that's what she thought.

14:00 So, let me let me paint a picture here, to try and describe why she had that visceral reaction. So she grew up much poorer than than we ever did, in ways that made us seem like we were totally fine. Like she grew up like putting ketchup on crackers, her mom counted the pieces of bread so they had enough like for the week, and everyone like wasn't allowed like more than their like ration, you know? A huge like history and like drug addiction, alcoholic family members ,people didn't even care about their kids enough to make sure they finished elementary school. So a huge lack of Education there. Like siblings being split up foster care, and so when you tell someone like that, you know... "you know you have white privilege" uh.... So they think well my white skin didn't do anything to prevent me from experiencing poverty and that's her sentiment to the term White Privilege, that's her her visceral reaction. And her visceral reaction was to be offended.

15:45 And so, this like sentiment, and this understanding of what white privilege is to them is is a sentiment that's really shared a lot to a lot of lower class people because the term like "white privilege" is never really defined in everyday life, because it's a misunderstanding. White Privilege doesn't mean that you were never impoverished or that your life didn't suck, or that you know you can't have an unjust life or an unfair life. White Privilege just means that you have certain advantages in the United States based off of your skin color, which is really really difficult to wrap your head around in this day and age for some people. And some people both white and black people [etc.] will will scoff at that statement, and if that's your visceral reaction, I would encourage you to read "The Invisible Knapsack" by Peggy McIntosh, who was a white woman who explained the ways in which she recognized her white privilege. And I'll name a few examples from her article here.

16:40 So, some social examples of how white privilege exists based on Peggy macintosh's article are 1.) I can turn on the television or open the front page of a paper to see my race widely represented". So seeing people in power who look like you makes you feel kind of comfy, seeing people who share features like yours who meet the beauty standards can make you feel comfy. And of course, like this is not a simple issue. Like not every white person meets the beauty standard set by media, and just because your skin color is white it doesn't automatically make people think you look successful either... But as we can also see with situations in media if your skin is not white your existence can be inherently politicized. For example, the unprecedented controversy of The Little Mermaid being a black woman, instead of the traditional white mermaid, was met with backlash on the basis of her skin color, not her Talent OR abilities and this is where White Privilege would come in because it was cast by a white woman who met the status quo of what people were already expecting to see, her skin color would not be a topic of issue. So it's just like her existence as a black woman, who's playing a fictional character of a mermaid, well, "why is Disney trying to politicize our Disney movies" [or] "the only reason they cast a black woman was to be woke", and I saw that critique a lot. And that's not something that can be said for the opposite. For example, they just cast a white actor to be woke. Because that would be ridiculous, because that's kind of the status quo.

18:30 And for example like in the art scene in general there are many artists whose work aims to normalize a black, Asian-American, Muslim American, Etc., experiences just as regular American experiences. For example, the Minetti Schrem museum has a dedicated Gala called "Young, Gifted, and Black", for artists who photograph their everyday lives to reclaim their lives and de-politicize them, to show a lens of black people who are just existing without politicizing their existence. [Soundbite] "What differences there between black art and any other kind of art? Oh I'm not sure that there really is a difference except that the work has been created by black people we want the public to be aware that we exist we want our own people to know that we are here." [Soundbite End]

19:20 A lot of black art focuses on protests and civil rights, and political art, and of course although there's nothing wrong with that. These artists wanted to offer a balance into the art world this Gala includes pictures of people just hanging out on their front lawns, or going into a barber shop.

19:34 So there's another point in The Invisible knapsack by Peggy McIntosh which was "I can go into the music shop and count on finding the music of my race represented, into a supermarket and find the staple foods in which fit with my cultural traditions, and into a hairdresser shop and find someone who can cut my hair." So, in the United States, the availability of culturally diverse like foods and services varies widely by location because the United States is such a wide like--- geographical area, and some locations are really diverse heavy, such as San Francisco and Los Angeles and New York. But the default store the default American Store experience has services and products that are tailored toward the majority of people who will be spending their money on their service in the status quo of what people expect to buy and see which is for like white Anglo-Saxon Protestant Christian type group. So this isn't a bad thing at all, it's just something that can be taken for granted. And that you can go into Super Cuts and get a pretty good haircut, or if a holiday is coming up like Christmas or Easter or you know a Christian holiday you're surrounded by familiar things and you can go into Target or Walmart for errands and be surrounded by familiarity and something that can fill your day with Christmas Joy just by living out a normal day, when like for instance a Muslim American or chinese-american has to go to special stores, different stores, certain communities, in order to celebrate their holidays or make foods for their celebrations. And it's just something that can easily be taken for granted even as you sit at home you take for granted being able to throw on the TV throw on Netflix and you have this seasonal media just like handed to you. It's just something that's taken as something that's normal and something that can be taken for granted and other world majority holidays such as Lunar New Year it doesn't have the same type of privilege to be like a widely celebrated type of cultural phenomenon.

21:54 Another Point Peggy brings up is that she "Can criticize the government and talk about how much I fear its policies and behavior without being seen as a cultural Outsider". Now this one is a pretty big one because typically when a person of color or minority expresses their discontent with government policies, they get told well "go back to your country" then like "why are you here then if you don't like the way things are". But if a white person expresses their values that they want to change it's usually in in protecting this status quo. For example, cultural norms, Christian religious Norms such as "I want to put Christian prayer back into the U.S school system", "We want to have mandatory Pledge of Allegiance in the school system". These are system changes that are regarded as meeting the status quo, but putting prayer into schools doesn't mean setting up feet washing stations and little mats and stuff for people who want to do their five times daily prayers if they're Muslim, like it's not about equality it's about a certain status quo.

23:02 Another point she made was that "I could remain oblivious to the language and customs of persons of color who constitute the world's majority without feeling in my culture any penalty for such Oblivion". A lot of people who are not from the United States tout this as like "American Tourist disease". Like they're really oblivious to like even what's going on in like Europe or Asia and just kind of move along in their ignorance and they're like accidentally offending people or accidentally doing things that are against the status quo because they didn't travel purposefully. And Peggy is saying that these kinds of things can happen domestically, within the United States, because people who who ascribe to the status quo with being like Christian and white they don't have to learn anything else--- but if you're a Muslim American, if you're a chinese-american, you have to know the status quo of things. And though there are ethnic enclaves where you can basically live somewhere and not have to speak English, you know such as some places in Chinatown where you can own like businesses--- small businesses and Thrive off of that. You have to change the ways in which you do things in order to appeal to who will be buying your products. For instance, like the first Chinese restaurant even it sold Meatloaf, I mean you know. You have you have to know, but if you live on the outskirts of Chinatown or Koreatown in LA you don't have to know anything about them. And that's taken for granted.

24:32 So let's talk about systemic racism, and those empirical evidences and depending on the person's age too--- they might not even really understand how systemic racism comes into play. Since segregation was outlawed in 1964. It's like, well, we're past that now we're just holding ourselves back by thinking that there's still segregation, when there's not. And people think that race isn't an issue anymore in the United States, and it's about you know working hard and educating yourself. However if we're talking about the empirical evidence, if we're talking about the data, black people with college degrees are twice as likely to be unemployed as all other graduates. So you know, they're trying to play the game too, but the data speaks otherwise. Job applicants with white sounding names get called back 50 percent more of the time than applicants with black sounding names, even when they have identical resumes. And guests with distinctively black names get less positive reviews from Property Owners on Airbnb. So we can see how sentiment or how we feel about people or preconceived notions affects systemic racism or how the world Works in practice.

25:43 And I think the biggest highlight of how systemic racism has permeated itself into our regular everyday life is through Health Care. As race can be a determining Factor on where you're put on the list for life-saving procedures such as kidney transplants. And I currently work in a hospital, and I've seen these conversations in--- in full time. So it's not just something that is being picked from the sky. And there are still conversations and and arguments you know with people trying to assert that race is not a biological construct, it is a social construct. However, it is being used to be made Health Care decisions. Some data on that is black people are almost four times as likely to suffer from kidney failure than non-hispanic whites. Black patients spend months longer waiting for a kidney transplant than white patients. The formula used to assess kidney function is GFR or glomular filtration rate. So the GFR measures how fast a person's kidney can filter blood, so lower kidney filtration rates suggest worse kidney function and so like determining GFR and involves urine collection over a 24-hour period as well as blood samples. A lot of doctors run Labs routinely to estimate kidney function by measuring blood levels of creatine and waste filtered by the kidneys as well as a person's age, and a person's sex, and a person's race ---only if the patient is African-American. So that factor plays into this calculation so this is called a race correction or race adjustment to the GFR number so that black patients with chronic kidney disease end up with higher values of GFR, they are less likely to survive a kidney transplant, and they are more likely to suffer kidney failure. And then it's kind of like well? Then why do African Americans suffer more from kidney disease and need kidney transplants? Well it's because they're not able to come to the hospital in a timely manner. So it's argued because their lack of access to healthy foods and their lack of Access to Health Care leads them to a higher rate of kidney failure. This kidney treatment isn't really solving any of these deeper issues of Health Care and food access, healthy food access. So it's like a really huge discussion that hinges upon this race correction, or this race adjustment. And you would think well, that's not a race issue... that's a that's a food issue-- that's a poverty issue, that's a health care Equity issue. And it is. But the problem is stemming from the race adjustments. So you see how we kind of like go in a circle here where people are so afraid to talk about how race affects the way in which we treat people and I think that a lot of benefits can come from just under standing that systemic racism exists because of this history of white people's lives just straight up being valued more historically. And that has effects on the way the Health Care system works later and even how we treat people. Like it's a part of the problem, it's not the problem. But race is a part of the lens in which people see people and how they view themselves how they view others.

29:13 And moving on into more examples about how race affects medicine. For example, calculation assumed black children were less likely to get urinary tract infections through a new research found that the risk had to do with the child's history of fevers and past infections and not race. So it can lead people to kind of be like overlooked with things that are going on with their health and overlooked for thinking that it's about their race. There was also a race and ethnicity calculation that was used by Obstetricians to gauge a patient's ability to have a vaginal birth after a previous cesarean section. So there's a lot of ways in which race was originally thought to have a lot to do with someone's Health, when it wasn't it was actually these social factors that were leading to patterns in the way that People's Health was affected. But having an acknowledgment that race was used as a factor first in determining these People's Health Care outcomes is a huge step in fixing these issues anyway. Because if there's not a recognition that there's a problem in the first place, how are we supposed to fix the problem?

30:33 So we can see with these conclusions that like systemic racism that happens right now it's usually not done within malice. And we've all heard these arguments about gerrymandering, and how they have racist undertones as with the housing market that originally did not give loans to black couples and how of course that's not a thing anymore, but now affects the neighborhoods in which people live, and the funding in which their schools are. It has lasting systemic effects, even though right now Banks aren't enacting these racist policies there's still this privilege that comes from the statistical likelihood of being able to benefit from these types of systemic privileges. And this is like really really hard to understand and wrap your mind around of course, also for older white people who would have literally seen the civil rights movement, and I've known some people's grandparents who have literally listened to the Martin Luther King I Have a Dream speech which was in 1963. And that speech was held 100 years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation Act which was freeing the slaves. So they see all of this extreme progress, and they're like what are you what are you complaining about? Because we have come so far, which is beautiful. And we should always be striving to just improve and keep doing even better and recognizing that things still could get better.

32:13 And I think what's so difficult about this right now, is that it's just about educating people on people's experiences, and how they move through the world, and how they live within this system that has been affected by systemic racism. And I think a lot of people just move through their lives without recognizing these biases that they have in these privileges that you have based on like where you grew up, what you look like, what your economic status was. And a lot of people are afraid to admit and recognize and realize that that those things that do have an effect on your life. Like your experiences they matter. And they affect how you treat people and like this is to say too, and it should go without saying... but it really doesn't, because I feel like people feel like when you bring up systemic racism, they think that you're calling all white people racist, but having White Privilege doesn't mean that you're racist. You're just born that way, and it affects the way you move through your life. Just like being born a person of color will affect how you move in the course of your life.

33:13 So let's talk about individual accountability, and that's what we can do. We can call for change in health care and school systems, but the sentiment it starts at home. And I'm choosing to take a more compassionate route by exploring like this issue of white privilege and truly trying to foster understanding. So systemic racism is so embedded within the United States health care and school systems and it's often assumed to reflect this like natural inevitable Order of Things by discounting the fact that we can change the way we think in the way we feel about people. And usually when people talk about race relations in the United States, we talk data, we talk history, and we're almost scared to talk about personal experiences. But we can learn a lot about each other and from each other and ourselves by just talking through our experiences.

13:10 Now a lot of people, like my like my mom, were taught to see racism through acts of individual meanness and individual unkindness towards people who are not white. And not necessarily in these systems and institutions that supported dominance over other groups who are non-white, such as in school systems that teach predominantly European history and even literature that is heavy in Christian imagery taking for granted Christian holiday such as Easter and Christmas being the status quo for days off in the workforce, and entertainment being tailored towards european-centric beauty standards, and even with makeup not being able to match darker skin tones. So looking at these situations empathetically, it isn't white people's fault that they have privilege and none of it today I believe in systemic racism in a large part is not done out of malice. White Privilege is just being able to be a little bit more comfortable because of the status quo. And of course, we're all taught that racism is something that puts others at a disadvantage but we're not really taught that while racism puts others at a disadvantage well who had the advantage... white people did. Thus white privilege. And this affected laws and the ways that people treated people, and this leads to White Privilege.

35:40 Visiting the prior example to where my mother would say "what privilege I'm white, what are you talking about?". Because describing White Privilege makes one accountable. In Western culture teaches us that racism is over and I don't necessarily blame that because we're taught that the Civil Rights Movement is over, so you think then what is BLM fighting for? It's this fight for recognition that things are the way they are because of systemic racism. And I believe that it's the status quo not to recognize that because one it's just not a nice feeling to know that some people the way they move in the world is just going to be inherently a little bit more comfortable. So in this way just calling white people racist because they don't recognize their white privilege is not really helpful to anything. So what is helpful? It's outlining all the current things that go on and to denote how white privilege is perpetuated in a post segregation system. And I hope this video worked to outline that a little bit better.

35:40 And so, I really hope you guys enjoyed this video! And I tried hard not to villainize any group and outline the biases I've had in my own experiences, so please do let me know your experiences in the comments~ And I'd love to learn from you all you guys have such like cool things to say all of the time and such amazing things to add, and of course you can find me on my socials on HewwoReese h-e-w-w-o-r-e-e-s-e on TikTok, Twitter, Instagram All That Jazz. Now you can find the links in the description, and on ReeseGrey.com to see any of the sources. And I appreciate you guys so much! And I'm looking forward to so so much this month, and that's all I have for today! So okay, love you bye <3