OPINION:
From the basketball court to the Smithsonian museums in Washington to Cambridge University in Britain, accusations of White privilege are becoming as thick as flies on a decaying carcass.
In July, a congressional hearing erupted in outrage after the revelation that a Smithsonian online publication referred to politeness and objectivity as “defining characteristics of White supremacy culture.” So remember, if you do not want to be accused of racism, be as obnoxious and irrational as possible.
In an Aug. 8 Women’s National Basketball Association game between the Chicago Sky and the Indiana Fever, Chicago player DiJonai Carrington, who is Black, hit White Fever player Sophie Cunningham across the face and neck so hard that she knocked her to the floor.
For this flagrant foul, Ms. Carrington was ejected from the game. She later posted on Instagram the words, “WHITE PRIVILEGE” (all caps), tagging the Indiana Fever.
This is absurd. Black athletes dominate professional sports, including basketball.
Is White privilege responsible for minority quotas in education and employment? Did White privilege give us Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Juneteenth or Black History Month? And when is White History Month anyway?
Also in August, former Cambridge University professor Jason Arday, who was Black, died after being exposed as a plagiarist and compulsive liar. Arday was Baron Munchausen in a cap and gown.
His lies were so preposterous and his plagiarism so outrageous that a White academic who was guilty of similar conduct would have been summarily dismissed and sent to do research in the Arctic Circle.
Instead, Arday was allowed to resign. His death led to claims that he had been persecuted — that those who had the audacity to expect honesty and integrity from scholars regardless of race were responsible for his suicide.
Of course, there were the predictable charges of racism. We were told that bigots could not accept this talented young Black man’s success — appointed a professor of sociology at one of the world’s most prestigious universities at the tender age of 37.
In reality, Arday’s race was a combination hall pass and get-out-of-jail-free card. Neither his colleagues nor the university wanted to question his obvious plagiarism or his preposterous lies. In his memoir, he claimed that he ran 30 marathons in 35 days.
His publisher, Simon & Schuster, never fact-checked the claim.
Charges of racism or White privilege color many of our political debates.
Proponents of open borders claim that the sole purpose of immigration enforcement is to keep people of color out of the country and that it has absolutely nothing to do with public safety.
So if hordes of blond-haired, blue-eyed Scandinavians were living here illegally, upon discovery, each would get a Cadillac and Caribbean cruise for honoring us with their presence?
Crime is another area where charges of racism collide with reality. Cashless bail — whereby criminals awaiting trial are released on their own recognizance — has led to countless atrocities. Proponents of the reform argued that minorities were disproportionately impacted by cash bail. That might be because they disproportionally commit crimes.
Of the 7,964 cases of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter recorded in the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports in 2019, 3,650 were committed by Whites, while a majority (4,078) were committed by members of a group representing 13% of the population.
The ultimate victims of the White privilege scam are Black Americans. Why strive if you will always be held back by White privilege? Whatever happens, it is not your fault.
However, if White privilege is a reality, why are there so many White failures and Black success stories?
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was raised by a single mother and his maternal grandfather in the segregated South. His grandfather taught him the importance of hard work and self-reliance. Instead of embracing victimhood, he took responsibility and went on to become one of the great Supreme Court justices of our generation.
White privilege is the greatest scam going. It is an all-purpose excuse for personal failure and bad behavior. At the same time, it makes White liberals feel all superior for courageously acknowledging their supposed entitlement.
As punishment for exposing Arday’s plagiarism, Nathan Cofnas, a White academic, was suspended from his position at Ghent University in Belgium. More White privilege?
• Don Feder is a columnist with The Washington Times.
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