Black Privilege Test
The White Privilege Test as updated by our own Eloris. The words below are his.
1. I can criticize our government and talk about how much I fear its
policies and behavior without being seen as a cultural outsider.
As many have mentioned, this one will look just fine the other way around.
2. I can loudly complain that characters on TV shows do not share my skin color without being thought racist.
3. I can be sure that if I need legal or medical help, I will be able to find doctors or lawyers who have pledged to treat me preferentially because of my skin color.
4. Honestly this one is too dumb to even revise.
5. If I need credit, I know I can find lenders who have explicitly promised to favor me because of my skin color.
6. If a police officer stops me, I can be sure that he has been subjected to many sessions where he is explicitly told to be extra sensitive to members of my race.
7. I can shoplift and know that the shop owner and government will be tempted to let me off wrist slap because of the “optics” of arresting members of my race.
8. I can complain about the skin color of people in museums and art galleries not being the same as mine without being thought racist.
9. I can be sure that my children will be taught a curriculum that goes out of its way to bring up my race and represent it in a positive light.
10. I can be sure that when told about our national heritage or civilization, the person doing the telling will go out of their way to highlight the contributions of my race.
11. If I wish to, I can arrange to be in the company of people of my own race without being thought racist.
12. Too dumb to revise, nobody feels like this
13. I can invent phantom things that nobody has said to me and would be a compliment if they did, and expect people to respond not with horse laughter but with painstaking sensitivity.
14. I can get away with pretending that everyone outside my race lives in a stereotyped world from 40 years ago without being called out for my ignorance.
15. I can complain about the skin color of teachers or professors, and explicitly wish it was the same as mine, without being thought racist.
16. Supreme Court justices explicitly justify my receiving preferential treatment based on skin color on the grounds that I represent my race, and I am allowed to complain that my race is “underrepresented” but then also complain that I have to “represent” my race.
17. If I feel unpopular or left out, instead of having everyone taunt me (as, eg, a “loser” or “incel”) I can blame it on my race and expect everyone to respond with painstaking sensitivity.
18. I can be sure that the gatekeepers in my life, such as my boss, my local MP, or my landlord, will have repeatedly pledged allegiance to the idea that they should treat members of my race preferentially.
19. I can swear, dress scruffily or not answer letters and have people walk on eggshells about calling me out on it, for fear of being thought racist.
20. I can complain about the appearance of bandaids and people take it seriously because of my race.
21. I can complain about the skin color of people on greeting cards without being thought racist
22. I can complain about the skin color of heroes in books without being thought racist
23. I can be pretty sure that if I ask to talk to “the person in charge,” I will be facing a person who has explicitly and repeatedly pledged to treat my race preferentially
24. I can take a job with an affirmative action employer and receive enormous preference because of my race
25. I can speak in public to a powerful male group without putting my race on trial because no matter what idiotic things I say nobody would dream of using it to criticize my race
26. I can remain oblivious of the language and customs of persons of color, because whatever I say on the subject is automatically correct since it is “lived experience”, no matter how historically illiterate. I can also write nonsensical, ungrammatical sentences and expect people to walk on eggshells about it.
About John C Wright
John C. Wright is a practicing philosopher, a retired attorney, newspaperman, and newspaper editor, and a published author of science fiction. Once a Houyhnhnm, he was expelled from the august ranks of purely rational beings when he fell in love; but retains an honorary title.
