The Daily Riff - BE SMARTER. ABOUT EDUCATION.

Ric - so you've bought into the brainwashing and are now exhibiting symptoms of White Guilt. Congratulations.

The problem is NOT White Privilege, it's the lack of valuing an education. In Stuyvesant High School in NYC, the most competitive school where entrance is purely on MERIT the statistics are telling - 71.6% are asian, 24% are white, 2.9% are hispanic, and 1.2% are black. Oh, and 41% of the school is at the poverty level so there goes the privileged white/asian argument. Community activists screamed institutional racism and the city provided FREE tutoring and support but still black and hispanic enrollment lagged. Until hispanics and blacks change their communities' culture, people like you will be the outlier and will continue to be mistaken for a nanny. And you are not doing yourself a favor by dressing like one. If you are upper middle class then dress better. Dressing better is not a product of White Privilege but of class distinctions, a totally different bias. You wouldn't go to a business meeting dressed in a t-shirt and cutoffs as you wouldn't be taken seriously. Instead of complaining, try to be proactive and be a hispanic role model.

I'm re-reading White Privilege and this pattern of stereotype is so entrenched, that most people do not realize the pre-judgements (prejudice) we are wired with through our upbringing.

As a teacher of around 150 students each year (7th grade); about 85% Latino, 10% Black and Asian, and 5% White stories like this go in nearly every conceivable direction. It comes in the kinds of foods we think those different than us think the others will like. It comes in the style of dress we expect others to wear. It comes in the assumptions we carry.