When I was in the 8th grade or so, I got to go to a weekend academic camp at Duke University (yeah, I know - I'm a nerd). Students could choose from several camp topics, so I went with one that I thought sounded interesting, which was about looking at American history from viewpoints other than, say, presidential administrations (which is typically how our school history books teach it). Basically, it was a class about American history from an African American perspective. Like I said, I thought that was interesting. Out of maybe 15 students, two of us were white. (By the way... what the hell, other white students? Why didn't more of you sign up for this class?)
Anyway, it was one of the most illuminating experiences of my life. Not that I learned that much new information, but because it was the first time I'd been the racial minority in the room. Not even so much that... this was definitely a space that was designed to be safe for the the African American students, and I just wasn't going to be the star student or teacher's pet no matter what I did. In other words, I felt the way black people probably feel most of the time. I feel like I'm suggesting that I was discriminated against in some way, and that's definitely NOT true. It was more subtle, things the other students and the instructor probably didn't even realize they were doing.
For instance, the class's other white girl - I can't remember her name, so I'm just going to call her Kim Kardashian - was annoying as hell. Even for the other middle schoolers at Smart Kid Camp, she was socially awkward. And she apparently thought she was glued to me. On the last day of camp, I finally managed to shake her at lunch, and I guess my relief over this was noticeable, because one of the other kids in my class said to me, "Wow, I thought you guys were best friends." I couldn't figure out why the other kids thought this - I've been trying to lose Kim Kardashian all weekend, and luckily I'll never have to see here again, and you guys think we're friends? Why, because we're the same race? It sounds silly, but - again - it's also something not-white people get all the time.
Anyway, all this is a long way of introducing this post about why so many mass murderers tend to be white men. Relating this (thankfully uncommon) crime to white male privilege is an interesting perspective, and even one I alluded to (far less articulately) a few years ago when writing about George Sodini. I'm just not sure it's the most effective way to address the issue.
It's already difficult to make people who have white privilege understand what that means, because the nature of privilege is such that, when you have it, you don't see it. It can be extremely difficult to separate discussion of privilege as a social construct from an argument over blame. For a white person who's new at looking at the world through this lens, it's easy to feel defensive. "Hell, I didn't own any slaves. I didn't kill any Indians. Why are you yelling at me?" So, I'm not sure that adding on "... and also you white guys shoot up public places" is really the most constructive tactic.
But, I will say to my fellow white people - don't be afraid of things like diversity workshops or even blog posts the one above. The well-done ones will not be the white-guilt-a-thons you're worried about. Privilege is something you have even though you didn't ask for it. That doesn't mean that you aren't responsible for it, though. You live in a world where not everyone, or even most of everyone, is/are like you. That's a good thing. And if you're going to live and work and go to school and raise kids in this world, you need to understand it.
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