color and class? not the same thing...

Question

I am genuinely sorry if this offends you. Not trying to minimize anyone's situation.

I heard a girl corrected today when speaking on "shitty parts of town". This other student said "oh you mean black neighborhoods?"

Has the media really convinced people that white people dont end up in a ghetto neighborhoods (excuse my language I know this is a trigger word) 
   Coming from an area like this, it's just unsettling when people discredit this very real side of America. Trust me, you don't feel any white privelage when you're surrounded by methheads & alcoholics. 
  Not at all saying having white trash neighbors is worse than living in the projects. I surely didn't have to deal with gang violence but trailer parks can be just as dangerous. Maybe someone reading this also thought white girls all have it easy growing up. Let me put it this way. I had 5 girls my age on my street. 1 is now in prison for heroin possession. 2 were mothers by fourteen(not ostracizing them just stating the not ideal circumstances) and the other two I'll give the benefit of doubt cause CPS took them away before we had even finished elementary school.

I'm sorry for the rant but i kept my mouth shut in class and needed to share my perspective on growing up poor and how it has nothing to do with race.

Answer

Listen, yes, white people can grow up extremely poor. But all those difficulties still afford you the opportunity to pull yourself up by your bootstraps and create a better situation for yourself unchallenged. It's called privilege. There's no point in having a competition about who's neighborhood is worse. But I will say those black people in those "ghetto" neighborhoods have a very slim chance of improving their situation. It was set up like this. My question is, what are you doing now?

Answer

You're right, color and class are not the same. Many poor people are white its true. And they suffer from poverty and crime just as people of color do. Its a side effect of systemic racism, a disease that infects our country. Its no coincidence the poorest neighborhoods with high populations of minorities have the shittiest public schools with the least funding, no public parks, no places for kids to play, no libraries and shit like that. The list goes on and on. If you happen to be white you're just collateral damage.

Answer

Lia got it...I don't need to say more, at least not yet

Answer

I think it mostly depends on location. Around here whites and Hispanics are affected by poverty more than blacks so you would never hear anyone refer to a black neighborhood as "ghetto" or poor. Around where you live, it may be blacks that are affected more by poverty, so people around you will say "you mean black neighborhoods?" not because they don't believe that white people can be poor, but because black people are just who the majority is as far as poverty in your area.

Don't take it too personally. Privilege isn't exclusive. You can be white and disabled, poor, LGBT, etc, while someone can be black, rich, straight, male, etc and vice verse with other inputs. Other people's perceptions of you are mostly going to be based on locational experiences. If white ppl in your area are usually rich and successful while black people aren't, then that's a huge reason as to why there will be an extra perception of "black neighborhoods" being the ones that are poor instead of white ppl who are struggling as well.

color and class? not the same thing...

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