"Reverse Racism"

From my May 30 post on Moscow's Vision 2020 online forum:

I find it interesting that white men who howl about affirmative action and entitlement are evidently unable to see that very many of their compatriots in the halls of power in this country were the recipients of "special consideration," like "legacy admissions" to Yale for George W. Bush, that elevated them not because of their ability and experience, but because of who they were apart from ability and experience. "Who they were" was defined by their being white men. For generations, white men have been boosted onto pedestals of power by other white men, richer, more powerful, older, and more seasoned, who knew their fathers, worked with their grandfathers, were beholden to their uncles, or golfed with their brothers. Patronage, legacy admissions, nepotism, and political pay-back are forms of affirmative action that have benefited the majority but are now forgotten in the debate over legitimate social policy and "reverse racism."

I'm married to and in love with a white man, I've raised two young white men to adulthood, and my beloved dad was a white man. What's wonderful about all of them is that they recognize that their skin color and gender will generally favor them in this world, and they recognize that as true injustice, seek to reduce how much they benefit from it, and work for justice across gender, race, class and social lines. Being born a white male obviously isn't a birth defect. But there is a sense in which being born into privilege increases the likelihood of certain sinful attitudes -- greed, manipulation, power-seeking, prejudice and lack of empathy -- that wise Christian parents anticipate and seek to prune in their children, redirecting traits that are often and mistakenly viewed as "leadership" into that character the Word recognizes as "servanthood." I pray God is pleased with how my two young white men navigate through this world, and that he is satisfied with how their father and I raised them.