MP misses the point of white privilege
A report published today illustrates why disadvantaged white youth underperform compared to other disadvantaged groups. However, the report has received immense criticism online, with many calling it a deliberate attempt to divide the nation.
The report was produced by the Commons education committee, which is a group largely dominated by conservative MPs. The study warns that an increasing use of the term “white privilege” has fuelled a system that contributes to the systematic neglect of white youth.
Kim Johnson, Labour MP for Liverpool Riverside submitted her own report that countered the published one. However, the Tory Government shot it down.
Forgive me for being sceptical, but I really don’t remember any Tory MPs being bothered about the prospects of working class kids – of all races and ethnicities – when they were lining up to vote against feeding hungry working class kids a few months ago.
— Angela Rayner 🌹 (@AngelaRayner) June 22, 2021
“I’m not happy about the whole section on white privilege. The inquiry cherrypicked data. I think they were trying to create a bit of a culture war,” she told the Guardian.
The chair of the committee Robert Halfon seemed unaware of the irony his words possessed. “We … desperately need to move away from dealing with racial disparity by using divisive concepts like white privilege that pits one group against another. Disadvantaged white children feel anything but privileged when it comes to education,” he said.
“Privilege is the very opposite to what disadvantaged white children enjoy or benefit from in an education system which is now leaving far too many behind.”
Halfon clearly doesn’t have access to Google, as his statements can be very quickly debunked. Twitter users are reminding the committee of some keen facts they have chosen to ignore.
#WhitePrivilege doesn’t mean you’ve never faced hardship or challenges. It just means that the hardship or challenges you faced were not related to your skin colour. @JohnAmaechi says it better than I ever could.pic.twitter.com/AClWAioNBe
— Matthew Hodson (@Matthew_Hodson) June 22, 2021
#WhitePrivilege isn’t that white people, especially the poor working class, don’t suffer, it’s that their suffering won’t be because of their colour
The blame lies on chronic underfunding & a system which leaves poor (black & white) people fighting over the scraps https://t.co/HlqDjAS2ws— nazir afzal (@nazirafzal) June 22, 2021
