In response to this: http://video.foxnews.com/v/4641319/teachers-attend-white-privilege-conference-on-taxpayers-dime/#/v/4641319/teachers-attend-white-privilege-conference-on-taxpayers-dime/?playlist_id=87485
Mr. Innis,
I have always respected the work of CORE and men and women who like your father worked to ameliorate the existence of white privilege in this country. Your performance on Fox News was a disgrace to that legacy. While you and the professor are rightly concerned about the state of education in this country, particularly as it relates to the Black community, your refusal to acknowledge the existence of white (class or gender) privilege leads me to believe that you too are part of the masses who have either been mis-educated (and I don't believe thats the case) or fail to understand that there is room for an ideology that embraces both personal responsibility and the persistence of inherent inequalities in present day America.
Your analysis was weak and your insistence that Asian-Americans are evidence that race/white privilege does not exist suggests that you think that the history of both in this country, and more importantly the history of America's treatment of both are similar. Come on now.
Generations of African-Americans, those who formed the backbone of resistance and the leadership never eschewed the principle of personal responsibility even while they struggled against slavery, Jim Crow and the continued legacies of those institutions that play a (not THE) role in inequality today. I respect your views and your ability to think as you wish, that is what America is about. However in that same spirit I humbly submit that we have a responsibility to speak the truth and to speak directly to the issues and not engage in such a bombastic, misguided manner of speech that dialog cannot take place.
God bless,
Jonathan England
Reader (or maybe ReaderS!): If you feel so moved, hit up CORE at http://www.core-online.org/Features/contacts.htm or email Mr. Innis at rinnis@core-online.org
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