I read this article in the Jackson Free Press having a little bit of justification for the racially motivated quotes said by U.S. Senator for Mississippi, Cindy Hyde-Smith, this month, addressing that she is a product of white privilege. That thought never passed my mind, probably because I am not white, because I wasn’t sure what that was. I looked it up.
The Cambridge English Dictionary defines “white privilege” as, the fact of people with white skin having advantages in society that other people do not have. This “privilege” goes back to medieval times and is still impacting the world today. The historical dominance achieved by European explorers on the six remaining continents started a permanent tear in humanity. What makes things worse is that this is still the case centuries later.
Bring this back to Hyde-Smith, she is a benefactor of this and may not know it, or even, does not care to change it. What is hard for me to understand is that I will NEVER know how this luxury feels.
I will never know how it feels to be appointed to her position by Mississippi Governor, Phil Bryant. I will never know how it feels to surround yourself with people who look like her and have the same privileges as her.
I will never know how I can change political parties with a drop of a hat and have no repercussions from it [Hyde-Smith moved from Democratic Party to Republican Party in 2010 as a state Senator, causing the Capitol to have 26 members on each side].
Most of all, I will not know how it feels to be white like her, and forget she is a woman as well.
That may be one of t
he reasons why she voted to confirm Justice Bret Kavanaugh into the Supreme Court ignoring the fact that he potentially sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl in his high school glory days.
I pray that Hyde-Smith realizes her privilege and allow other cultures, like feminism and racial harmony, into her heart one day. If not, the state of Mississippi will be in a lot of trouble for the next two years.
