Being Polite is a Privilege: What (White) Liberals Need to Know

It often begins like this: I run into an issue with an authority figure who is a gatekeeper to a service or safety net I need to survive, or someone of some esteem in my town or an organization I do some sort of business with.

It may be that my healthcare benefits are temporarily shut down due to supposedly not getting in required paperwork on time (even though I sent it weeks in advance and have the certified mail receipt to prove it arrived before it was supposed to). Or, it could be that my affordable housing complex have again raised my rent and questioned the validity of my disability in insisting I either move or take on work my health situation won’t allow — and when I protest, or bring up code violations, I am told if I don’t like it I should move.

Other times, it’s when I am attempting to simply assert my own relevant life experience into the dialogue of something that has bearing on me personally or for which my academic or family background may offer some valuable insight. Yet, instead of my viewpoint being welcomed or respected I am immediately shut down.

For instance, this past summer the moderator of my town’s neighborhood mailing list repeatedly insisted poor people are poor due to their own inherent laziness and unwillingness to participate in the political process through voting and advocacy work. He also added (as did another on the list) that poor people not voting were to blame for the current political climate and the rise of…