Tried to explain that she had white privilege....if you don't talk in a store, you look like everyone else. So security does not follow you around.
We did an antiracism training about 15 years ago. One of the poor white women in our church said "I have no white privilege, I am poor. Wield no political power and got made fun of for being poor when growing up." Then we went to the high end mall. The African American woman with a PhD who had been a school principal was followed all around the store by security. One of the other well educated blank women had her purse checked when leaving the store after walking around and not buying anything.
These two retired educated black women explained that this was their life every day for nearly 70 years each.
Racism in America is very different from Naziism and those who haven't had the life experience of being followed in every store and having to give the talk to their kids to not get killed by police for walking, driving, or shopping while black do not understand. When one of the other women gave me the speech that she told her son. I was shocked...and I had spent a year teaching in a 70 percent gang affiliated, 85 percent minority ( mix of AA and Hispanic) student population.
Whoopi did not understand the historical Jewish experience because her own life experience prior to talking to those people when she said it had taught her that if you look white, then you can pass in society and not be targeted.
That antiracism training made a huge difference to me e as the poor kid in a rich school who was derogatorily called Kmart because we couldn't afford Levi's and I wore Kmart brand jeans.
Few of us no what it is like outside our own bubble. We just hope that when someone tries to educate you on a different lived experience that you listen and learn as it appears that Whoopi did.
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