Guilt and Privilege

A lot of white people are furiously examining their privilege in the wake of George Floyd's death and the explosive BLM protests that followed. Many white people are already wallowing in guilt and looking to people of colour to help them assuage it. I can't help but feel cynical about this exercise. Yes, acknowledging your white (and caste, gender) privilege is a big first step but it is possible to remain stuck on that step. White guilt in this case is a distraction from more substantive questions. Acknowledging you white privilege and protesting against police brutality is one thing. But, are you ready to relinquish that privilege, let alone fight for a society in which you are less privileged. Here, I both agree and disagree with the Marxists. I agree that material conditions are fundamental and any change that doesn't seek to address them is incrementalist or even reactionary. But, I disagree that capitalists are the only oppressors. White supremacy, the caste system, misogyny, xeonphobia are the pillars holding up the current political economic structure up. They are both exploitative and stabilizing. A world without them, or at least a world in which these pillars are substantially weakened, will look very different from the current one and not just for the capitalists. Are white and other privileged people ready to accept a possible fall in their standard of living, a possible erosion of protections against downward mobility? I guess that is the reason why these BLM protests are making people nervous, as I have written before. Today, the came for the statues, what if they come for our jobs and property tomorrow, as one commentator on Twitter said.