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What I want you to notice, now, is how abstract every item on that checklist is.

Abstract?! They aren't abstract, some are very very concrete. If you're straight, you can get married in just about every country in the world, and, in nearly every country. If you're a straight married man, you don't have to worry about saying "my wife" in a new place.

People don't sit men down in secondary school and tell them how to avoid being raped, men don't worry about their drink being spiked.

etc.




I thought we were just focusing on the race checklist. (I actually am a straight married man, but from force of habit I always say "my girlfriend.")

But let's pretend we're talking about my son. And let's find a racial handicap from the '50s which doesn't exist anymore.

"Young man," I say, "here's a deal for you. On the downside, you can't marry anyone not the same race as you."

"That's kind of uncool, Dad," he says. "What's the upside?"

"450 free points on your SAT. Also, you basically can't be fired from a job, ever. Also..." and I run through my Black Privilege Checklist.

What do you think he's going to say? What would you say?




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