I wasn't kidding. I still don't understand how it hurts kids to be familiar with the concept of white privilege. I'm sure I won't agree with you but I'd like to at least comprehend what your position is. Maybe a concrete example would help.
You don't see how adults apologizing for being born white could be a huge problem for white kids?
Several people have mentioned to me that they're going to have talks with their kids about this very thing. They've already been raised to respect all colors.
Unfortunately, it's now a topic that needs to be addressed.
Let me try to explain to you why I think your view exacerbates the problem rather than fixes it. Maybe that will improve the discussion because you can respond to my points instead of feeling like you're being put on the spot.
You stated on multiple occasions the view you hope to convey to your grandchildren is something like "hard work is how you become successful." There certainly is some truth to the message -- people that work hard, on average, are more successful than people that don't work hard. There are lots of anecdotes of people that managed to achieve great things despite difficult upbringings due at least in part to hard work. I think it's a good thing to encourage your grandkids to work hard. It's generally a positive message.
But there's a downside to internalizing that message without context. If your grandchildren grow up to believe hard work is the primary means by which people attain success, then it logically follows that people who are
less successful are lazy or inferior, because otherwise they would be more successful. And if your grandchildren manage to achieve success by working hard, they may feel less inclined to help or even sympathize with people that are struggling because those people could have also been successful, if only they had worked as hard as your grandkids.
That's bad enough but it gets worse. Because it turns out that in this country, in general, white people are WAY more financially successful than black people. So any person internalizing the message that financial success in the United States is a sort of meritocracy based on hard work might logically conclude that black people are largely responsible for the situation that they're in. It's a very short leap from there to someone becoming racist. In a true meritocracy, the people at the bottom actually are inferior in some way, so it's dangerous in my opinion to try to get your grandchildren to believe that we are living in one.
That's why I think it's so important for white kids to learn about white privilege. It's not for the purpose of making them feel guilty or have to apologize. It's just something that helps make sense of the massive differences in this country between the wealth and power of white people and the wealth and power of black people. It's a non-racist way to explain to your grandchildren some reasons why black people as a whole have often struggled to climb the economic ladder in this country. And it totally has the benefit of being true -- the financial position of black people in this country is very much a result of racist policies and practices starting from the beginning of this country, and some of which continue to this day.
I don't know if any of this is persuasive to you but I just wanted you to have a better understanding of the contrary position. Thanks for engaging as much as you have lately. It's been fun.