Monday, November 23, 2015

Are We Actually Going to Start Holding White Males Accountable?

Dallas, Texas, mayor Mike Rawlings said on Saturday,
I am more fearful of large gatherings of white men that come into schools, theaters and shoot people up. But we don’t isolate young white men on this issue. 
Mr. Rawlings was speaking in opposition to other Southern political leaders who don't want Syrian refugees in their area. He said that he is more afraid of white men with guns than Syrian refugees.

Are we as a society finally going to stop giving the top of our hierarchies, white males, a pass as we treat their violence and support of guns as an "isolated incident"? This way of viewing white males is characteristic of how hierarchies work, where we have many ways to keep top groups unaccountable for their actions that affect everyone else or society as a whole. For lower groups, like black males or Muslims, a few are thought to represent everyone in that group when the hierarchy is strong.   
 
https://www.colorlines.com/articles/dallas-mayor-more-fearful-large-gatherings-white-men-syrian-refugees