Christmas under Occupation

By Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh – Bethlehem

http://palestinechronicle.com/

 

When
I look out the balcony of the faculty lounge at Bethlehem University I
hear the constant hammering of the construction in the settlement that
separates us from Jerusalem and I see Israeli settlements built on
Palestinian lands surrounding Bethlehem on three sides. Every two
weeks, Jewish settlers “visit” the hill on the fourth side (called Ush
Ghrab) that they have set their eyes on. Yet, I hear the US media is
focused on other things including the weighty matter of dodging shoes.

 

After
living 29 years in the US, it is not easy to be living in Bethlehem
area especially this Christmas season.  Life can be at times hard,
exhilarating, depressing, fun, and hopeful. Israel occupied this area
in 1967, but the landscape had begun to change well before that. In
1948, Bethlehem became home to thousands of Palestinian refugees after
more than 750,000 people were driven from their homes in what became
Israel. Palestinians were forbidden to return, and three cramped
refugee camps (Dheisheh, Azza, and Aida) add to the local migrants from
villages whose lands were taken over.  
 
Since
2002, we have faced the enormous human costs of a massive, concrete
segregation wall.  The wall zigzags around Bethlehem, placing fertile
Palestinian agricultural lands on the "Israeli side" and in many cases
goes straight through centuries-old villages - separating Palestinian
families from each other and from their jobs, hospitals, schools,
churches and mosques. The wall and checkpoints meant that many faculty
and students can no longer make it to school at Bethlehem University
and our student body has steadily lost its geographic diversity.  The
biblical and literal path from Nazareth to Bethlehem is blocked by many
checkpoints and thirty-foot high slabs of concrete.

 

Many
of my relatives lost jobs in Jerusalem or lost livelihoods that
depended on the city of which we are a suburb. It is virtually
impossible for West Bank Palestinians to obtain permits to enter
Jerusalem or for Jerusalemites to engage in commerce with us. Even if
one gets a rare permit, checkpoints make travel unpredictable and often
impossible, precluding maintaining a decent economy. Unemployment is
now at 45%, nearly twice what it was during the US Great Depression.
But we can be thankful that we are not living in Gaza where things are
far worse. Yet, the whole area feels like a ticking time bomb.

 

Israel's
desire to acquire maximum geography with minimum Palestinian demography
is the root of the suffering afflicting the Holy Land. Today there are
6 million Palestinian refugees and displaced people. Amnesty
International has observed that the “peace processes” failed because
Israel has ignored human rights, including the right of native
Palestinians to return to their homes and lands. There is now a broad
international consensus (with the exceptions of the US and Israeli
governments) on the danger to international peace and security posed by
Israel's continued violations of human rights and international law.
Clearly if one wants peace in the Middle East and beyond, the path
starts by giving justice to Palestinians. I am doubly pained as an
American and a Palestinian Christian because my taxes support this
60-year carnage. Israel is the largest recipient of US foreign aid and
the US administrations still go out of their way to cater to Israeli
lobby influences. 

 

The
logic of military and political power dictates that Israel is now
building more Jewish settlements and demolishing more Palestinian homes
and farms inspite of its obligations under signed agreements and under
International law. The current Israeli government is even moving
further right to fend off the extreme right of Netanyahu before the
elections. The incoming Obama administration has appointed Israeli
apologists to key positions of power (Hillary Clinton, Rahm Emanuel)
indicating we should expect no “change”. 

 

Israel
as the occupying power is responsible for the welfare of those under
its belligerent military rule per the applicable Geneva conventions. 
Yet, Israel has intentionally de-developed the Palestinian economy.
With the collusion of the EU and the US the economy of the West Bank
and Gaza became even more dependent on Western “humanitarian aid”. 
Some 30% of this aid is siphoned off into Israel and some 30% goes to
support Palestinian “security forces” whose job seems to focus not on
protecting Palestinians from settler attacks but to fight any
Palestinian who dares to resist the occupation or challenge the
usurpation of his land.

 

There
is a system of corruption involving governments and “authorities”
trickling down to people. This is coupled with a media strategy that
makes it look as if the only choices available to Palestinians are
blowing themselves up or capitulation and endless negotiations. This
sad state of affairs did not just happen but was engineered and is
actively managed to perpetuate occupation and dependency. Why else
would Israel deny entry to academics coming to teach at the
universities here or entry to equipment for even the simplest of
industries? Why deny Gaza electric power and equipment to treat the
sewage and thus let sewage of 1.5 million people flow into the
Mediterranean Sea polluting Europe and even Tel Aviv?

 

But
we are hopeful; history is not static as is amply illustrated by many
historical example including the rise and fall of the Bush dynasty.
Here in Bethlehem, we derive strength from knowing that the foreign
military occupation that existed at Jesus’s time has ended. We derive
hope from the thousands of visitors who come every year to show us
solidarity. We derive contentment and patience from our faith and
prayers. We derive energy from our work for peace with justice. The
heads of our churches this year asked the International community to
consider “what would Jesus do” in this situation of injustice.

 

In
this season celebrating the birth of the Prince of Peace, let us all
resolve to pray and work for ending the occupation that began in 1967
and for implementing other Internationally recognized Palestinian
rights. When we succeed, people of all religions (Jews, Christians, and
Muslims) and all backgrounds will share this small piece of earth in
harmony and peace. This will be the real change that we have been
working for and that will finally shed the shackles holding US foreign
policy. 

 

This is our prayer this holiday season. 

 

- Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD is Chairman of the Board of the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People - www.pcr.ps -
and is a professor at Bethlehem University in the occupied West Bank.
He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com. Contact his
through his website: http://qumsiyeh.org

 

Previous
material I wrote in Previous Christmases (some directly relevant to
today, some depressingly showing how little things change):

 

http://www.qumsiyeh.org/christmas2007/

http://www.qumsiyeh.org/christmas2006/

http://mideastchristians.virtualactivism.net/newsarticles/mazin.htm Christmas 2002

http://www.jerusalemiloveyou.net/spip.php?article60 Holiday message 2002

http://www.mediamonitors.net/mazin1.html Christmas 2000

http://qumsiyeh.org/aseasonofmayhem

Here's what I used to do for a "living".  No, not SET the fires, silly! 

This is a fire we had here locally in the business district the other morning.  A news photographer took the photos; I wasn't even awake yet.    Amazingly, no one was injured, and only the one commercial building was destroyed.  This is when firefighters actually EARN their "big bucks".

Here's the link to the text below.  You can also watch the video of Maher's entire comedy routine.

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/real-time-hard-core-republican-base-stalke

From Real Time Nov. 7, 2008. New Rules.

And finally, New Rule:  Now that you've lost, Republicans
have to agree not to waste everyone's time spending the next four years
screaming for investigations of Barack Obama over made up bulls#*t.
Let's not kid ourselves. The hard core Republican base is like a
stalker. Rejection just makes them crazier. You think Matt Drudge was a
vindictive p#%ck before. His headline Wednesday morning was Senior Citizen and Woman Beaten By Black Man. [...] And wait till you see Ann Coulter's new book How to Field Dress a Liberal.

You know there's loyal opposition and then there's just
opposition. Let's not do the 90's again except for the part where we
have peace and prosperity. You know there was an entire industry back
then dedicated to making Bill Clinton's life miserable over expensive
hair cuts and old land deals and the Lincoln Bedroom and getting blown.
But this ain't the 90's.

We've got two wars, a melting planet and the only thing
keeping the economy from total collapse is Sarah Palin's shopping
sprees. But you know what phrase I don't want to hear used
frivolously for the next four years whenever Barack Obama forgets to
put the kids in the car seat? Disrespect for the rule of law. Dick
Cheney ordered prisoners tortured by name. That ship has sailed.

I don't want to hear Sean Hannity say that "Barack Obama
announced that his daughters will be getting a puppy. A puppy from
where? Probably a chihuahua that came in from Mexico illegally. And how
do we know this isn't a dog that pals around with terriers?"

You know, when Obama starts a preemptive war and then
f%#ks it up and makes torture our official policy and outs a CIA agent
and purges US Attorneys and tries to put his cleaning lady on the
Supreme Court and doesn't act on global warming and appoints at the
head of FEMA an ex-d*#do salesman who was his college roommate, you
know, that kind of stuff, believe me I'll be with you.

But until then I don't want to see Republicans freaking
out if Obama isn't singing the National Anthem loud enough or they find
out he gets his suits made in France. If he puts a moon roof in the
Presidential limo, he's not making himself Fuehrer. He's just trying to
get the smell of stupidity out of the seats. And mostly I don't want to
hear about ACORN. Your guy lost by eight million votes. Just because
you don't know any black people doesn't mean they don't exist.

So that's it. No Special Prosecutors. No trumped up
investigations. If Republicans really want to look into something
for the next four years, my suggestion, try a mirror.

Below is a list, compiled by a gentleman named Laurence Vance, of the 135 countries (out of 192 total countries in the world) in which the United States had military troops stationed in 2004.  We've probably added a couple more since then.  If you want to read in slightly more detail about the global American military empire, here's the link:

http://www.lewrockwell.com/vance/vance8.html

And if you're interested in Lew Rockwell's bona fides, here's that link: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lew_Rockwell

Through diligent and exhaustive research, I was able to obtain a copy of the REAL Presidential debate last night, the one that actually took place in Oxford, Mississippi rather than the one that was shown on prime-time TV.

JIM LEHRER: Good evening. I'm Jim Lehrer.

LEHRER: You may remember me from an earlier age of TV journalism, when
we transmitted official lies and propaganda to our educated audience in
a very calm, reassuring way. When oil companies weren't afraid to
openly finance our efforts. Well, those days are gone now, lost amid
all the shouting, sound effects, visual wipes, incomplete sentences,
and the general hullaballoo that makes my aging brain hurt. Dear God
how it hurts. Some days I want to just put a Tec 9 in my mouth and . .
. (coughs). Tonight, we're honored to have the two leading candidates
for president of the United States. Let's bring 'em out here! Fellas!

MCCAIN: (whispering) I'm taking you out, gook boy.

OBAMA: (whispering) Step up, cracka.

LEHRER: Gentlemen, thank you for being here. As you both know,
tonight's format is designed to skim over complex issues and avoid
talking about where the real power in the country resides. So feel free
to pop off at will, regardless of facts or objective reality. Senator
Obama, the economy. What's your view?

OBAMA: Jim, I was talking to some of my Wall Street backers earlier
today, and they're hurting. This current crisis, started deliberately
by the Bush administration with Sen. McCain as their dancing monkey,
means of course that my rich and influential friends and supporters are
going to need help. Lots of it. This is why I'll eventually support
whatever bail out is coughed up in Washington. But I want the working
people of America to know that I'll continue speak out of both sides of
my mouth, will employ the term "Wall Street/Main Street" for as long as
my advisers say it resonates, and will look good while doing it. That's
my promise to the middle class.

MCCAIN: Jim, what Sen. Obama is refusing to say is that neither one of
us really cares about average working people. If we did, we wouldn't be
up here, surrounded by Secret Service agents packing some of the finest
heat this great nation still produces. But it's part of getting
elected, so we go through the motions, say what our handlers think is
best, and hope that it sticks. And you know what? It almost always
does! I swear to God, the crap people will swallow in this country
boggles what's left of my fading mind. As I was telling my dear friend
General Petraeus the other day, "David, there's a knot on the back of
my thigh. Do you think it's a clot? Should I have it checked? What time
is chow?" And that's why overseeing an equitable bail out is so
important to the economy.

LEHRER: Okay. Now that we got that out of the way, let's talk about war.

MCCAIN: (claps hands) Finally!

OBAMA: Jim, let me say that I'm just as eager to promote war as Sen. McCain.

LEHRER: Duly noted, Senator. Let's start with you, then. You're the new
Commander in Chief. It's a scary world out there. How do you handle it?

OBAMA: With bombs, Jim. Cluster bombs, cruise missiles, white
phosphorus -- whatever will do the job. The difference between Sen.
McCain and myself is that when I call for expanded war, I sound
reasonable, like the guy who has dozens of bodies stuffed in his
crawlspace, but is able to explain away the stench while questioned by
police. Sen. McCain lacks that kind of steadiness. If it was his house,
he'd lose his temper and blow his cover. America needs a leader who can
deny the corpses buried in the walls, and turn that rotting smell into
freedom's potpourri.

MCCAIN: Once again, Sen. Obama's showing his inexperience. As any
professional serial killer knows, you don't bury your victims inside
the house, or even in the backyard. You take them to a neutral
location, chop them up into easily disposable pieces, and disperse
their remains over a wide area. Sen. Obama's plan rests on his ability
to sweet talk the authorities into ignoring what their senses are
telling them. In these dangerous times, that's not going to hold up. As
my soulmate General Petraeus once put it, you can spread butter on
pretty much anything, but freedom must contain essential proteins, and
grass stains will come out if you pre-soak, but only if the air is dry.
That's the kind of spirit America needs to believe in.

LEHRER: Gentlemen, let's get specific. Who do you plan to kill, and how?

OBAMA: Jim, I opposed the Iraq invasion, which was easy to do since I
wasn't in the Senate yet, and so wasn't put on the spot. Since then,
depending on polls and intelligence reports, I've hedged my bets about
Iraq, but am now settling into the position shared by many leading
imperial strategists. Yes, I'll continue to kill and suppress Iraqis,
but our client regime there must help finance their own subjugation.
It's only fair. As for Afghanistan, I defy Sen. McCain to match my
bloodlust on that front. John talks a good game about blowing the
living hell out of civilians there, but I'll actually do it. In fact, I
can't wait to do it. It's near the top of my list. (pulls out list from
breast pocket) See? Right there, Number 2, just under "Nail Anne
Hathaway."

MCCAIN: Sen. Obama's leaving out his desire to bomb Pakistan, which is just crazy.

OBAMA:(shaking list at McCain) It's Number 5, John! Number 5! Don't misrepresent my position!

MCCAIN: Only a madman would try that. No, Jim, provoking, undermining,
and perhaps eventually fighting Russia is the wisest course of action.
I've been to Tibilisi, Gori, Rustavi, Reno, Chicago, Fargo, Minnesota,
Buffalo, Toronto, Winslow, Sarasota, Wichita, Tulsa, Ottawa, Oklahoma,
Tampa, Panama, Mattawa, La Paloma, Bangor, Baltimore, Salvador,
Amarillo, Tocapillo, Baranquilla, and Perdilla. I'm a killer, Jim.

OBAMA: Jim, I protest Sen. McCain injecting Johnny Cash into this debate.

MCCAIN: Sen. Obama may be too young to know this, but I was doing the Hank Snow version.

LEHRER: Amazing as it seems, we've run out of time. Gentlemen, take a bow.

LEHRER: There you have it, America. One of these guys is going to run
the place. Fortunately for me, I probably won't live to see how it all
turns out. Goodnight everybody!

posted by Dennis Perrin at 12:23 PM
http://dennisperrin.blogspot.com/2008/09/how-lucky-we-are.html

Here's Katie Couric asking Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin about the $700 billion Wall Street bailout.  Probably worth 1.5 minutes of your time.

I can hardly WAIT for the Vice Presidential debates next Thursday night!  If the Republicans are smart, they'll try to get Tina Fey to stand in for Palin.  That way it will at least be INTELLIGENT comedy.

The current Secretary of the Treasury went to the same college that I went to.  He and Robert Reich, Clinton's former Secretary of Labor, were in the same class.  While Reich is a dwarf, Paulson is huge.  He was an offensive lineman of some ability on the college football team.  He and Reich are both blessed with a modicum of intelligence.  Both went to Harvard for graduate school.

According to Wikipedia, Paulson worked for Goldman Sachs as an investment banker from 1974 till 2006, ending up as Chief Operating Officer.  His personal net worth has been estimated at $700 million.

Paulson appears to be rather different from the typical Republican in that he has some concern for the environment and for ordinary human beings.  According to Wikepedia, "Notable among the members of Bush's cabinet, Paulson has said he is a strong believer in the effect of human activity on global warming and advocates immediate action to decrease this effect.^[13]

As an environmental leader and philanthropist, Paulson while at
Goldman Sachs, oversaw the corporate donation of 680,000 forested acres on
the Chilean side of Tierra del Fuego, which led to criticisms from
Goldman shareholder groups ^[14].
He further donated 100 million of assets from his wealth to conservancy
causes. He pledged his entire fortune for the same purpose at death. ^[15]   "

And again from Wikipedia:  " Paulson has quickly distinguished himself from his two predecessors
in the Bush administration by formally identifying the wide gap between
the richest and poorest Americans as an issue on his list of the
country's four major long-term economic issues to be addressed,
highlighting the issue in one of his first public appearances as
Secretary of Treasury.^[18] "

But talk is cheap, as we're seeing once again in the current Presidential campaign.  What Paulson is DOING is trying to bail out, at least for the moment, the "free enterprise" system.  I wonder if anyone besides me has noticed that Paulson, as a former Wall Street investment banker, typifies those who created the economic crisis we're in in the first place.  It's obvious to me that, by making taxpayers responsible for the overreaching of his fellow Wall Street executives and for the losses that would otherwise be suffered by private investors, he's essentially bailing out his buddies at taxpayer expense. 

The fundamental problem with the American economy is that, over the past 28 years, starting with that Spawn of Satan Ronald Reagan, we've allowed an economic system to develop that regulates the poor to death, while allowing corporations to operate with almost no oversight.  One that privatizes gains and socializes losses, all in the name of the "free market".  It is in fact as close to a risk-free investment climate as you can get....if you're wealthy enough to play at that level.  Affirmative action for the very rich.

**********

Now let's hear from a man about the same age as Henry Paulson, but with a slightly different sensibility.  I am given to understand that he has something of a drinking problem, and a bit less money than Paulson.  But he is clear-eyed in his assessment of the past 30 years, and the current state of America.  He's on an obscure internet forum whose mailings I also receive, and I quote him without his permission.  If you don't understand what he has to say, then one of two things is true, and perhaps both:  (1) They have you right where they want you; and (2) you're part of the problem.

You are the proud new owners of American International Group.  For only
$85 million borrowed from China and guaranteed by the government of the
United States of America, we, the people, now own the right to own 80%
of AIG stock anytime over the next two years or at the end of it if we
haven't been paid back.

Why?  Well, imagine you have a bad case of diabetes.  A couple of your
toes have fallen off and your eyesight is a getting a little fuzzy.
Your insurance company calls and says "We're going broke, we need to
jack your premium 500%.  Or we can cancel the policy."  Well, you might
not be able to afford it forever, but while you're shopping for cheaper
insurance, you need to keep them in business.

There's only one problem.  You're gonna die anyway, and the best you can
hope for from the insurance is to prolong your agony.  And the insurance
company is going to die, too.  And your kids are going to have to pay
off the money you borrowed to pay the insurance company AND all the
medical bills.

Are we fucking fucked? I dunno.  No one knows.  Moody's is hinting that
they might downgrade US Treasury bills.  Hundreds of banks are going to
collapse.

Funny how all these fucking "Free Market Capitalists" are nationalizing
Fannie and Fredo and AIG and soon will be shipping a few (at least 20)
billion to the auto companies. When you're thrown out of your house to
pay medical bills, "Let the market take care of it."  But when it's
them, they've got their hands out.

"Welfare Queens driving their Cadillacs down to the liquor store to buy
champagne with food stamps."  Remember that Reaganite horseshit?  Save
the country, cut off AFDC.  If you even remember AFDC.  Too bad they
didn't call it "Aid From Decent Citizens."  Unfortunately, there aren't
many of them left.

Obama's gonna save us?  You mean the guy who chose Joe Biden for his
running mate?  The same Joe Biden who destroyed the bankruptcy laws five
years ago?  Thanks, Joe!  That was a big help!  Just wait until all the
credit card accounts start collapsing like the housing market and no one
can file bankruptcy.  Whatta guy.  Regular pal of the working stiff.

I just can't wait to start paying taxes to bail out insurance companies,
mortgage companies, credit card companies, banks, brokers, hedge funds,
and all the other "capitalists" who played in the "free market" and
lost.  You know what "moral hazard" is?  It's when a company like, oh,
Fannie Mae, lends out money knowing that if they don't get paid, the
government will just step in and pay it anyway.  It means they get all
the profits and none of the losses.  It's like going to Vegas and
gambling with the guy next to you's money.

It's not enough that we've been paying for the war.  Nooooo.  Not enough
that we are paying to have more and more riot police and SWAT teams
tasing people in wheelchairs.  Not enough to have the hugest prison
system of any country in the history of the fucking world.  Not enough
to pay for rape and torture jails all over the world.  Not enough to pay
four bucks a gallon for gas (even when oil is back under $100/barrel),
not enough to pay tolls to use the bridges and highways that we paid off
fifty years ago.  NOTHING IS EVER ENOUGH.

We live in a country where illness and old age are considered tough
shit, sell your house, pay the fucking bill, ya mooch.  Send your kids
to school where they are taught to be stupid, paper shuffling morons who
think unions are for communists.  Watch a bunch of overpaid jerks on TV
tell you that you're shit.  Go to a church where they tell you to bow
down to a government of man and slobber after the rich.

Jack Henry wrote about how, in jail, they would chain him naked to a
floor with nothing but a hole in it.  They'd give him food, water, hose
him down now and then, but not until he'd beg for it.  If he hadn't
begged, you get the impression that they would have let him die and no
one ever would have known or cared.  Evidently, this is a fairly common
practice in America's "enemy combatant" camps, too.

But, it's like the template, man.  That's how they want us, the fucking
home of the brave, land of the free 'mericans to live the rest of our
lives.  "Please, massa."

And now a word from your sponsors about white privilege, which supposedly became extinct like the dinosaur in 1964....

This is Your Nation on White Privilege

By Tim Wise
September 13, 2008

Tim Wise's ZSpace Page / ZSpace

For those who still can't grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are constantly looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help.

White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents,
because "every family has challenges," even as black and Latino families with similar "challenges" are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.

White privilege is when you can call yourself a "fuckin' redneck," like Bristol Palin's boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you'll "kick their fuckin' ass," and talk about how you like to "shoot shit" for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.

White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no
one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative
action.

White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don't all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means you're "untested."

White privilege is being able to say that you support the words "under God" in the pledge of allegiance because "if it was good enough for the founding fathers, it's good enough for me," and not be immediately disqualified from
holding office--since, after all, the pledge was written in the late 1800s and the "under God" part wasn't added until the 1950s--while believing that reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because, ya know, the
Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school requires it), is a dangerous and silly idea only supported by mushy liberals.

White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people immediately scared of you.

White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto was "Alaska first," and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you're black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she's being disrespectful.

White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do--like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child labor--and people think you're being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college--you're somehow being mean, or even sexist.

White privilege is being able to convince white women who don't even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your running mate anyway, because all of a sudden your presence on the ticket has inspired
confidence in these same white women, and made them give your party a "second look."

White privilege is being able to fire people who didn't support your political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being a typical politician who engages in favoritism, while being black and merely knowing some folks from the old-line political machines in Chicago means you must be corrupt.

White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflict in the Middle East is God's punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you're just a good church-going Christian, but if you're black and friends with a black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you're an extremist who probably hates America.

White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is when asked by a reporter, and then people get angry at the reporter for asking you such a "trick question," while being black and merely refusing to give one-word
answers to the queries of Bill O'Reilly means you're dodging the question, or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced.

White privilege is being able to claim your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and experiencing racism is, as Sarah Palin has referred to it a "light" burden.

And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are losing their
homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because white voters aren't sure about that whole "change" thing. Ya know, it's just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain.

White privilege is, in short, the problem.

Tim Wise is the author of White Like Me (Soft Skull, 2005, revised 2008),
and of Speaking Treason Fluently, publishing this month, also by Soft Skull.