I think that there are times where the truth is insensitive.  I think there are times we do more damage worrying about someone's feelings than actually how we can help them.  I don't think there are many people (and this thread kind of proves it on a small scale) that really want to have the difficult conversations that need to be had if we're really going to make life better for people.  Instead we just want to make ourselves feel better like we made a difference by blacking out our FB pages, watching BET for an hour, or professing some white privilege guilt.

There are ABSOLUTELY racist people in this country and around the world.  There's not a lot, but they are out there.  Some of them are white.  Some of them are black.  Some are Hispanic or another race/ethnicity.  There are good and bad people of all races, religions, ethnicities, wealth/social status, career/company, etc.  I believe strongly that there are less of those people than there used to be, but they still exist and it's likely they will always exist. 

The problems facing blacks go well beyond racism.  I'd argue that's a very small percentage of their challenges in today's world.  The system isn't stacked against them specifically; it's stacked against the poor.  Now within the poor, there are groups that have more advantages and less advantages, but it isn't solely because of their race. 

I can only speak to my experiences in life, but in Chicago there was a big difference for blacks growing up in Cabrini Green (notorious housing development in Chicago...look it up if you've never heard of it) and growing up in say Kankakee (an hour or so south of Chicago).  They weren't more or less black in one location.  Did the kids in Kankakee have privilege over the ones at Cabrini Green?  Did Obama's kids grow up with the same challenges as either group?  How about black doctors, lawyers, professionals in any capacity...do they have the same challenges? 

What if race isn't the issue, but it's systematic socioeconomic barriers that are holding people back?  We have to agree that black people raised in the inner city are disadvantaged over black kids raised in suburban neighborhoods.  But the same goes for every other race in those same circumstances.  Are people racist against the inner city white kids?

For some reason, the perception is that the only path out of the inner city is through athletics or music (or some other non-education related path).  When I lived in Chicago, the gangs pretty much left the athletes alone..especially the elite ones...even if they were gang affiliated.  So is privilege a thing even in the black community?

Privilege absolutely exists, but I don't think it comes in the form that people seem to think it does.  There's an enemy (so to speak), but they aren't going after the right one.  Worse than that, they are being manipulated by the very people that are holding them down.

I'm sure to some this post will make me a racist in some people's eyes.  That's unfortunate, but it is what it is.  Those that actually know me know the truth and I am not too worried about what people that don't know me think.