In an impressive display of man’s duality, 28-year-old Jackson Miller reports to not believe white privilege exists while remaining committed to ensuring that cops continue to protect his.
“It’s not like I love cops, but it’s pretty obvious that society would descend into chaos without law enforcement,” says Miller, who grew up in an affluent, predominantly white suburb with a well funded public school and virtually no police presence.
“When you break the law, there are consequences. Where was my white privilege when I got pulled over for speeding?” adds Miller, referring to an incident in which he interacted with a police officer without fearing for his life, then received a ticket he was easily able to pay in full, thus ending his brush with law enforcement and not entering a cycle of debt, surveillance, and criminalization.
“The concept of white privilege is just ridiculous,” Miller says. “I’ve worked for everything I’ve ever gotten. Why should I apologize for slavery when it happened before I was even born? My family is from the northeast, so it’s not like my ancestors even owned slaves.”
A fact checker found it is true that Miller’s ancestors did not enslave anyone, but only quietly benefitted from the United States becoming a global superpower as the result of a stolen labor system that survived the abolition of slavery largely due to a criminal justice system that forced free Black people into free or cheap labor once again.
“Trust me, if you want to live in a country where private property means anything, you want to live in a country with a healthy police force,” says Miller, who is correct that the policing institution’s main purpose is to protect upper class white people’s wealth, but failed to mention that this project’s roots are in the police’s role as slave patrol and violent strike breakers.
“And I know people have been talking about defunding police to put more money into schools or job programs or whatever,” says Miller. “But any rational person can see that’s not going to work.”
If Miller means this plan is a form of harm reduction that will no longer work to secure his advantaged position over other racial groups in society, he’s absolutely right!
