Cuccinelli is both a Republican and an Italian Catholic, neither of which are known for their love of black folks. But the real issue with this kind of stuff seems to be a matter of status. All other variables being equal, I’d say that it is still more advantageous to be white than to be any other Crayola category. Whites are still the largest group numerically, and the majority of power-holders are still white, even if these things are changing. There may be exceptions in some cultural sectors, institutional sectors, socioeconomic levels, and geographical areas.

In some highly diverse major cities, being white may mean being just another minority. Some institutional sectors (particularly academia) seem to bend over backward to promote minorities and other traditionally disadvantaged groups, while traditional racism is still the norm in some institutions. There are still country clubs in my area where blacks are de facto banned. Trailer park and rural Appalachian whites have a sum total of fewer advantages than minority educated professionals.

Also, not all minorities are equally advantaged. East Asians (depending on their nationality), Jews, Persians, Nigerians, and Indians fare much better in the US than Puerto Ricans, African-Americans, Native Americans, Haitians, and Salvadorans. And there is social stratification within all groups as well. There are Mexican-Americans who are upper-class people and there are Mexican migrant workers in the US as well. Obviously, a black transgender drug-addicted street prostitute has less “privilege” than a wealthy white martini-swizzling businessman, physician, or attorney.

But to really fight the state, it is necessary to demonstrate how the state is the enemy of virtually everyone except for a very small number of people. If I had the time, I could compile encyclopedia volumes documenting cases of excessive state actions that targeted people from all across the cultural, racial, religious, political, and socioeconomic spectrum, including some that would be considered “rich” by conventional standards.

The right-wing typically ignore the race, class, and disparities when it comes to these things, while the left-wing embraces race, class, etc. reductionism.  A better way to look at it would be to make comparisons to the Third Reich or the Stalinist/Maoist regimes. The former specialized in race genocide, the latter in class genocide. But both types of regimes carried extreme repression against all kinds of people from all kinds of backgrounds. There was certainly ethnic and religious persecution in Communist states (often extremely so) and there was class-based repression in fascist regimes (once again, often extremely so).

By Paul LeBlanc

Acting Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Ken Cuccinelli said Sunday that he does not believe that George Floyd’s life would have been spared if he were white.

Floyd, a black man, was killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis last month. His death has sparked nationwide protests against racism and police violence.

Asked by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer if he thought Floyd would still be alive if he were white, Cuccinelli said, “No, I don’t think he would.”

“What I heard in that eight-and-a-half minute clip was someone who was a bully, who is abusing his position of authority and power in the law,” Cuccinelli said in reference to a video of Floyd’s death.

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