To the author of [“Wigger: Confessions of a White Wannabe,” July 8],
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I just want to say how happy I am that you wrote the article, “Wiggers.” I believe it gave voice to a number of important ideas–ideas that a lot of my white brothers and sisters (to co-opt a term that I think applies more aptly in traditional black communities) should become familiar with. The back to the wind metaphor is superb, but most significant is the notion that we whites are born into this circumstance and cannot or will not acknowledge it. It evokes the sense of Wellesley College’s Peggy McIntosh’s term–White Male Privilege.
Thing is, they’re so cool, I bet they’d be fairer than the whites in power, which–and here’s a key–most white people can’t believe–because they reason from a white cultural perspective and experience. Whites don’t seem to have the same sense of fair play–didn’t you find that to be true, too?
