Right-wingers prove they don't understand white privilege at all by criticising Oprah for speaking out

White privilege is a concept that seems to confuse many (perhaps more people should watch John Amaechi’s explainer).

So it’s not really a surprise that recent remarks made by Oprah Winfrey on the subject have been greeted with fierce contention from many.

Namely Republican supporters.

During a two-part episode of Winfrey’s Apple TV+ series, The Oprah Conversations, the 66 year-old was joined by former NFL player Emmanuel Acho.

In one segment, the pair discussed questions posed by non-Black viewers about race.

One guest challenged them on the concept of ‘white privilege’, arguing that they didn’t think it was fair to “group all white people”.

“Not all white people have power,” the guest said.

“There’s plenty of poor, working-class white people. But I think that when we group all of white people together and we don’t recognise the fact that there’s a lot of white people that struggle, and it’s a different struggle as you mentioned because they’re not swimming upstream let’s call it [...]

“I think that if we’re gonna come together and really attack racism and the inequities that are in this country and are in this world, that it’s important not to group all white people.”

Of course white privilege isn’t supposed to imply that white people don’t suffer hardships or extreme challenges.

It just means that those hardships and challenges aren’t because of the colour of their skin.

In response, Winfrey explained how white privilege worked, saying:

There are white people who are not as powerful as the system of white people — the caste system that’s been put in place. 

But they still, no matter where they are on the rung or ladder of success, they still have their whiteness.

You still have your whiteness. That’s what the term ‘white privilege’ is. It means that whiteness still gives you an advantage, no matter.

However, powerful politicians took offence at Winfrey’s words, with Ted Cruz appearing to call them “BS”.

“Billionaire Oprah lectures the rest of us,” he wrote.

“What utter, utter racist BS”.

In a bizarre tweet, Republican candidate Irene Armendariz-Jackson called Oprah the “personification of white privilege" which sadly doesn’t quite make sense, given she is a Black woman.

Pro-gun advocate JT Lewis also tried to claim that white privilege couldn’t exist because Oprah was personally rich.

Apparently the wealth of one Black person cancels out the documented inequalities in financial wellbeing, healthcare, education and treatment at the hands of the police for the majority.

Of course, people quickly pointed out some inconsistencies in the criticism.

Like Ted Cruz’s own name.

There were also analogies to helpfully explain it to those who didn’t seem to grasp how two things could happen at once.

Remember: denying something exists doesn’t make it go away!