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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Ash falls on Rim Village as battle with Crater Lake fire continues ... Ready and waiting ... Lead found in four more SOU facilities ... Ash falls on Rim Village as battle with Crater Lake fire continues ... Ready and waiting ... Lead found in four more SOU facilities ... COMMENTARY Jeffrey Gillespie: Blinded by the white Comment DailyTidings.com Writer Posted Aug. 5, 2016 at 12:01 AM Posted Aug. 5, 2016 at 12:01 AM » Social News A recent letter in the Tidings from Ashland resident James Adams gave me pause. Adams is irritated by the fact that OSF has stated in a recent open letter that racist incidents are "happening daily in Ashland, and all over our country." Adams takes issue with this description of "the town (I) have lived in for 15 years," going on to cite Webster's definition of racism as a platform for his argument, also stating that, if such racism was present, "police logs would be filled with reports of such incidents." The letter is pretty much a textbook statement on white privilege. While the author might be earnestly attempting to defend "his" town — this kind of codified ownership language is nothing new to people of color, by the way — that argument is nothing more than a statement of opinion based in implicit bias, and is high up a ladder of inference that has little to do with the reality experienced by minorities. Much like those who are victims of rape and sexual assault, people of color often do not report crimes against them. The fact of the matter is that, if you are in a vulnerable group, that vulnerability will perpetuate itself, because people who are vulnerable will often not risk the possibility of becoming more vulnerable by exposing themselves to institutionalized ideas of racism or sexism that are often at the bedrock of their interactions with systems such as law enforcement and the courts. As such, while racial incidents happen myriad times a day in cities and countries around the world — Ashland included — members of the privileged elite (the top tier of which is occupied by wealthy white men) tend to lull themselves into a place of false complacency by using figures provided by the very institutions that were originally set up to advantage that same ownership class. It must be understood that the assertion of current "facts and figures," while useful to people who are conspiring to ignore the prejudices being inflicted upon those who are not as privileged as themselves, in many cases ignore the realities being experienced by the disenfranchised. In much the same way that the poorest of the poor are invisible to census-takers, people of color are part of a silent underclass for whom such facts and figures hold little comfort. And while "Ashland is an extraordinarily safe place to live and work" for many, it is a fact that folks who are not white put up with just as much nonsense here as they would on a larger scale in Baton Rouge, La., or Washington, D.C., or anywhere else one might care to mention. Personal ignorance of the level of prejudice being experienced by our friends and neighbors is not an argument. In fact, it's just another form of soft power, at best naive, at worst enabling. OSF should be congratulated for putting its money where its mouth is. If the valid statements being made by the company (statements that are a reflection of fact in 2016 America) rub rich old white people the wrong way, that's a sign that OSF is on the right track — not the wrong one. Ashland resident Jeffrey Gillespie is a Daily Tidings columnist, arts reviewer and freelance writer. Email him at gillespie.jeffrey @gmail.com. DailyTidings.com Writer Posted Aug. 5, 2016 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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