Anyone Black under the age of 50 can never imagine being forced to sit at the back of a bus, not able to enter certain restaurants, or being led to Black-labeled public facilities. However, this was the atmosphere a little over 50 years ago mainly in the Deep South and some parts of the north.

Everyday we see whites who partook in and enjoyed this social disenfranchisement as well as Blacks who suffered the same. Though the legal system has changed and Jim Crow laws no longer exist, and many minds have changed toward tolerance and acceptance of racial assimilation, the Jim Crow mind-set in the children of Jim Crow whites still linger.

To live in a society that awards you privileges above others of another race must have placed a larger burden of self-evaluation on many whites. They must have had to question by what means and rights they have above others or what makes them better and worthy of better treatment. On the other hand, there must have been many who truly believed they were and are better and more worthy of better treatment, which should be a very sought-after case for any of today's psychiatrist.

Questioning whether or not one is worthy of better treatment and social privilege over others takes an open mind; one that understands that people are people and their life chances depend on their environment in addition to personal desires, not on what color they are. To not raise that question to oneself, but accept things as laid-out by a privilege-based society, takes a mind that seeks self-satisfaction at the expense of others, even to the point of ignoring social injustice.

Because Jim Crow was the law passed by the United States court system, one must conclude that the majority of white America during that time was convinced that they were deserving of a better life based on the color of their skin and circumstantial position in life. Furthermore, this assumption would substantiate the fact that there are many of the same whites who live today over the age of 50 who still believe this.

Thus, if there are many whites today that secretly believe they are deserving of better treatment than people of color, particularly Blacks, then it is safe to assume that they have subconsciously taught their children, and their children's children, to believe the same. Granted, many of their children may not think so after taking a serious evaluation of themselves and life in general, but many more just as well have accept their white-privileged lot in this life.

If after serious evaluation of their life a child of Jim Crow chooses rather to see themselves as a person like everyone else and to treat others with the respect they would want, however, at what point would that person decide to take advantage of their privilege, seeing white privilege still exist? The answer is; there is no certain point.

Whites believe they have first right to everything regardless of self-evaluation. Though they look deep within themselves and at society and see the injustice, they take full advantage of their privilege simply because it is there and is there as a given. This is what the residue of Jim has brought forth, the sin of rights of passage.

While Blacks continue to fight against modern day Jim Crow, whites enjoy all the benefits of post-Jim Crow yet without the guilt of the actual law. From home loans to health care to career positions to education, to the legal system, whites retain all rights to better treatment, which is a definite unspoken reality.

Black America needs to realize that we fight daily against the children of Jim Crow. The only difference is that if the treatment is not outright public, then we cannot fight it outright public. We must fight it on the same level it is dealt to us, which is psychologically case-by-case. Simply knowing that we live in a hidden Jim Crow society should give us enough ammunition to defend against it by arming ourselves accordingly. Refuse to be treated as second class and point out all injustices.

© June 2007 by CR Hamilton