We Are Individuals, Not Members of Groups
MINOT, N.D. — “It costs nothing extra to be a straight white male in this country.”
So says Taylor Dominguez, a reader from Grand Forks, who responded with a letter to the editor to my assertion that the “the price of admission” to a free society is “accepting that you’re going to hear and see some things that make you uncomfortable and even angry.”
“For America, historically and apparently still today, the debt held by these men remains the most minimal, because attitudes continue to perpetuate this as a ‘baseline’ and ‘norm,'” Dominguez argues.
There are problems with this reasoning, but let first me acknowledge that Dominguez has at least the shadow point. Historically, white men have been at the top of the social heap. Our nation has made many long strides toward opening up more opportunities for more people, but the vestiges of past injustices remain.
But let’s move beyond the obvious.
