Southern Agrarianism and the culture of the Old South

White Privilege – Guilty As Charged

This is a slightly updated version of something I first wrote and published on February 17, 2011. It could be considered an illustration of my personal motto – Not for Our Time, but for All Time. Not for All People, but for Our People – and it remains one of my favorites.


One cannot be a vocal advocate of the Southern people, and our heritage and culture, without encountering the topic of race on a regular basis. It shouldn’t be that way but it is, so it must be confronted head-on.

We have all been hearing recently about the concept of White Privilege – what our accusers seem to define as an unearned, unmerited advantage that Whites have over other races. To that I answer, “Guilty As Charged.”

Let’s look at this White Privilege that gives me an “unfair” advantage over others:

  • I have the privilege of being raised by both my mother and my father in a stable home where drugs, alcohol, and crime never intruded.
  • I have the privilege of being raised by parents who understood the value of education and insisted that I and my siblings take learning seriously.
  • I have the privilege of being taught at an early age that making sacrifices today in order to have something better tomorrow is one of the keys to progress.
  • I have the privilege of having grandparents who taught my parents these same values – and generation upon generation before them.
  • I have the privilege of learning about the Western European culture – the music, the literature, the science, the art – that has enriched the lives of all who care to take advantage of that culture; freely bestowed on all who care for the finer things of mankind.
  • I have the privilege of having a strong work ethic instilled in me from a young age.
  • I have the privilege of being raised in a Christian home and taught about the wholly undeserved love of a God who would sacrifice His only Son to pay for my sins.

All these privileges were given to me, completely undeserved and unearned. They were given to me by the generations that came before me because they put the best interest of their children above all else. If other races or other groups of people choose to live for their own immediate gratification with little thought for the fate and reputation of their descendants, then that is their choice. It is my fondest hope – and expectation – that one day my grandchildren, when accused of White Privilege, will proudly proclaim “Guilty As Charged”.

24 Comments

  1. Jonathan Varnell

    Guilty here as well….thanks for sharing.

  2. Robin

    THANK YOU!!

  3. Karen Conley

    So true but now the White children that are being born today probably won’t have these privileges. So many are being raised by same sex couples, by single parents, by working mothers who prefer a career to motherhood. None of these children are being raised in Christian homes by Christian parents. We are giving up our God given privileges for materialistic gain and political “wokeness”. In all the Western World, it seems that only a small remnant remains in Dixie.

    • Stephen Clay McGehee

      “for materialistic gain” That is the key point here. We keep hearing that “it’s the economy”. We see Dow-Jones numbers as though it were some magic index to a healthy society. We have sold our souls for financial gain. Yes, economic prosperity is important – no question about that; however, it is NOT the ultimate goal. The goal is to have a morally healthy society in which everyone is working toward a common goal, and that is completely incompatible with “diversity”. It is not strictly a racial issue, but race is the most visible factor.

      We, as a society, have to shift our focus away from money and toward “Our People” – meaning family, heritage, and culture. That is why I am a vocal supporter of Southern Agrarianism – it is a cultural movement with roots deep in Southern soil. It is the opposite of urban, Wall-Street, celebrity worship.

      • Arlene Cole

        I hope in my next life I will be born and raised in the South. I would love to spend my days planting, gardening, and tending to animals. I speak to God et al every day, but have no Christians around me to share my limited Faith with. I regret I don’t have the courage to walk into any church by myself, but I’m hoping that will change before it’s too late.

  4. Lisa Hopper

    Absolutely agree! The insanity going on in this country today is unprecedented. We are on a downward spiral that causes me concern for my grandchildren and the world they will inherit. I didn’t choose to be born white any more than anybody else chooses their color. One thing I will NEVER do is apologize for myself or my race. God Bless America!

  5. Richard E Smith

    Please add my name to the roll, “Guilty as Charged”.

    Thank you,
    Richard

  6. Alice Scott

    Thank you for this down to earth article amongst all the insanity. By the grace of God, I too am “guilty as charged. “

  7. Fugitive Agrarian

    Though some may want attribute the difference to a “better garden” and others attribute it to Übermensch, I think I too am content chalking it up with my many blessing I count. Seems when we realize we deserve eternal hell for our slightest infraction against the eternally, holy Maker of heaven and earth everything on this side of the grave is a mercy. The real shame is that my gratitude is so small: guilty as charged.

  8. Peter S. Kelley

    Excellent

  9. Jeb j Smith

    Great stuff.

  10. Stephen Clay McGehee

    Please accept my apologies for the late “approval” of the encouraging comments! I recently changed email systems, and apparently they were all being dumped into some sort of unknown spam folder that I still haven’t found. I was getting very disappointed to see that no one seemed to care anymore. What a wonderful surprise. THANK YOU ALL!!!

    • Arlene Cole

      Thank You for having the courage to speak the words most people are becoming afraid to even whisper. I say there is no such thing as white privilege. I grew up in the (welfare) system so I believe I have a realistic understanding of what privilege is, and I certainly did NOT have it.

      I believe in the American Privilege of having nothing, but then working hard to have something. I believe in the Privilege of having been born in a country that has a Constitution which protects my God-given right to worship. I believe every person in the United States is privileged, regardless of the color of their skin. Period.

      • Stephen Clay McGehee

        Well said, ma’am! Anyone born in America is, indeed, privileged – most make the best of it, while others squander it and then whine about an “unfair” system.

  11. R Eliot Nelson

    [Added by Stephen Clay McGehee: My first inclination was to just delete this rant; however, people need to know how these people think. Read it and understand that these people care nothing for their own people, for their own history, for their descendants, for their ancestors who sacrificed for them – only the self-righteous feeling they get by being anti-White. Imagine being so sick as to long for the day when “Your grandchildren will listen to rap music. Your great grandchildren will have black sex partners.” These people have as their goal the complete destruction of the White race. This level of hatred toward our people is disgusting and dangerous. Understand that this is not just a question for academic debate. This is a very real existential threat.]

    You are all quite racist. I can’t confirm this for all of you but the author is obviously rather aged and I’m guessing the rest of you commenters are as well. I can’t imagine what it must be like for you to observe your children and grandchildren growing up in a society in which, despite your best efforts to partition them off from the real world outside by enrolling them in the finest southern christian schools the south has to offer and pressuring them to follow in your footsteps to perpetuate your lifestyle, they nonetheless ravenously absorb other “diverse” cultures through their private phone screens and earbuds, the internet providing the true scope of art, culture, expression that humanity has to offer, rather than the narrow, feeble and terrified one you poor bigots cling to. It must be hard to watch that happening before your eyes and I understand you are upset.

    Author, other races of people do not “choose to live for their own immediate gratification”, they are forced to do so by preexisting circumstances instantiated when the western Europeans you so idolize enslaved and subjugated them and subsequent generations like yourselves failed to realize that true enlightenment encompasses more than music, literature, art and science; it’s also about compassion and progress. You are clearly not compassionate as you shun those whose lifestyles and skin colors are not like yours, and you are clearly anti-progress as you strive to return to a way of life from an antiquated era. Read a book. “Guns, Germs and Steel” by Jared Diamond (let me guess, you don’t believe in germs) and “The Will to Change” by Bell Hooks are two I think you would all find helpful. Also Wikipedia will “freely bestow” all sorts of useful knowledge, you should try reading up on some of these things.

    Fugitive Agrarian, you’re so close to realizing your shortcoming when you say “the real shame is that my gratitude is so small”, yet you seem to revel in the fact that you are not as gracious as you should be. True grace would be to use your advantaged life to help those less advantaged. You obviously can’s stand to spare a modicum of your excess of wealth or sympathy despite suffering throughout the world. Jesus would be ashamed of you.

    No one is arguing that you should be guilty for being born white, of course you can’t help that. The guilt you should feel is what you have done with that privilege: hoard your wealth and resources and isolate yourself from the world; fail to become educated about other cultures, races and lifestyles; perpetuate a system of hatred, fear and violence towards people you know nothing about.

    I doubt, dear author, that the cultlike grip of your ideologies will be fooling your ancestors much longer. Unlike you, they will not shun the responsibilities that all humans, not only the rich and powerful, owe to all other sentient beings, which is the responsibility of compassion and understanding. Your grandchildren will listen to rap music. Your great grandchildren will have black sex partners. Before long your ancestors and the ancestors of those you hate and fear will become indistinguishable, and the ill-informed musings of feeble old troglodytes will be forgotten their kind will be looked back on as tyrants, villains, fools, and enemies of love, enlightenment, progress, true southern hospitality, justice and peace. After you’re dead and gone, your descendants, dear author, will indeed one day proclaim “guilty as charged”, but then they will break your toxic cycle and take responsibility for their conviction, and take it upon themselves to become truly learned about the world, and treat others with the respect and compassion that you could not.

    • Chris

      R Eliot Nelson, thank you for your well thought out articulate post. I absolutely agree with everything you said.

    • B J O'Byrne

      Thank you for this response to an age old diatribe. Not all that live in the south espouse this nonsense. A truly God fearing and believing Christian knows that this isn’t what the Bible teaches. Stephen Clay McGehee- I can care about my fellow man and still respect my ancestors, their sacrifices, and my cultural traditions. Your racism and disrespect for ALL mankind will be judged by the same God you proport to follow. God have mercy on your soul.

      • Stephen Clay McGehee

        You people just amaze me. Apparently reading comprehension just isn’t your strong suit. There is absolutely nothing in anything I wrote (and I take full responsibility for every word) that even implies hatred for others. Nothing. I am grateful for those who came before me and for the choices they made. If others make different choices, then that is their business and they are responsible for the outcome – not me, not my family, not my race, not my people. It has gotten to the point that making excuses for the failures of others is seen as virtuous, and accepting responsibility is seen as hatred. That is how civilizations devolve, which is what we are seeing now.

  12. J.D. King

    I sent a link to this when it was on Gab to friends.

    • Michael C. Lucas

      Where is this quote “[Added by Stephen Clay McGehee: My first inclination was to just delete this rant; however, people need to know how these people think. Read it and understand that these people care nothing for their own people, for their own history, for their descendants, for their ancestors who sacrificed for them – only the self-righteous feeling they get by being anti-White. Imagine being so sick as to long for the day when “Your grandchildren will listen to rap music. Your great grandchildren will have black sex partners.” These people have as their goal the complete destruction of the White race. This level of hatred toward our people is disgusting and dangerous. Understand that this is not just a question for academic debate. This is a very real existential threat.]”

      I see it in the comments but where is on this thread? Or else where?

      • Stephen Clay McGehee

        Last paragraph of the comment that you referenced, that begins with “I doubt, dear author”

  13. Bev

    Well said R Eliot Nelson, well said.
    I had met someone from the south a few years ago and we’ve had very good talks about the stigma he lives with as a while southern man. I agreed with a lot of he had to say because of course I didn’t live there( I have just seen how the south was portrayed in movies and none of it was good) so I kept an open mind. This article that you have wrote here has totally unravelled all of those talks we’ve had . This has the ugly face that is shown of the south in those movies. You should be ashamed of yourself
    From Canada

  14. Greta

    I’d like to see a post defining and exploring the idea of “white” itself. Is there really such a thing as “white”? From an Irish American perspective, I find the notion of “white privilege” a hazy concept that glosses over things like indentured servitude and historical signs like “Irish need not apply”. If other groups get to be identified as African Americans, Chinese Americans, Native Americans, etc., why are we grouped by color? And why then is it considered “racist” to group others by color? Like red, yellow, black, white? It’s the elephant in the room, isn’t it?

    • Stephen Clay McGehee

      Interesting topic, and I can’t say that I’ve looked at it that way before. Let me think that one over and see what I come up with. You mentioned indentured servants – my grandfather (step-grandfather, actually) came to America from Ireland as an indentured servant to learn the trade of stone mason. Indentured servant

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