What kind of moral obligation does someone with white privilege have toward combating racism and why?

In “Letter from the Birmingham Jail” Martin Luther King argues that white Americans who standby while racism happens are more problematic than overtly racist hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan. This highlights an interesting moral question, “what kinds of moral obligations does someone with privilege have in ending systems of oppression?” In order to address this question, you will choose one of three structures of power to concentrate on: race, global poverty, or disability.

Thus, you will answer one of the following questions:

What kind of moral obligation does someone with white privilege have toward combating racism and why?

What kind of moral obligation does someone with class privilege have toward combating global poverty and why?

What kind of moral obligation does someone with able-bodied privilege have toward combating ableism and why?

In your paper you must focus on one of the specific examples of racism, classism, or ableism presented in the links below and support your response with references to at least THREE course readings that we have discussed in class since February 16.

I have included links to three New York Times articles that you may use as concrete examples of these structures of power.

Racism on college campuses:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/25/us/colorblind-notion-aside-colleges-grapple-with-racial-tension.html (Links to an external site.)

Poverty and terrorism:

http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/13/linking-extreme-poverty-and-global-terrorism/ (Links to an external site.)

The abuse and exploitation of disabled adults:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/03/09/us/the-boys-in-the-bunkhouse.html (Links to an external site.)

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