March 10, 2019 - Inslee recognizes white male privilege in CNN interview


During an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union, host Jake Tapper asks Governor Jay Inslee (D-WA), “Why are you, as a straight white male, the right person to lead the Democratic Party if there’s so much skepticism from Democrats in Iowa?” Inslee responds, “I think I have evinced a humility about being a straight white male that I have never experienced discrimination like so many do.” He adds, “I’ve never been pulled over as an African American teenager by an officer driving through a white neighborhood. I’ve never been a woman talked over in a meeting. So I approach this with humility.” This exchange provides both an example of how media asked about racial and gender privilege in ways dissimilar to any previous election in 2020 and how white male candidates were, unlike in past elections, forced to recognize and address their racial and gender identities – which are most commonly cites of privilege – as possible electoral disadvantages.