No one’s buying this bollocks (Picture: Ella Byworth for Metro.co.uk)

A recent poll published in the New York Times has found that over half of white people in America believe that they’re being discriminated against.

Yes, you read that right.

55% of white folk in the States believe that they’re mistreated by society because of their skin colour.

To recap, this is a country where:

Slavery was around for 245 years, followed by over 100 years of official and unofficial segregation

25% of those killed by the police are black – despite Afro Americans only making up 13% of the population

34% of the prison population is black

45.8% of young black children live in poverty

1,064 racially motivated incidents were reported in the first months after Trump was elected

It is a country which is presided over by someone who calls neo-Nazis ‘very fine people’, a country which is scarred from decades and centuries of racism.

And in 2017, over half of the Caucasian population think that they’re the ones being discriminated against.

Am I high? Am I missing something here?

An 68-year-old man from Ohio told NPR that ‘if you apply for a job, they seem to give the blacks the first crack at it.

‘Basically, you know, if you want any help from the government, if you’re white, you don’t get it. If you’re black, you get it.’

SIR, IS IT BECAUSE YOU HAVE BEEN RIDING ON YOUR SKIN COLOUR TO MAKE UP FOR THINGS YOUR ENTIRE LIFE?

This kind of attitude, in America at least, isn’t uncommon.

When my dad visited the states back in the 90s, he said that he was waiting in a bus shelter when a white down and out came round asking for loose change. He approached the black people first, addressing them in a derogatory manner, demanding money.

When it became apparent that they had none to hand, he went, cap in hand, to the white folk.

‘I might not have anything, but at least I have my whiteness,’ is a real attitude. That sense of entitlement – even when you’re literally begging for money – persists. For white folk to then turn round and plead victimhood is maddening.

In the UK, I’ve heard people (particularly white men) complain about quota mentality and the fact that companies are more lenient on women and ethnic minorities in order to get their diversity stats up.

Just 4% of CEOs in FTSE 100 companies are black or Asian. Just 50 of the 14,000 British professors operating in our universities are black. 3% of doctors in the UK are black.

That doesn’t scream LOWERING THE STANDARDS TO CRAM MORE BLACK PEOPLE IN JOBS to me. There’s no government conspiracy here or abroad against the average white man. If you don’t get the grades for these kinds of jobs, you’re not getting in – end of.

The thing is, however, that when it comes to ethnic minorities, there are a number of reasons why people don’t achieve top grade: Lower incomes. Crap housing. Single parent families. Poor schooling. Lack of access to materials.

It’s not that white people are inherently smarter than the rest of us – it’s that they’ve been in a position of privilege for so long that even the most middle-of-the-road student has a chance of getting into a Russell Group university, simply because their parents can afford the extra tuition.

(Picture: Ella Byworth for Metro.co.uk)

If white Americans genuinely believe that black people stand a better chance in the job market today, that’s something to celebrate. It means all that hard work, that struggle, that hunger hasn’t gone to waste. It means that they’re getting the opportunities they deserve.

Somehow I doubt the reality is anywhere as positive. Unemployment in Black or African Americans stands at 8% – the highest group of any ethnicity in America. Next comes Hispanic and then White.

Ethnic minorities don’t want to play the victim – they’re hungry for success and opportunity. But that doesn’t mean it’s the turn of the white community to start whining just because things aren’t as easy as they used to be.

Get off your arse and start hustling.

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We’ve had over 300 years of you telling us how superior you are – we’re not listening to your bullshit now.

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