Brandy Walker, who describes herself as a “34-year-old white woman,” argued in the Huffington Post yesterday that getting black out drunk and being arrested is an example of white privilege. The “privilege,” she argues, is that she was not shot to death by police.

“I have spent a great deal of time examining privilege and how it has affected me, a 30-something white woman,” Walker writes in her article, titled We Can’t Help Being White. “And through the exploration of my earlier, “less-evolved” self, I have made some startling discoveries.”



One of the discoveries is that, when she was in her early 20s, Walker got so drunk that when she came to she was being arrested by police and sent to jail. The fact that she wasn’t shot to death is an example of privilege, she claims.

“My friend and I decided to hit up The Breakfast Club, an 80’s themed bar in downtown Charlotte, NC,” Walker explains. “I came to in a parking lot on the opposite side of town. I was handcuffed and directed into the back of a police vehicle.”

According to Walker, her night in prison was “remarkable.” She writes, “From what I understand, I was manipulative and insolent. I tried to talk my way out… When that didn’t work, I became irate and erratic. Eventually, they had to put me in a confined cell. In the morning, my parents paid my bail. I was supposed to be at work at 9am. Not shockingly, I lost my job.”

Ms. Walker compares this to the death of Antoine Hunter, who was African American. Mr. Hunter “had been spotted driving recklessly when the police tried to pull him over. He sped up, and eventually crashed into a parked car.”

When police approached his car, they yelled commands; Mr. Hunter did not heed themthen drove toward the police, “trapping one deputy on the passenger side of the car between the gold sedan and the deputies’ car.”

According to police, Hunter then reached toward his waistband. Fearing for their lives, police opened fire, killing Mr. Hunter. A loaded gun was in Mr. Hunter’s possession.

“I’ve been labeled ditzy, overly perky, and smart with a wild streak,” Ms. Walker writes, talking about what happened to her and what happened to Mr. Hunter. “My white privilege dictates that, more often than not, those assumptions won’t harm me. In fact, they often benefit me.”

She continues, “The police’s implicit biases have taught large pockets of the black community to be suspicious and combative. This creates a vicious cycle of fear and violence.”

Ms. Walker concludes, “The way our justice system is supposed to be set up, you are innocent until proven guilty. Honestly, that’s been my experience. For many black people, it’s the opposite. Their guilt is assumed; they have to prove their innocence.”

IOTW Report was the first to cover Ms. Walker’s article.