No, it’s over and beyond basic rights. It’s a privilege, like not being assume to be a criminal or not being assumed to having X knowledge because of one’s gender. A white man being assumed to not be a criminal or being an expert on something for no other reason than they are white and male is a privilege.
Agreed. But a human not being being assumed to be a criminal, because no one is assumed to be a criminal, is the best state.
Probably, yeah.
But lack of oppression isn’t something that I can get behind dismantling.
To borrow @anon61221983’s way phrasing, being not oppressed in an oppressive society and because of whiteness, maleness, etc, is privilege.
And, those who have it should use their privilege to dismantle the systems of oppression, including the systems that privilege whiteness, maleness, etc.
ETA: And that goes back to what started me on this thread, which is semantics:
The systems of privilege are the bad thing, not the ability to live without fear of police violence.
That’s not at all what anyone is suggesting.
You’re overthinking the mere terminology.
We live in a White supremacist society, whether we like it or not.
If you are a person who is White, then you inherently benefit from that societal perception of ‘superiority,’ whether you want it or not, whether you like it or not.
And in order to dismantle the disparity of a society based upon a fallacious premise like racial superiority, it takes a helluva lot of self reflection, honesty and willingness on the part of those whom the system benefits to speak out… and in some cases, to renounce one’s own unearned privilege.
I think the issue with privilege here is no one is being treated fairly.
White people do get too much benefit of the doubt too often so it’s not as simple as everyone getting treated as if they were white.
White people aren’t really treated fairly while others suffer unfair treatment. The contrast elevates white people too often. They escape fair scrutiny because the scrutiny has already been deflected onto others.
While there is an underclass, there will be actual privilege at many times, not just fair and unfair, because the underclass soaks up both unfair treatment and what would be fair accountability and scrutiny that should be falling on the more privileged.
Excellent point. Here’s a comic that demonstrates it:
Yeah, you’re right. Though I bristle at “mere.” 
My statement doesn’t imply other wise. Right now white men are less likely to be assumed to be a criminal than a black man.
Also Rindan:
English by its very nature literally does not have concrete definitions for words, so these debates about what the real definition of a word is are always pointless and stupid.
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While I don’t know the specifics of schools there, locally, when I was in high school, those expelled were transferred to a continuation school(the branches of which were next door to some of the high schools, where they could still get a diploma. There was also a zero tolerance policy in the main schools on multiple actions that were supposed to result in automatic expulsion.
Seriously, the very very last thing that matters when racist students have been called out for being racists is the definition of racism.
Unless you are trying to say that the students at hand here weren’t being racist, you are deflecting from the issue, minimizing the acts of racist behaviour itself, and worrying about entirely the wrong thing.
Racist students faced consequences for racist behaviour. You can debate whether or not the punishment was appropriate or fairly metered, but the debating the definition of racism around the incident in this incident is the equivalent of responding to a mass shooting by worrying about what caliber and make of weapon was used in the shooting.
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