I never put much stock in the whole “white privilege” notion, but I’m reconsidering a bit. The bit is that as a white person I don’t feel the need to defend someone just because they are white. That doesn’t seem to be the case for people of non-pallor, or at least it’s the only reason I can think of that Whoopi Goldberg (among others) defended Michael Vick’s torture and murder of dogs:

Goldberg pointed out that Vick was raised in the South. “This is part of his cultural upbringing,” said Goldberg.

So was slavery Whoopi, so was slavery. If it were, for instance, Trent Green who was in the dock, would Ms. Goldberg be defending him?