We can all pretty much agree that social media is terrible and represents the worst of society, and Twitter just might be the biggest offender. There, keyboard warriors feel free to spew out whatever horrible, nasty, and often untrue thing comes to their minds and there’s no one to stop them. The latest detestable conversation that’s arisen is whether or not Anne Frank, the teen who died in a concentration camp during World War II for being Jewish, had white privilege. Yes, really.
“anne frank had white privilege” i am begging other americans to learn literally anything about the construct of race
— excessively black ✡️ (@afrodesiaq) July 9, 2022
- Where this bizarre idea started is unclear. However, conversation stemmed from some mad notion that Jewish people had the benefit of white skin to go unnoticed in public during the occupation of Nazi Germany and their invasion of much of the rest of Europe. Historically, people of color haven’t been offered the same privilege. However, as many have pointed out, this is a bit of a false equivalency, to say the least.
- Many people have shot the idea down. Educated, thoughtful people have pointed out how ludicrous the idea of Anne Frank having white privilege really is. After all, Jews were always seen as an ethnically inferior race and Anne Frank was forced to, you know, hide in an attic for years until she was ultimately caught and sent to a concentration camp specifically for being Jewish.
- Anne Frank did not have white privilege, if that wasn’t clear. As one commenter rightly noted: “Anne Frank didn’t have white privilege…you wanna know why? Jewish people aren’t included when white nationalists define the perfect Aryan race. If you think she did, tell that to all the other innocent Jewish people forced into concentration camps for not being white enough.”
- This isn’t the first time Twitter has gone after an innocent target. A few years ago, TMZ notes that everyone was gunning for Hellen Keller, who was both deaf and blind, saying she only got successful because of her white privilege. However, targeting Anne Frank seems like a new low altogether.
I mean, the thing is “white” is socially defined and malleable because it’s just an exclusionary concept for social power.
Nazis when they took power defined what “white” was.
Where casual not explicit white supremacy is the norm, explicit white supremacists show the bleeding/1
— Matthew Anderson✡️🌈 (@AdumbroDeus) July 9, 2022
— Brandon (@blgtylr) July 9, 2022
Do you think Anne Frank effectively utilized her white privilege by hiding for 2 years in a concealed room before being arrested by the Gestapo and succumbing to typhus at Bergen-Belsen? pic.twitter.com/s0MBtnFgS3
— “𝘽𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙆𝙚𝙯𝙤𝙨” (@APunishedBill) July 10, 2022
Them: Anne Frank had white privilege
Everyone: what the fuck is wrong w u
Them: wow you’ve lost the plot https://t.co/elc0OSVd5Q
— Stupid Girl ™ (@lolstupidgirl) July 9, 2022
Thought you guys were joking about the Anne Frank white privilege take
— Mr. Chau (@Srirachachau) July 9, 2022
People will really say “race science is not scientifically valid and race is contingent on social constructs” and turn around say that Anne Frank had white privilege… by assuming that there is a universal, transhistorical, and scientifically coherent notion of “being white.” https://t.co/T2SbEILF1m
— Jihad al-Haqq ۞ جہاد الحق (@JihadalHaqq) July 9, 2022
I see “Anne Frank had white privilege” discourse is flying around again so I’m re-upping this thread I wrote about the difference between whiteness in the US in 2022 and whiteness in Germany in 1945.
Not the same! https://t.co/S4l4X0uBcT
— The Disordered Cosmos by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein (@IBJIYONGI) July 9, 2022
“Anne Frank had white privilege.”
“Anne Frank was bi.”
“Anne Frank—“Anne Frank was a literal child and experienced one of the worst atrocities in history and was brutally murdered because she was Jewish. You haven’t given her soul a gd moment to rest. Shut. The fuck. Up.
— Em (@emcroissant) July 9, 2022
“Anne Frank had white privilege” feels like a nail in the coffin for a certain kind of discourse.
— Jordan Weissmann (@JHWeissmann) July 9, 2022
