Let’s state the obvious: going to North Korea is not a good idea. Destroying regime propaganda while still in the pariah country, however admirable, is an even worse idea. So, yes, when Otto Warmbier tore down a poster in his hotel, he made the worst mistake of his life. Given the North Korean government’s track record for brutally punishing dissension, it is no surprise that Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor, and it is still not surprising that he died.
Most rational people would agree that what happened to the college student was tragic, inhumane and deeply upsetting. However, what I found to be even more upsetting was the response of La Sha, a blogger with the Huffington Post. In a piece titled, “North Korea Proves Your White Male Privilege Is Not Universal,” La Sha argues that the fate of Warmbier is the direct result of having white male privilege.
White male privilege does exist; there’s no question about that. There are a few glaring issues in the case of this argument, though.
Warmbier is obviously a white male; we can all agree on that. However, North Korea’s penchant for violence against democratic institutions is entirely dissimilar from American race relations. There are simply no parallels. In the United States, while injustices at the hands of government officials and law enforcement do happen more frequently for people of color, it is flatly wrong to say that racial profiling and institutionalized racism can be equated to a totalitarian dictatorship. It is important to talk about race in the United States. Nonetheless, considering the death of a young man who made a poor decision, as just desserts for American racism is inappropriate and staggeringly insensitive. Remember that Warmbier died because of a poster.
Additionally, La Sha’s piece makes reference to James Holmes, the deranged man who killed 12 innocent people in an Aurora, Colorado movie theater. In an attempt to connect the horrific event to Warmbier’s worldview, La Sha states, “When you can watch a white man who entered a theatre and killed a dozen people come out unscathed, you start to believe you’re invincible.” To be entirely honest, I don’t know what La Sha means by “unscathed.” If she believes that 12 life sentences along with another 3,318 years of imprisonment is “unscathed”, then she is either in favor of the death penalty, or she believes that Holmes is immortal and will live to see freedom. I struggle to understand why La Sha claims that Warmbier was somehow emboldened by the mass-shooting that ruined so many lives, as the event is so far-removed from Warmbier’s death.
Warmbier was not the only Westerner being detained in North Korea. In fact, there are currently 3 other Americans, Kim Dong Chul, Kim Sang-duk and Kim Hak-Song, as well as one Canadian, Hyeon Soo Lim, who are imprisoned there. None of these men are white. None of these men appear in La Sha’s article. The argument of white privilege cannot be extended to these four prisoners. While they may have all made the mistake of poking a sleeping bear, no one in their right mind would try to argue that they are getting what they deserve. I can’t help but wonder whether the omission of these four prisoners from La Sha’s piece was an act of forgetfulness, or willful ignorance.
I tend to believe that La Sha’s article is an answer looking for a question. White male privilege is real, but it has nothing to do with the detention and death of Warmbier. I am disappointed in The Huffington Post, for allowing such misguided and tasteless commentary to be published.
