David MacDonald

My work is a critique of the long history of White Male privilege, specifically the relationship to between White American Males and gun culture thought our history.

Unfortunately, there are too many perfectly good reasons why the White Male might not be trusted. In fact, for the better part of the last few centuries, a vast portion of human suffering and tragedy has been caused by people who look like me. White Males have gained and maintained their positions of power through the use of violence, intimidation and deliberate discrimination.

And as much as I don’t want to be the enemy, I am an obvious member of this elite group. This recent flood of mass shootings, all committed by angry White Men, brings to mind my experience growing up in a home that was heavily connected to gun culture. I remember the day my father allowed me to handle his hunting rifle for the first time. It was almost ceremonial. This rite of passage takes place in many homes and with many sons in the United States.

The people fighting hardest against common sense gun laws are predominantly White Men. They are not afraid they will not be able to protect their family against “bad people” or be able to rise up against an oppressive government. They are afraid of losing the thing that symbolically and literally has allowed them to maintain dominance and power over others.