White privilege' also won after Philadelphia Eagles' victory, magazine columnist declares

Following the Philadelphia Eagles' NFC Championship win over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday night —  which catapulted the storied squad into the Super Bowl against the New England Patriots — a columnist wrote that "white privilege" also won Sunday night.

"So thousands of mostly white people got to roam the streets freely without heavy police intervention and basically got to do whatever they wanted all because our city won a game?" Ernest Owens wrote in his Philadelphia Magazine op-ed titled, "The Eagles Won Big Sunday Night, and So Did White Privilege."

Image source: YouTube screenshot

"There’s a long history of this local tolerance of bad behavior from Eagles fans," he added. "But honestly, this level of accepted misconduct isn’t a unique 'Eagles fan' phenomenon — it’s an acceptance of white privilege."

But Owens — who said he "boycotted NFL games" over anthem-kneeling quarterback Colin Kaepernick remaining unsigned — still dug into the Philly faithful.

"When so many are chanting 'Fly Eagles Fly,' I am reminded of the double standards around these celebrations," he added. "Crowds of white people, in all of their unapologetic privilege, got publicly drunk, set fires, scaled traffic poles, and disrespected city monuments on Sunday night — and everyone cheered them on."

Image source: YouTube screenshot

Owens noted that others passed it off as "a Philly thing" — and compared it to how he sees authorities reacting to events focused on people of color and women.

"It’s baffling how public marches and protests that uplift people of color and women can be heavily monitored by police, but widespread mayhem perpetrated by white men isn’t," he continued. "I have witnessed a small handful of Black and brown activists being followed by multiple police cars and officers on bikes as if they were a large army."

Image source: YouTube screenshot

More from Owens' op-ed:

But people of color are never given the same benefit of a doubt, and that matters. It’s hard to celebrate the Eagles victory as a Black Philadelphian because the very injustice that Kaepernick was calling out is happening right now. Regardless of our individual politics, we all can admit that if a quarter of those rowdy Eagles fans had been Black, police presence and aggression would have been doubled at least. Interestingly enough, many of my Black social media followers were warning others to “be safe” and “make it home soon” to avoid the expected targeting they knew would occur if they were around the madness.

Ask yourself whether the city would have embraced a crowd of Black men the same way if the Sixers had made it to the NBA finals? If your answer is no, then ask yourself what exactly are we celebrating for.