White Privilege at Work: Bob Allen, Lindsey Lohan & Amy Winehouse

It’s now become a cliche that when white people get into trouble, they just say somebody Black did it. Susan Smith did when she drowned her kids. So did Charles Stuart, when he murdered his wife in Boston. Well, kiddos, it seems that the trend has come back with a vengeance-most recently with Senator Bob Allen and Lindsey Lohan. Amy Winhouse didn’t blame anybody Black for her recent woes, but I am adding her this week too! Here’s another installment in the White Privilege at Work Series.

Meet Bob Allen. Bob is a state senator in the Florida legislature. Bob is a Republican. He was arrested in a sting operation on July 11 for trying to pay an undercover officer for head in a public bathroom in a park. On August 3, the Orlando Sun Sentinel reported that Bob said he was “intimidated” by the undercover detective because he was Black and was “playing along” in order to avoid “becoming a statistic.” Right.

“This was a pretty stocky black guy, and there was nothing but other black guys around in the park,” Allen, who is white, told police in a taped statement after his arrest. Allen said he feared he “was about to be a statistic” and would have said anything just to get away.

He would have done anything to get away or get off? Anyhow, I digress. It gets worse.

Then Kavanaugh [the Black undercover] said he told Allen, “I wanna know what I gotta do for 20 bucks before we leave.’ ” He said Allen replied: “I don’t know what you’re into.”

According to Kavanaugh’s statement, the officer said, “do you want just [oral sex]?” and Allen replied, “I was thinking you would want one.”

The officer said he then asked Allen, “but you’ll still give me the 20 bucks for that . . . and that the legislator said, “yeah, I wouldn’t argue with that.”

As Allen turned and motioned for the officer to follow him to his car, Kavanaugh identified himself as a police officer by raising his shirt and exposing his badge.

When Allen was being placed in a marked patrol car, he asked whether “it would help” if he was a state legislator, according to a police report. The officer replied, “No.”

Does that sound like a man who was afriad of becoming a statistic? I think not. But that’s White Privilege at Work.

Meet Lindsey Lohan. Actress? Some say. Singer? I guess. Paparazzi fave! Absolutely. After her recent DUI scenario, she blamed one of her boyfriend’s friends who was a passenger in the car. TMZ.com reported

Dante says the mother panicked at Lindsay’s crazy driving, and backed out of the driveway in fear — not knowing who was behind the wheel. The guys say Lindsay then began to chase her at speeds of up to 80 mph through Santa Monica, blowing multiple red lights.

Dante realized the mother was driving to the police station and warned Lindsay if she didn’t stop she’d get in hot water. He says Lindsay responded, “I’m a celebrity. I’m not going to get in trouble.”

The two cars stopped in a parking lot near the cop shop. When police arrived, Dante says it seemed as if Lindsay told officers, “I wasn’t driving. The black kid was driving.”

A HOT mess. But that’s White Privilege at Work!

Lastly, British singer Amy Winehouse recently fell out during a show and was rushed to the hospital for what was initially reported as “extreme exhasution.” This weekend, Amy “they tried to make me go to rehab” Winehouse admitted that the reason for her collapse was an overdose-and still refuses to go get some rehab. Now, some of you may know through seeing awful films like Lady Sings The Blues, or reading the fabulous book by Farah Jasmine Griffin‘s If You Can’t Be Free Be A Mystery that Billie Holiday suffered from an addiction to heroin for a majority of her adult life. But she was harassed and jailed at every turn, and was even handcuffed to her death bed for heroin posession, a charge which she denied. In fact, Holiday often said that she was only ever arrested when she wasn’t using.

But Amy Winehouse gets to be a hot mess all over the telly, admitting and singing about her substance abuse, and laughing all the way to the bank. But that’s White Privilege at Work!