by David W. Marshall
(Trice Edney Wire) – We can all learn a lot from James Troiano, the retired New Jersey Superior Court judge. In 2017, Judge James Troiano ruled in favor of giving leniency to a then-16-year-old boy accused of raping an intoxicated 16-year-old girl at a basement house party. “This young man comes from a good family who put him into an excellent school where he was doing extremely well,” Troiano said in his court decision. “He is clearly a candidate for not just college but probably for a good college.”
The judge also expressed concern about whether the victim’s family had considered the “devastating effect” a trial in adult court would have on the boy’s life. Troiano, who declined to have the 16-year-old rape suspect be tried in adult court, even wondered if the alleged assault could be classified as rape. The accused teen allegedly recorded the assault, shared it with friends, and texted friends, “when your first time having sex was rape,” according to court documents. The decision by Troiano was widely condemned by the public and eventually reversed by a New Jersey appeals court, which warned Troiano against siding with privileged teenagers. While examples of white privilege are common, this example exposes the broader issue. Defending a privileged teen in this way shows Troiano to be a divisive elitist who was willing to protect the welfare of a fellow elitist rather than render fair justice to a female rape victim.
When people speak out against the idea of white privilege, they are usually referring to the type of systemic and societal advantages displayed by Troiano. They are calling out the unearned set of advantages, benefits, and immunities that white individuals receive simply because of the color of their skin. While these unearned and invisible advantages are not extended to people of color, the decision by Judge Troiano showed a broader meaning of white privilege as it supports the idea of maintaining white male superiority and dominance over white women. White women and economically poor whites in general are not always seen as being worthy of certain advantages by elitists, if it means negatively impacting a white male with influence.
By implying that a rape suspect deserves special treatment because he comes from a good family reflects a sense of entitlement that we often associate with people on the higher end of the class hierarchy. Troiano focused on the “devastating effect” a criminal trial would have had on the boy’s life while being totally dismissive of the long-lasting pain and trauma on the teenage girl. The lack of accountability that accompanies the inherent feeling of entitlement is not limited to Troiano’s personal bias. White privilege has always been exclusive. At one time in this nation’s early history, white women and poor white men were not allowed to vote. White men had to own property to vote.
Dehumanizing people by referring to them as garbage or trash is not new. like when President Donald Trump called Somali immigrants in Minnesota “garbage.” Historically, the phrase “white trash” was a class-based racist slur used by wealthier white elites to stigmatize poor white people as backwards, dirty, sexually promiscuous, uneducated, and socially inferior. This was particularly true for those living in the rural South who were at the bottom of the social order.
The label allowed class boundaries (inferior sub-race) to be set in such a way as to explain away the existence of a white marginalized underclass living in a society built on the superiority of whiteness. It helped maintain a racial order where poor whites were still considered to be held to higher standards above Black people, while allowing elites to blame poverty on character rather than on systemic barriers. In the 20th century, the label was commonly applied to whites associated with trailer parks, “hillbilly” culture, and often overlapped with demeaning insults such as “rednecks” and “trailer trash” that whites with wealth and power used against low-status whites. Judge Troiano’s version of white privilege never has and never will apply to them.
There is no doubt that Vice President J.D. Vance wants to be president one day and is willing to say anything to get there. During a recent Turning Point USA event, Vance stated that white Americans no longer “have to apologize for being white anymore.” It was a statement obviously meant to excite the MAGA conservative crowd, but what does it mean for Vance, being a man from Appalachia with a “hillbilly” identity? Black people never expected apologies, just an acknowledgement and the dismantling of the systemic barriers that perpetuate poverty for white, Black, and brown people.
We don’t want apologies; we stand against our history being erased and seek to have the truth be told about slavery, Black codes, KKK terrorism, Jim Crow, redlining, war on drugs, mass incarceration, gerrymandering, ICE, and Project 2025. We are not asking for apologies, just to have white evangelicals who align themselves with white supremacy remember that Jesus cared for the poor and marginalized in society.
J.D. Vance is a hillbilly from an industrial town in eastern Ohio. Does it mean the vice president doesn’t have to apologize for now being a white elitist who forgot his Appalachian roots by perpetuating economic inequality, political exploitation, generational poverty, and lack of opportunities that hurt rural America? I agree with Vance that the keys to escaping poverty include personal responsibility, but it also demands structural change and confronting all forms of white privilege.
David W. Marshall is the founder of the faith-based organization, TRB: The Reconciled Body, and author of the book “God Bless Our Divided America.”
