What exactly IS White Privilege?

Let’s talk about that! Series 1, article 2

Kristopher Hinz
Aug 31, 2018 · 6 min read

A lot of you may have noticed that I mentioned White Privilege a number of times in my first piece. I really wanted to go on with other concepts and idea such as race and colonialism or being a good ally and supporter (which I’ll do next), but I felt an explanation of White Privilege would be important going forward. So what is White Privilege and what impact does it have on society?

First, I think it might be useful to unpack the concept of whiteness itself and ask what it means to be white. Several studies have debunked the notion that race is a scientific concept. However, both the term and concept whiteness, and perhaps the concept of race itself, have it’s roots in racism and a desire to dominate.

Prior to European discovery of the Americas, it is widely accepted that there was no idea of “whiteness,” and certainly no common sense of European unity, as most European nations were at war with one another for a variety of reasons.

Tim Wise gives a great explanation here of how the concept and term “White” was used to promote poor Europeans and give them a sense of social status that elevated them above the Native Americans and Africans alongside them.

This is something I intend to write on more extensively later in the series, but that brief explanation will do for some context at the moment.

So as I explained there, the concept of whiteness right from the very beginning was used to confer privileges and benefits onto the recipient that those of a darker hue did not have, such as the right of the child of a white indentured labourer to freedom, whereas the children of Black slaves were born into slavery in a continuous cycle (Loscocco, 2018).

So what are some of the ways White Privilege can benefit others in 2018? I will talk about the ways in which White Privilege works in the developing world later, but for this article, assume I am talking about the West, in a nation such as the US or Australia. There are some benefits which seem obvious on reflection and others that might not be as apparent to those that benefit- this is because they are able to benefit from it without consciously having to think about it. Some of these benefits include:

1. Being in an educational system which usually places the history of people of your skin colour as the first priority.

Whilst in Australia and New Zealand the narrative of history is starting to change and indigenous people are being acknowledged, the racist terms “settlement” rather than invasion or colonisation are still being used. I personally found my semester on Indigenous history in grade 4 to be patronising, particularly when the teacher said “Well? Wouldn’t you be scared and shoot someone if it was the first time you’d seen somebody with purple or green skin?” I found this argument invalid because White people knew Black people existed at the point of Australian invasion, and your first reaction to something that is different isn’t always to destroy it.

2. Being subject to a far lower likelihood of police or airport security harassment, and incarceration:

Perhaps the most striking statistic there is that one in three Black males will face imprisonment during their lifetime. Airport security has never been particularly pleasant for me either. As for incarceration in Australia, this article illuminates a horrifying light on the fact Indigenous Australians make up one of the most incarcerated groups in the world. I don’t have any experience with being incarcerated, but my every move is followed when I shop in discount stores, and quite often in supermarkets unless I am accompanied.

3. Not being seen or judged as representative of your race (and thus having extra pressure) at work or school (Loscocco, 2018)

For this, it is worth looking at the example of Jackie Robinson in the excellent movie 42, which documents his journey to stardom and the struggle along the way as the first Black baseballer in America’s Major League. It shows how Robinson was seen as representative not of himself, but somehow ALL blacks. I have experienced this pressure myself not only as a person of colour and a South Asian in church contexts but also in highschool and primary school as one of only two or three students with a physical impairment.

4. Living in a society whose media paints those of your skin colour in a positive light and will at times paint those of “other” skin colours in a negative light.

Whilst I am sure there are plenty of examples of this in the USA as well as New Zealand and the UK, there are some personal examples from Australia that come to mind when I think of this. Of course there were certain comments made by Pauline Hanson when I was very young, and I remember Alan Jones role in stirring up the xenophobic media frenzy that led to the horrific Cronulla Riots, where White nationalists attempted to violently drive out Middle Eastern residents from their area. More recently, there was this shocking blunder on live news that had less serious ramifications but was still horrible to hear on air in 2018.

5. Other examples more serious but less everyday examples- housing discrimination (redlining) , financial discrimination, educational segregation etc:

Some of these examples, such as educational segregation (which is currently a huge problem in New York), might be more relevant in the context of the US than Australia or New Zealand. But even in the case of housing, there are certain points that are relevant. Redlining may not be as much of an issue in the literal sense as it seems in the US, but there is still clustered housing of people of colour in lower socio-economic areas- Vietnamese in Cabramatta and Lebanese in Western Sydney in New South Wales, South Sudanese in Melton, Chinese in Box Hill and South Asians in Dandenong in Victoria, for instance.

Understandably, hearing about White Privilege can make some people feel uncomfortable or even angry, as they feel they are being insulted and told they are part of a problem they didn’t contribute to. 21st Americans may say that they don’t own slaves and don’t contribute to racism. However, they still reap the above benefits of being white (such as being in an educational system that is centered around them). Poor Whites sometimes may also feel they have experienced as much discrimination as Blacks or other people of colour, but they still benefit in interactions with the police, for instance.

In an Australian context, I have heard friends insist that they are Greek, or Italian, not British. Therefore, they didn’t come as Englishmen on the First Fleet, and their families did nothing to contribute to the systemic destruction of Indigenous culture. Whilst, as with the previous example, this is true, these more recent migrants benefited from the White Australia Policy, that aimed to keep non-whites out of the country as enshrined in law. This gave them a headstart in acceptance and assimilation in society, something which South Sudanese migrants for instance, are still searching for. This video is another great way of explaining the “headstart” using the metaphor of a running race.

Being told that you have White Privilege isn’t an insult or intended to hurt feelings, but being aware of some of your advantages owing to the colour of your skin is still useful. When you know what advantages you have, it enables you to fight more effectively for those with a disadvantage.

References:

1. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/race-is-a-social-construct-scientists-argue/

2. http://www.timwise.org/2014/12/tim-wise-on-whiteness-and-the-historical-trick-of-racial-privilege/)

3. Race and Work, Loscocco, Kayrn, Polity Press, 2018

4. https://nationalseedproject.org/white-privilege-unpacking-the-invisible-knapsack

5. https://www.vox.com/2015/5/7/8562077/police-racism-implicit-bias

6. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/2011/may/24/airport-security-checks-terrorism-act

7. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/news/2012/03/13/11351/the-top-10-most-startling-facts-about-people-of-color-and-criminal-justice-in-the-united-states/

8. https://theconversation.com/factcheck-qanda-are-indigenous-australians-the-most-incarcerated-people-on-earth-78528

9. https://www.netflix.com/au/title/70259169

10. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64it4eAQjnk

11. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgm2zLO5N5M

12. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCfNGxZBB-M

13. https://www.citylab.com/equity/2018/04/how-the-fair-housing-act-failed-black-homeowners/557576/

14. https://bestcompany.com/banks/blog/banks-discrimination-against-minorities

15. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8yiYCHMAlM&t=857s

16. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vX_Vzl-r8NY&t=2s

Kristopher Hinz

Written by

Sports Journalism student La Trobe

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