White Privilege Exists
stop saying it’s not a “thing”
White privilege is a term used to describe the advantages and benefits that are given to someone solely because they are White. There are countless examples of white privilege in the news almost everyday, yet there are still people who deny that white privilege exists.
Why is White Privilege still “not a thing”?
White privilege is still not acknowledged because of one reason: DENIAL. Those who are in denial that white privilege exists are those who choose to ignore what white privilege actually is. Again, white privilege is given to those for just being White, not because they worked hard for it or because they deserve more privilege, but ONLY because they happened to be born White.
Dennis Prager believes white privilege is a myth and claims there are so many other types of privilege, that White people do not have. Prager states there is an Asian “privilege” because they do better in schools, academically. I wouldn’t call this a privilege, there is a reason they do better. Asians are not just handed an A+ because the teacher looks at the name and decides not to even look at the work. Prager then says their is a minority “privilege” when it comes to applying to college. I also would not call this a privilege because although schools are looking to make their campus more diverse, the student still needs to meet the standards. In all his examples of other “privilege” there are other factors that come into play. However, with White privilege it is unearned and just handed out.
When it comes to acknowledging White privilege I’ve experienced that those who don’t believe it is a thing, decide to turn it around to others, just as Prager did. They do this by saying, “Yeah, well you have this advantage.” But the thing is that only one “advantage” another group has over White individuals, but when bringing up advantages White people have, they often get defensive. They want minorities to see all the advantages we have, but they fail to see what they have. They either know of their advantages and have come so accustom to them that they no longer see them as advantages or they are so oblivious to it that they don’t even realize they have advantages.
Peggy McIntosh has acknowledged that she didn’t think of having white privilege. She states,“I think whites are carefully taught not to recognize white privilege…” However, if one were to really sit down and think about it, just as McIntosh did, one would find that there are individuals in this country that have white privilege. McIntosh created a list of privileges she has solely for being White. But, before doing this she saw white privilege as being invisible, because White society is taught to not accept that they are given certain advantages because of their race, they want to believe that they worked harder than others for this.
Examples of White Privilege
“I am never asked to speak for all the people of my racial group.”
“Whether I use checks, credit cards, or cash, I can count on my skin color not to work against the appearance that I am financially reliable.”
“I did not have to educate our children to be aware of systemic racism for their own daily physical protection.”
White individuals who deny having privilege, must not be reading or seeing the news because we constantly see white privilege allowing so many White people to walk even when proven guilty, while others are on a “guilty until proven innocent” ride. Even beyond court cases, every day scenarios are in favor of White people.
We all know the famous Brock Turner case, where he clearly sexually assaulted a girl, but only spent 3 months in jail. Why? Because he was a WHITE Stanford Swimmer. On the other hand, we have Brian Banks, a BLACK High School Football player, who was also accused of rape and wrongly convicted to 5 years in prison. Both were set to be big in the sports world, yet one was punished while the other was given a slap on the wrist.
In more personal examples, my family and I have seen White privilege in front of us. My family loves to take road trips around the country. In 2001 we drove all the way to New York with stops along the way including Utah, South Dakota, Indiana and Pennsylvania. We did not reserve any hotels or campgrounds because we only had estimated days/times of arrival. At first my dad, who is Mexican, would get off and reserve the hotel, but would be given a higher price or told there was not a room available. So, in cases where there were no rooms available, my mom, who is Mexican-American but looks like she is White, would get off and there were suddenly rooms. Ten years later, in 2011 the same situations happened. My mother is lucky that based on her appearance she has the privilege of not having to worry if a hotel will offer her a place to stay when traveling. However, as soon as my mom speaks Spanish, that privilege goes away. In one instance my mom spoke Spanish while the person at the front desk was still looking for the paper work and was then told there were no more rooms available, right after she was just told there were.
These are only a few examples of white privilege, but there are so many more out there. Whether people want to accept it or not is on them. But, White individuals need to see that they are given unearned advantages and that doesn’t make them a bad person, but all I would like to see is that they are aware of it and not taking advantage of that privilege, but valuing it and using it wisely.
