White privilege and racism are real and we need to do something about them
Have you ever heard about the veil of ignorance? The veil of ignorance is the answer, proposed by philosopher John Rawls, to make unbiased decisions about a moral and ethical problem.
But, how does the Veil of ignorance work?
Imagine that, all your life, you’ve been using a pair of pink glasses so you’ve always seen the world in several different shades of pink. Although the world is not pink, you don’t know that, because, due to the glasses, you’ve never seen its true color.
What this means is: because of the circumstances of the environment you grew up in, you are unaware that other people lived a different experience growing up in the same world as you did.
I feel like, lately, we have all been living under a really big veil of ignorance.
Why have we been living under a big veil of ignorance?
In case you don’t know, there is a lot going on right now because of systemic racism.
George Floyd was a 47-year-old black man that was brutally killed by four police officers after being accused of trying to use a fake 20 dollar bill.
His death was the culprit to several different protests against police brutality, not only in the USA, but around the world. Not only that, but it also sparked a worldwide conversation about racism and what that entitles.
With the spark of this conversation, I realized how out of touch and unaware some people are about the reality that many others live every day. We are so unaware that it took a wrongful death (after so many others that have happened) to spark such an important conversation again.
Because, as I mentioned before on a previous blog, I refuse to live and raise my future children in an unequal and unfair world, I decided that I was going to break down some of the major problems I’ve found while all of this was happening.
White Privilege: What it is and what that entitles
I went on twitter and I asked young people what their opinion on White Privilege was. This is what they had to say:
There’s a lot to unpack here. The first thing we should unpack is the meaning of privilege.
Privilege is, according to the Cambridge Dictionary, ‘’an advantage that only one person or group of people has, usually because of their position or because they are rich’’.
What does this mean? It means that, in certain situations, something like your wealth, your gender, or even your skin color can make you privileged.
So, when we talk about White Privilege, we are talking about the privilege that is given to white people because of their skin color.
For example, ley’s take a look at the Pay Gap between men and women. Even though both white and black women are affected by the pay gap, women of color still earn 21% less than white females do.
You see, even in a situation where women struggle, the color of their skin can make them struggle even more.
If it is still not clear to you how people benefit from their skin color, this is a really good example to help you understand:
But why does this happen? How can I have all this privilege and not acknowledge it?
Well, it happens because, if you are white, you are part of a majority that benefits from the privilege that being part of that majority gives you. And it’s hard to understand other realities when we know we would never be under those circumstances.
It also happens because of racism and structural racism and all that that entitles.
So, what is racism and structural racism and what does that mean for the world?
I’m Portuguese and, for a really long time in school, I was taught that Portugal was the greatest country in the world because we ‘’ discovered’’ Brazil, Mozambique, Angola, and so many other countries.
I learned in school about colonization and slavery but I was never taught about the consequences of that. We were taught as if we were the saviors of the world and these people in all these countries. Since they had a different culture, imposing ours, ‘’that was better’’ than theirs was a good thing, right? Wrong!
Of course, it isn’t a good thing! Especially because this contributed a lot to the growing problem of structural racism.
But, what is structural racism? Structural racism is ‘’the normalization and legitimization of an array of dynamics — historical, cultural, institutional, and interpersonal — that routinely advantage whites while producing cumulative and chronic adverse outcomes for people of color’’.
What’s wrong about this? Well, it means that we don’t see dangerous stereotypes about people of color that are wrong and further contribute to them being denied the same opportunities that white people do.
Ok, but why is this a problem?
Well, it’s a problem because people shouldn’t be denied opportunities because of their skin color or culture or nationality. We should be denied opportunities because we are not qualified and never because of something we can’t control.
If we are trying to fight for a fairer and just world, we can’t keep on perpetuating behaviors that favor people because of their skin color.
What can I do with my privilege?
First, we can educate ourselves on the subject. It’s very important to be informed and to understand what the problem is so we don’t spread misinformation. It’s also important to stop these kinds of ideas:
We can access information with the click of a finger in this era of digital technology. Information is everywhere and it’s extremely important to educate yourself even if you grew up in an environment that was racist.
We can also empower the silenced voices of the people who need to be heard. Like this person said on my twitter thread.
You can also sign petitions. You can access this link where you will find a compilation of several different petitions that you can sign to help this problem and to help change the world.
Besides that, you can also buy from Black-owned businesses, don’t support racist brands, call out inequalities, and even hire people of color if you ever are in a position that allows you to do that.
Last question: How will this help the SDGs?
The 2030 Agenda was created to make the world better for everyone. To tackle problems that are structural in our society and need to be fixed in order to allow our planet to strive.
The 10th Sustainable Development Goal — Reduced Inequalities — aims to do just that, reduce inequalities, make us equal.
The first time I worked with this SDG, I thought it was only about people who were unfavored because they either had a disease or another health condition that made them different and made it harder for them to have access to opportunities. But then I realized that inequalities can also be your gender or your skin color. Because, unfortunately, those things still make it harder for some people to have access to different opportunities.
One of the targets of SDG 10 is to achieve equal opportunity and reduce inequalities of outcome, including by eliminating discriminatory laws, policies, and practices and promoting appropriate legislation, policies, and action in this regard.
We will only be able to achieve this if we start to demystify and destroy structural problems that constantly hurt people who are not part of a majority.
It is ok to be white, but we need to acknowledge that privilege and use it to help those who are suffering. It is important that we use our privilege so that, in the future, we won’t have to be here discussing what privilege is.
In the end, we all benefit from a world that is fair and just and we should do more to achieve a world that we are proud to call our home.
