Article Summary: What Is White Privilege?

Being assigned to read the article, there was uneasiness on my part. What is this article a? What is white privilege? Somehow I have a general idea of what the article would be. Being a person of a different race, I always had this preconceived notion that people of the developed countries like the United States - the white-skinned, always feel superior over people from the third world; that this superiority comes from the inherent privilege that they have, that irrespective of the fact that a person has been naturalized and should now have the ‘same’ rights and privilege as the rest of the citizens, that person still is a ‘third class’ citizen. Privilege is defined as “a right or immunity granted as a peculiar benefit, advantage, or favor;
a special opportunity to do something that makes you proud; the advantage that wealthy and powerful people have over other people in a society” . This implies that any person, not just the white people, can have a privilege over another. Privilege can come from various sources. A law passed by legislation can give a person or group a privilege. Social, emotional or psychological inequality, perceived or otherwise, can also be a source of privilege. Reading the article and participating in the classroom activity helped open my eyes.
Privilege is not just for the few. It is not about the color of the skin. It is enjoyed by everybody in some ways and at different levels. Compared to other Filipinos longing to live and work here in the US, I myself am privileged to have moved here to the USA. I can travel back and forth to the Philippines without being questioned at the Philippine immigration by reason of my US passport and being a citizen of the Philippines as well due to the principle of jus sanguine and jus soli. Consequently, I can own properties both here and the Philippines by reason of my citizenship. These to me are insignificant advantages I enjoy and deem unimportant, but to other people who are not in the same position, these are priceless. While I feel privileged, I am also aware that I am underprivileged in some ways. I feel that by reason of my color, race and where I studied my undergraduate course, I am not given an equal opportunity when there is a chance for promotion. This feeling of being underprivileged is a thing that all people share. The class activity showed that not all white feel privileged as exhibited by the results of the activity. We are all a combination of privilege and lack of privilege and this lack of privilege are not necessarily
equal.