Essay On White Privilege

In the simplest definition, white privilege is the set of benefits, opportunities, and advantages that one can receive simply because they are perceived as white. This set can include everything from social to economic to legal advantages. It is deeply ingrained in many societies and manifests in multiple ways large and small. It is a significant problem for minorities and allows for the perpetuation of racist attitudes and practices. This essay will look at some of the ways in which white privilege manifests in the United States, what social constructs and ideas protect it, and how it can be combated.
White privilege comes in many forms. It is a combination of racist ideas and unconscious compliance with the system. It appears in many forms;
it is a general feeling of safety around law enforcement instead of fear. It means no one thinks you got a job or a college acceptance for any reason other than your merit for the position. It means being much less likely to be put in special education classes simply because of your skin color (Blanchett 2006). It means seeing virtually every form of media with one’s race not only widely represented, but in a generally positive light. White privilege is everything “from the convenience of matching one’s skin color with bandages, to opening up a textbook to discover one’s racial identity affirmed in history, literature, and civilization in general” (Leonardo 2004:137). The manifestations of white privilege are endless; they are the large and small social norms that allow the majority group (whites) to stay on top.
White privilege often includes an ignorance, willful or otherwise, of its effects or even its existence.
“When Whites think about the ways that they are privileged, two rather distinct responses are plausible: either increased or decreased racism” (Branscombe, Schmitt, and Schiffhauer 2007:204). While confronting one’s privilege may force recognition of inequality and encourage activism, on the other hand, it may be perceived as an attack on one’s identify and result in attempts to justify the racial status quo. Pointing out white privilege most often elicits a negative reaction; this is due in part to internalized feelings of guilt and a natural defensive response. No one wants to feel like the ‘bad guy’ but when benefitting from an institutionalized, racially-based system, it is hard to feel like the hero. Those who chose to ignore or explain away white privilege are the foundation of it. By using anything other than white privilege to explain why people are given preferential treatment solely because of their skin color, they allow systematic problems to seem like individual problems. By claiming that a racially centered problem is the fault of the individual or individuals if affects, it diminishes the problem of racism of a society wide basis, and makes it a lesser priority for
change.
Many people experience the effects of white privilege on a daily bases but do not realize it. This is especially true of those who benefit from it; they perceive the system as a level playing field and often believe that those who are worse off, are because of some fault of their own. This reflects internalized racial superiority, the idea that ‘I could do it, why can’t they?’ is a major factor in the erasure of white privilege; it assumes that all else is equal with the exception of the individuals. Environmental racism is an excellent example of this. Environmental racism is the idea that minority groups are disproportionately exposed to environmentally hazardous or degraded environments due to the placement of low-income or minority communities (Pulido 2000). Surprisingly, the vast majority of whites see this as a choice or by the fault of minorities. However, being able to live virtually anywhere (disregarding economic status) is part of white privilege. Additionally, white criticism of Affirmative Action programs illustrates willful ignorance of white privilege. The most common complaint is that the programs unfairly elevates non-whites simply because they are not white, but that is exactly what white privilege does in reverse, it is just not in writing. White privilege is so engrained in this society that for most white people, there is nothing wrong, and therefore, a change to the power dynamic is seen as an attack.
For the vast majority of white people, the benefits of white privilege are subconscious through no fault of their own. White people are conditioned to be blind to it, the power structure of the society relies on it, and as such, the status quo remains (McIntosh 1988). White people even see diversity differently, “whites are everywhere in representation. Yet…they seem not to be represented to themselves as whites but as people who are variously gendered, classed, sexualized, and labeled” (Rothenberg 2005). This means that if a TV show has an all-white cast, but people with different hair colors, eye colors, genders, or sexual preferences, most white people will perceive it as a diverse cast. Some may ask how representation is an advantage; it is an advantage because from day one, white children see reflections of themselves all over media and this proliferation make being white seem normal. Minority children do not have this representation; often their reflections are stereotypes, sidekicks, and jokes, all of which make them seem ‘other.’
In addition, white privilege allows for cultural appropriation (Johnson 2003). Cultural appropriation refers to the use of specific elements of one culture by another. This often has harmful side effects like enforcing negative stereotypes. White people can take an element, like a bindi or a war bonnet, wear it when it is convenient or cool then drop it when it is not (Staurowsky 2007). The take no part in the stigma or struggle that the people of the original culture faced. Most white people would not see this as an effect of white privilege, but it is. It is the product of a society where skin color still determines value, despite what the surface rhetoric of that society may say.
White privilege also translates across other marginalized groups. In the power structure of society, white women head the feminist movement while women of color seem to be an afterthought (Gaines 1986). Even if one is part of a select minority (non-heterosexual, non-cisgender, non-male, etc.) if they are white, they do not faced the same force of discrimination and disadvantage that non-whites of the same group would. The color-blind ideology is a massive contributor to the perpetuation of the issue of white privilege. Color-blind ideology is “the assertion of essential sameness between racial and ethnic groups despite unequal social locations and distinctive histories” (Rodriguez 2006:645). While this may seem like a good idea on the surface, it is actually damaging to minorities and perpetuates racial inequality. Often, when a white person says they do not see color, they mean they see everyone as white. This erasure of race attempts to negate white privilege by taking race out of the equation. It takes away cultures and histories of non-whites, something whites have done through things like colonialism for centuries, furthering problems of inequality and erasure. Identities are “made not given” and attempting forced assimilation of non-whites through the seemingly colorblind ideology (Johnson 2003:218)
A common, and entirely unfounded, thought is that because there are poor white people, or successful minorities, white privilege does not exist. This is based on a false premise; white privilege does not mean that every white person’s life is perfect. It means that they do not face the same barriers to success that non-whites do. Individual situations do not outweigh societal trends.
Another response to white privilege is reverse racism, or the discrimination against whites based only on skin color. However, reverse racism does not exist. It cannot exist due to the fact that it is not systemized or institutionalized. There can be prejudice of a non-white against a white, but in order for it to truly be racism, it must happen on a society wide level, with few or no exceptions.
White privilege is the sum of thousands of years of systemized oppression and racialized institutions, barely diminished by progressive equality movements. Many systems are in place in order to preserve this status quo, but it can be changed. White privilege reflects a massively flawed system and ignoring it will not make it go away, it will only encourage it. It will be the work of those who benefit from it more than anything, recognition and active rejection of it will bring lasting change.