White Privilege Research Paper

“Ignorance of how we are shaped racially is the first sign of privilege. In other words. It is a privilege to ignore the consequences of race in America.”
Tim Wise Race and white privilege has always been socially constructed into our culture and history. Before the 1600’s European’s and Africans would be seen living next door to one another, they were able to marry one another without color being an issue and interact with one another in society. There was no such thing as segregation during the early days. It wasn’t until after Bacon’s Rebellion that race started becoming an issue and white privilege started forming in the United States In 1600’s and up the government increased their racial classification to make it so that if a white
women were to have any type of relationship with an African or native American they were to be severally punished and their children would become slaves. To discourage the intimacy between white women, blacks and Indians, laws were being created to make whites and blacks live in separate living areas. With the creation of all these laws blacks were denied the opportunity to have any type of ownership of property, guns, and family, especially with a white women, It also made slave holding men very wealthy in the U.S.
However the laws started to make whites fearful and it became harder for them to question and challenge anything that the government said or did because they could end up being punished for it. With the creation of slavery and racial segregation white privilege started taking place. White’s started seeing themselves as the superior race. They were able to bear arms, right of self- defense, could own farm animals, they were able to beat on any black that did not show respect to them despite the fact that they did not have ownership over them. Women were staying out home more and if they were to start working outside of their home then their family would lose their standing in society.
Beverly Daniel Tatum’s Defining Racism was interesting to read because she uses her own experiences with race to define what it is within the United States. She talks about how we are unaware of racism and prejudice and its existence in society and our culture. I did not grow up on being racist or prejudice, as a child I had no idea that there was any short of racial issue going on. By definition my parents were anti- racism, they taught me to treat others the way I would want to be
treated, they showed me to oppose racism and that were you socially come from does not matter. It wasn’t until I was in middle school did I start learning about race, slavery, what it meant to be privileged. As an adult I saw more and more racism and prejudice whether it be in the news or social media, then I did when I was a child. I could not understand because slavery and inequality was abolished over 50 years ago. To some I maybe view me as privileged because I am able to have a better education then others may have. I live in a better area where I did not have to worry about drugs or gun fire going off and I can go just about anywhere I want to without being looked at twice. However I don’t feel very privileged at all despite the fact I am white, and one of the reasons is due to the fact I am a women. For me those that seek to justify their ideologies and view that they are entitled to unequal distribution of privileges, rights and goods that society gives them or allow people to be prejudice towards minority groups I have believed them to not only be racist But prejudice too. In our society today I hear all to often how it is unfair that Hispanics are getting the white man’s job, instead of the white man himself, That they need to go back where they came from. However for me all too often I have found that those that come from a privileged background expect things to just be handed to despite what color they maybe and without any type of gratitude for what they have been given. Being a women I have seen that there are people that still feel that women need to be at home not our in the work force taking care of the household and family. We should not have to be going to work and getting a college degree. When students in my class find out that I am a full time mom and student I get asked why are you here, shouldn’t you be at home with your kids. All these type of experience’s that I have heard and seen are in my opinion a form of racism. Since I grew up in a house hold were everyone was anti- racial I became that way as an adult and I have passed it on to my children. Within the United States if were to eliminate racism and prejudice from within our political, economic and social system our society as a whole would be better off and racism and prejudice would be a thing of the past.