I grew up
in a predominantly white middle class neighborhood. At school everyone looked
like me and the concepts of race and racism were so far away from me that I
thought they were things of the past. In middle school, I thought that racism
was fixed during the civil rights movement. I high school I had friends of
different races and I thought that it was good to be “color blind.” I would
touch my friends hair because I thought it felt cool. Then I heard the phrase
“white privilege” and I was offended. I though “I didn’t have it easier because
I’m white” and then I started doing some research.
Many people seem to get offended
when the word privilege is used to describe them. White privilege is often
thought, by white people, to mean that a person never had to struggle to get to
a certain point because the are white, but Merriam-Webster dictionary describes
privilege as, “a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available
only to a particular person or group of people.”[1]
In the case of white privilege, it is an “immunity” from facing racial
discrimination. It is having the choice to ignore racism because it doesn’t
directly affect you. It is seeing people of your skin color represented in
every form of media. It is having your history being taught in schools. There
is nothing wrong with having privilege. I cannot change the color of my skin
and thus I cannot get rid of my white privilege. It is how I use my privilege
that matters and education is the first step.
Those who refuse to acknowledge
their privilege often fear a loss of power. Throughout American History, white
has always been the race in power. The following quote from an unknown author, “when you’re accustomed to privilege,
equality feels like oppression,”[2]
highlights the fact that people in positions of privilege, will often fight so
that their privilege is not taken away, and thus they don't lose power. I have
heard white people say “affirmative action takes spots away from me at colleges.”
This is simply not true. Affirmative action is defined as a method of “bridging
inequalities in employment and pay, increasing access to education, promoting
diversity, and redressing apparent past wrongs, harms, or hindrances”[3] Nobody
says that women who ask for equal pay are taking the money away from men, so
why would people argue that black people are taking spots from white people?
If you want a concise explanation of privilege please watch
this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KlmvmuxzYE
No comments:
Post a Comment