Pop artist Macklemore is most known for the famous lyric, “I’m gonna pop some tags, only got twenty dollars in my pocket” which is from his hit song, “Thrift Shop”. Many people don’t realize this thrifty shopper is an activist as well. He is commonly known to produce songs about current issues in our society including gay marriage and racial issues. His song “White Privilege” is a two-part song that majority of people haven’t heard. It speaks openly about the current issue of racial injustice our society is facing. The song is simple to interpret on multiple levels, including the symbolic elements of the lyrics, reason for why the song was written, and the events happening at the time it was written. The title itself sends a strong message, …show more content…
According David Croteau and William Hoynes (2015), “Conflict theories focus on issues of contention, power, and inequality, highlighting the competition for scarce resources” (p. 20). These theories typically explain how conflicts are at the core of our society, and I feel that Macklemore is trying to prove that in his song. He highlights the issues of racial injustice and how it is prevalent in America in multiple ways. He mentions how white rappers have stolen the hip hop scene from nonwhites, gentrification, and the current “Black Lives Matter” protests. This unfair advantage many Caucasians have leads to them being able to obtain better jobs, education, housing, and food. Being able to afford all of these things puts them at an even higher level than many colored people, which many have to constantly fight and work to obtain any of …show more content…
One of these discussions was about using both white supremacy and white privilege and how they are a twin concept. Ryan Lewis replies with “white privilege is a by-product of white supremacy, white supremacy is you know a systematic, white supremacy is within the entire institution, all of our institutions” (2016). I feel that this is a very important statement many people tend not to think about. According the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2007), “contemporary sociologists use the term (institutions) to refer to complex social forms that reproduce themselves such as governments, the family, human languages, universities, hospitals, business corporations, and legal systems” (p. 1). Your family is the primary way you learned about how to act and treat others, until you get to elementary school, where many typically learn more rules, history and get their first exposure to people who are different from them. Many of these systems are dominated by white men in America, leading to people of color having little to no representation. This continues to allow white privilege to flourish, while demeaning other
“White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools and blank checks” (McIntosh, 172). White privilege is all around us, but society has been carefully taught
Gina Crosley-Corcoran, author of Explaining White Privilege to a Broke White Person, informs her readers about her misinterpretation of white privilege. After being called out for her unknowing use of white privilege, Gina begins to plead her case. Beginning with her childhood, Gina explains how she grew up “on the go”. Travelling from place to place, Gina lived in a rundown trailer and her family obtained little to no money, had no access to hot water, survived on cheap, malnourished foods, and dealt with a bad home life. After evaluating her history when placed at the end of life’s spectrum, Gina finds it hard to pick out white privilege in her life and therefore argues she has none. Later, Gina is introduced to a woman named Peggy McIntosh
In her 16 January 2016 The Washington Post editorial, “What is White Privilege?”, Christine Emba asserts white privilege is a societal advantage inherent in people who are white, irrespective of their “wealth, gender, or other factors.” According to Emba, white privilege makes life smoother and is an entity that is hidden or unknown until the privilege is taken away. Although racism is still a rampant issue in society today, white privilege is a concept created by the progressive left in order to brand whites as a scapegoat for issues and adversities that non-whites face. This concept of privilege ultimately causes further dissension between whites and non-whites.
Kid cudi trying to argue about how difficult things are growing up with being Oppressed and growing up being black. Songs are one way of expressing feelings and emotion, many artist do this constantly in their music. To some it is why they make music. There are endless signs and verses that hint at many things such as problems, politics, living in racist era’s also places. I chose to focus on one main rapper and his music only.
White privilege is a term used to refer to societal privileges granted to people identified as white in western countries. These privileges are beyond what is experienced by non-white or people of color living under the same economic, political and social environments. These privileges could be obvious or less obvious that white people may not realize they have. These include cultural affirmations of one 's own worth, presumed greater social status, and the freedom to move, buy, work, play, and speak freely (McIntosh, 1990). The effects of these privileges can also be seen in personal, educational and professional contexts. In both Tim Wise’s, ‘White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son’ and Ta-Nehisi
1. What is the difference between a. and a. Inequality became instrumental in privileging white society early in the creation of American society. The white society disadvantaged American Indians by taking their land and established a system of rights fixed in the principle that equality in society depended on the inequality of the Indians. This means that for white society to become privileged, they must deprive the American Indians of what was theirs to begin with. Different institutions such as the social institution, political, economical, and education have all been affected by race.
White privilege is a concept that many people are unfamiliar with, but not because they do not benefit from it. In the paper “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” by Peggy McIntosh argues that white people have an advantage over those of other races, though most are completely unaware of it or simply take it for granted. Her recognition of white privilege came from the concept of male privilege. She says that she looked at that concept and realized there was certainly something similar to it in regards to race (McIntosh, 1988, 11). This paper has great importance to the function of society. Because many white people do not recognize their unfair and disproportionate advantage in society, racial tensions can rise even more because there is a major wall blocking people from fixing the current issues.
White privilege is a benefit that society gives to a white person. It is embedded in and supported by institutions, where it overtly manifests and reproduces as inequality (Cox & Taua, 2016, p. 48). This translates into preferential treatment for white coloured individuals. Such injustice results in the oppression of those who are not white, leading to unequal access to education, healthcare, housing, and employment (Gorski, 2003, p. 9).
Because I am white, no one wonders if I am associated with terrorists or feels nervous and pulls their belongings closer if I am alone in an elevator with them. Going to school I always had a sense of safety. Having brought white privilege to my conscious awareness, it raised feelings of guilt and shame, because I was ignorant to my oppressiveness for so long. These feelings empowered me to identify various ways in which I can challenge the concept of white privilege in myself and others. On an individual level this can be done by increasing awareness of privilege, reducing feelings of guilt, accepting one’s own role in perpetuating racism. Do not assume that all differences are the same, acknowledge and validate everyone’s experience, avoid assumptions, listen with compassion, and create safety and room for everyone. Additional ways to challenge white privilege consist of exploring resources produced by or about other races, developing relationships with people across racial lines, positioning oneself in a context where they are the numerical minority, and/or exploring the field of whiteness
The term “White Privilege” has been a term that’s been used a lot not only by me but by a lot of individuals around me. It’s such a controversial word that has a long history. Whenever I hear this word used against someone else who is white that individual usually denies that they have white privilege at all and usually end up telling me about how they make the same amount as me and everyone else or they make less than other people who are also white. They bring up how there are poor whites and how they work for everything they have. However, i’m always confused why anyone who was white can’t just admit that they have this privilege that automatically puts them higher up than others when it comes to opportunities. There is never really a reason
In the world today, racism and discrimination is one of the major issues being faced with. Racism has existed throughout the world for centuries and has been the primary reasons for wars, conflicts, and other human calamities all over the planet. It has been a part of America since the European colonization of North America beginning in the 17th century. Many people are not aware of how much racism still exist in our schools, workforces, and anywhere else that social lives are occurring. It started from slavery in America to caste partiality in India, down to the Holocaust in Europe during World War II.
While racism is usually more easily recognizable by way of comments, social isolation and stereotyping, there is another divide that many don’t recognize and that is white privilege. White privilege, also referred to as white skin privilege, is when white people are granted certain rights, privileges, positions, courtesies, etc.…over those of a different race. This is often seen in political, educational and social environments. This impacts social inequality by adding to the existing differences in social experiences and/or statuses that results in people having unequal access to valued resources, services, and positions in society (Kerbo, 2012). Throughout history white privilege has suppressed the advancement of African Americans.
White Privilege The belief that white privilege never existed or that it is no longer a problem is skewed by the selective use of facts to support this claim. How do we address this problem? We must define the what is to be privileged, acknowledge the problem and identify a means to fix it. "The idea of privilege- that some people benefit from unearned, and largely unacknowledged, advantages, even when those advantages aren't discriminatory. "
The prevalence of white privilege had not occurred to me previously, but after reading White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack I have a better understanding of the impact my privilege has on myself and others. I also started to realize that this privilege can not only cause emotional distress for people, but also prevent them from achieving success. For instance, privilege can cause people from wealthier areas to receive more money for their school compared with those from poorer areas. This does not only impact the student by affecting the quality of their education, but also makes it harder for these students to rise above the poverty
I really like economics, it is an interesting combination of math, behavioral science, and logic, that can be used to make unique observations of the world as we know it. Unfortunately, like most academic disciplines it suffers from its faults. Even though these faults are not unique to economics, instead they are pervasive in many academic disciplines. Nor are the new, as they have been around more or less since the start of modern academics. Yet until they are fixed they need to be continually addressed, so that we can take in to account the inherent bias that comes with them. These faults can be expressed in one phrase “Rich White Men.” This phrase incorporates the three biggest failings in the field of economics. Which are, that most people in the field have a greater level of means than many of those that they choose to study, they are mostly of European Caucasian descent, and that they tend to be male. Qualities that introduce an inherent bias in to their world view. This is not to say that people in the field of economics are