Race And Race: The Power Of Allusion?

You come from a middle class white family, you went to a school whose demographic was mainly white, you live in a white neighborhood, the majority of your friends are white, you decided to continue your education at a college that has a heavily white student body. Notice any similarities? Every aspect of your life has been white. In the past we have had conversations about race, and your opinions always seemed to be unsettling and never really showed any empathy to the struggles minorities face. I never could figure out why you thought this way until I heard the term white privilege in my English class. Once I acknowledged the fact that unknowingly my race has given me advantages that people of color do not have, I am more aware about the racial

In the video, Race: The Power of Allusion, “At one point we had explicit laws that says whites are on top, and Blacks are on the bottom. Today, we have many of the same practices without the explicit language...” (Race:The Power of Allusion). One of these specific practices is the Housing segregation that occurs between black and whites. According to Race: The Power of Allusion “As homes in white communities appreciated in value, the net worth of these white families grew. For most non-white families who stayed in urban neighborhoods, the housing market open to them in the 50 's and 60 's was largely a rental market. You don 't gain equity by paying rent.” It is later explained how equity is what determines your wealth. If non-white people are not given chances to build up equity, their wealth is much less than that of a white person. In addition, although this information is from the 1950’s and 60’s, it is still relevant because of what is being inherited from generation to generation. Since non-white people are starting off with less equity, their future offspring will have the same issue. This is just one of the many ways non-white people are continued to be indirectly discriminated against. Once you graduate from college, or further in the future

I wasn’t the one who chose that I would come into the world white, it was more a matter of luck. So it is important to emphasize it to you that you should not feel guilty about being white. That part is out of your control. The goal of acknowledging a person white privilege is to affirm the fact that there is still social and economic injustice seen among races. According to Gina Crosley-Corcoran’s reaction to McIntosh’s article, “white people and people of color experience the world in two very different ways. BUT LISTEN: This is not said to make white people feel guilty about their privilege. It 's not your fault you were born with white skin and experience these privileges. BUT, whether you realize it or not, you DO benefit from it, and it IS your fault if you don 't maintain awareness of that fact” (Corcoran). I think Gina Crosley-Corcoran makes a good point that having the self awareness of your white privilege is a step in the right direction because there are outside factors that someone cannot