A Thought About White Privilege
In America today, the media is prone to suggesting that race is still a problem in this country. Media sources like to point out that people of color are treated inferior to whites, saying that whites are born into more “opportunities” and more “privileges” just because of the sake of their skin color. These “Benefits”, would include having a higher percentage rate for getting a job compared to a person of color and not getting “harassed” by any law enforcement officials in any way. According to The Washington Post on their article What Is White Privilege, White privilege is,” The societal advantage that comes with being seen as the norm in American, automatically conferred irrespective of wealth, and other
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Ben Shapiro, a lawyer and the Editor and Chief of The Daily Wire, produced the idea at his speech at the University Of Missouri that even though there are varying statistics involved in such a scenario, doesn’t mean that there is discrimination actually happening. He then used the NBA for example, where the majority of players are black and very few are white. This by all means does not mean that the NBA is discriminating against whites because of the few of them who are in there. He also noted that there are already services out there prevent these particular discrimination cases where you can “ sue the hell out of them” if there is evidence of you being discriminated because of your race or any other …show more content…
Sure, racism in america happens, but instead of calling out names, why don’t people identify what the actual problem is so that the people of America can fight it together instead of creating this false belief? Even on www.tolerance.org in their article On Racism And White Privage states that, “White privilege is a hidden and transparent preference that is often difficult to address”, which infers that White Privilege even ceases to exists considering that it is so “difficult to
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
Growing up as an African-American you are always taught to be twice as good. Twice as good as the white people to receive the same treatment as them. I grew up hearing this same phrase constantly but never really understood exactly what it meant until I got old enough to actually see the kind of world we are living in. The author of the article, “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” Peggy Mclntosh, took as step into shoes of black America and found that white privilege not only exist, but many whites are blind to it. She gives a clear argument about how white privilege is harmful to our society and how we can work together to fix this.
The famous anti-racism activist Tim Wise once said “The irony of American history is the tendency of good white Americans to presume racial innocence. 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.” White Privilege is commonly defined as “a set of advantages and/or immunities that white people benefit from on a daily basis beyond those common to all others.” (What) As White americans living in the United States, you never really pay any attention to the fact that there is a racial “smog” (Marks) living among us in everyday life and you really never realize how it affects the people on the other end who don’t receive this ‘privilege’. White privilege shapes the world we live in by how we go about and interact
Everyone has privilege in one way or another. People feel that privilege is give to one race more, instead of every race. The race that it’s getting more privilege is the White race and with that comes White privilege. White means the people who have a light skin color also known as Caucasian or European and privilege means an advantage over others. An example of privilege is getting away with something that someone may not get away with. So White privilege is defined as “an invisible package of unearned assets that [someone that is White] can count on cashing in each day, but about which [they were] ‘meant’ to remain oblivious” (McIntosh 1990: 1). McIntosh is saying in that quote is that Whites do not recognize that they have this privilege
How do the issues facing those doing strategic planning differ from those doing tactical planning? Can the two really be
“I was taught to see racism only in individual acts of meanness, not in invisible systems conferring dominance on my group,” Peggy McIntosh wrote in her article White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack. Too often this country lets ignorance be a substitute for racism. Many believe that if it is not blatant racism, then what they are doing is okay. Both the video and the article show that by reversing the terms, there is proof that racism is still very existent in this world. By looking into A Class Divided and White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack along with their ability to broaden the cultural competence, once can see how race is still very prominent in our culture.
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.
In her article "Representing Whiteness in the Black Imagination" bell hooks argues that the distance between the white and black races created a tense relationship between the two. This tension caused a multitude of problems that are still present today including systems of domination, stereotypes of one another, white naivety of their privilege and fear of white individuals. Similarly, Ruth Frankenberg 's article "White Women, Race Matters" discuss these issues but from the perspective of a white feminist. Many of the same points can be connected to hooks ' arguments because the main aspects with races focus on the idea that whiteness is a perspective in which we see ourselves, others and society and also that whiteness continues to remain
Have you ever heard of the term white privilege? In case you haven’t, or if you’re not sure what it is exactly, white privilege is all of the societal privileges that benefit white people and that non-white people do not experience. If you are white, your first thought might be to say, “Well, that’s not real. I don’t experience any special benefits that non-white people do not.” But it is real and you do. When you get a paper cut and you go to grab one of your “flesh colored” bandages, it will actually match your skin color because apparently light beige is the “normal” skin color for everyone. When you are watching a film, you are able to relate more to the people you are watching because you will share the same characteristics as most of them, such as having the same skin color. (It’s true. A recent study showed that, out of 100 films made in 2012, white people accounted for about 76% of all speaking characters while people of color, put together, only accounted for about 23%.) When you fail at something in life, like getting a job or getting into college, you don’t stop and think, “Is it because of my race?” White privilege isn’t something that you enjoy having, or that you can necessarily control, but it is important to understand what white privilege is because it most definitely comes into play in our everyday life, including, and especially, news and other forms of media.
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).
Many white Americans are living with the fear that they didn't really deserve their success, and that maybe luck and privilege had more to do with it, than brains and hard work. There are numerous reasons for the widespread discrimination at all levels, but the main reason for the existence of discrimination is a privilege to certain groups of people, and widespread social prejudice towards certain groups of people. Differences between people have always existed, but they gain in importance only when are different importance given to certain differences, so it creates privileges. People who are privileged in one society are often not aware of their privilege. It is very easy to be oblivious to the privilege. The problem of discrimination is very complex and there is no unique formula that would solve it. There are general patterns in a white supremacist culture, that all white people have privilege, whether or not they are racist themselves.
America has had plenty of racial unrest, and what 's shocking is how we continue to ignore its side effects. Many people believe white privilege does not exist or it’s not a real thing even though America was built by white people, with a foundation for whites. White privilege is prevalent in America. They believe there is no way the color of someone’s skin, gives them a privilege. In reality, it does. No matter how much we ignore the fact, that the color of your skin can change the way you live, it’s true. It’s not fair, but it’s true.
Black people are paid almost half of what white people are paid, which forces them to live in low income communities which tend to be unsafe, and also put their whole family in danger. Due to their low income, they might not be able to afford health care which causes them to “lose more work because of illness, have more carious teeth, lose more babies as a result of both miscarriage and infant death…” according to William Ryan from Blaming the Victim page 648. People who have low income due to the wage gap tend not to be able to afford college compared to white people, which hinders their future and their ability to succeed. In fact, on page 214 in Shades of Belonging: Latinos and Racial Identity, Sonia Tafoya states “Hispanics who identified themselves as white have higher levels of education and income and greater degrees of civic enfranchisement than those who pick some other race category.” This shows how minorities are mistreated in society unlike white people. In the end, it doesn’t matter what your abilities are because if you are not white you are not treated equally. “If you’re not white, you’re black,” (141 Sethi). Anyone who is not white in the United States are seen as inferior. If you’re not white, you 're not treated as an equal. Non-whites are judged based on their appearance and are made fun of due to their accents. Numerous non-whites are harassed and are told “you are in America, learn how to speak English!” When in fact, there is no official language of the United States. According to Sonia Shah in Asian American? on page 217, Asians are paid less in the workforce even when they have the same level of education as whites. Regardless of whether non-whites receive the same education level as whites, they are still not equal, not even in the work
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
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. "