What is White Privilege?
Let’s talk about White Privilege. This is a topic that gets misunderstood, and often puts white people on the defensive. I believe this because we don’t really understand what white privilege really means.
I know when I first encountered the term, I was taken back a bit. I thought, “I didn’t come from privilege.” My Dad worked his ass off just make ends meet. We drove old cars that Dad worked on to keep running. We didn’t go hungry, and we had plenty of decent clothes to wear. My parents made sure I could play sports and had basketball shoes and cleats for baseball and football. But we weren’t rich, we didn’t take fancy vacations, we didn’t have extra.
I equated ‘privilege’ to wealth and material things. To having a nice house, fancy cars, and taking expensive trips.
That is not what ‘White Privilege’ is. White Privilege is simply the things that are given to us, that make our lives easier, things we can do, things we take for granted, things we don’t have to worry about, just because the color of our skin. It is things that give us an advantage that we have not earned.
I don’t have to worry about getting pulled over by a cop on the way home from work, because the color of my skin. I have co-workers that do. I have never worried about not getting a job interview because of my name on an application. I have had co-workers and friends who use their first initial, or middle name because they worry about this. I’ve never had someone cross to the other side of the street as I approached, then cross back over as soon as I pass. I have friends that experience this. I have never had an older white woman clutch her purse with both hands and turn away from me walking down the street. I watched this happen to a black man in a suit and tie, carrying a briefcase. I have never worried about the level of service I would receive because of skin color. I have never been teased or called names because of my skin color. I have never worried about being denied entry into a place of business. The list goes on and on.
These things are so ingrained in our society and our lives that we don’t consciously think about them or realize they are there. That is White Privilege.
There are also other types of privilege, Male Privilege (gender privilege), Socio-economic Privilege, etc, that we should be aware of.
We don’t need to be ashamed of our privilege, it is not something we asked for, in America it is just something that has been given. However, it is time we open our eyes and become aware of our privilege. We need to acknowledge it and find ways to use it to help others. We need to help create a society where those things I listed above and many others, are not a privilege, they are shared by all human beings. No one should be given advantages based solely on the color of their skin.
