What Is white privilege?
white privilege is defined by tolerance.org:
“White privilege is—perhaps most notably in this era of uncivil discourse—a concept that has fallen victim to its own connotations. The two-word term packs a double whammy that inspires pushback. 1) The word white creates discomfort among those who are not used to being defined or described by their race. And 2) the word privilege, especially for poor and rural white people, sounds like a word that doesn’t belong to them—like a word that suggests they have never struggled.”
Where did structural racism stem from?
A study for the Race and Public Policy Conference cites the origin of systemic racism and white supremacy:
“Race is “a specious classification of human beings created by Europeans (whites) which assigns human worth and social status using “white” as the model of humanity and the height of human achievement for the purpose of establishing and maintaining privilege and power.”
“The U.S. Constitution established the new nation as a white republic. indigenous and African peoples were excluded from participation in the republic. The first law of the first (white) congress in 1790 banned all non-white immigrants from becoming citizens of this white republic. This law meant that first generation immigrants from any continent except Europe could not own land -- the main means of earning a living in the new republic -- because state and territorial constitutions prohibited non-citizens from owning land.”
Long story short? White people invented racism a suuuuuper long time ago.
What about reverse racism?
newsflash: REVERSE RACISM IS NOT A REAL THING.
There’s a big difference between reverse racism, and having a conflict with someone/being judged/disagreeing with someone/not getting exactly what you want
Reverse racism does not exist, because in America, there has never been a time where white people have been oppressed. Cambridge Dictionary defines oppression as:
a situation in which people are governed in an unfair and cruel way and prevented from having opportunities and freedom
Don’t believe it? Read this article about the myth of reverse racism. And for those white people who feel as though they are at a disadvantage because job are going to less qualified POC, you’ve got a long way to go in your allyship journey.
how does white privilege fuel racism?
As a white person, you have lived everyday with privileges that those with darker skin could only dream of. Lori Lakin Hutcherson explains white privilege in 10 ways we can all relate to, so take a moment to click through the slideshow below, and note which ones you have personally experienced:
is white privilege dangerous?
Yes. period.
White privilege shows up in our lives by giving white people better access to jobs, housing, schools, public transportation, and healthcare, just to name a few.
And yes, we want to acknowledge that there are definitely white people out there who are fighting for social justice, but the journey doesn’t always tell the whole story.
For Black people, one of the most dangerous things they can encounter is an ignorant white person.
Ever wonder why we never see these kinds of lists about white people? Read through this infographic from @vibesofablackgirl to learn about some of the hardships of being Black in America.
These days, you’ll often see white people fight for justice, protest in the streets, volunteer in their communities, and donate their time and money to helping Black people get equality.
But John Blake highlights in an article one of the biggest issues problems with white people and their allyship:
Opportunity hoarding.
Upper middle class white people are the most guilty of this practice, and although some white people may be taking steps to make changes in their communities, in legislation, and in their own behaviors, when it comes to impacts on their own personal lives, often we don’t see white people walking the talk.
Take this example John Blake notes:
"Once White parents have access to a school district that they feel is working well for their kids, they try to do everything they can to create barriers around it to keep the resources for themselves and their very small number of peers," he says.
What can we take away from this?
Middle class white people will often champion racial justice for others, but when it “comes into their own backyard,” they are much less willing to make the permanent changes in their own lives that would give Black people more opportunities and better access.
Take this excerpt from The Guardian, for example:
“White people, you are the problem,” writes the Chicago Tribune columnist Dahleen Glanton. “For white people,” the US-based British writer Laurie Penny insists, “acknowledging the reality of racism means acknowledging our own guilt and complicity.” White people wash the feet of black faith leaders as atonement for their sins and religiously acknowledge their guilt. Such demonstrations of public obsequiousness are performances that make individuals feel better about themselves but also keep the structures of power and discrimination untouched.”
where does this show up in society?
Racially integrated housing
Racially integrating schools and government allocated school funding
Zoning laws
Political representation
Mortgage rates
Legacy college admissions and access to college test preparation resources
Suburban towns
Access to economic resources
Food deserts in poor neighborhoods
Gentrification
Lack of Black representation in C-Suites across industries
…….do you get the point yet?
All of the things listed above, among others, are what happens when well-meaning white people are “fighting” for racial justice, but unwilling to change the status quo. So, even though you may consider yourself an ally, you might be completely missing the point and doing more harm than help.
What is white passing?
White passing is simple: You’re not white, but you look like it.
While this might not seem like an important thing to note as white person, if a Black person were able to pass for a white person, it could provide opportunities for them and their families that they would not have otherwise had access to. This includes access to jobs, food, cars, people in power, and anything else under the sun.
Nadra Kareem Nittle wrote about this issue during times of slavery, noting that —>
For a Black person, passing as white was the difference between being a free person and a slave.
Black people have tried to pass as white as a survival tactic, conforming to the majority, giving up their individuality. One might fight that since slavery is over, that Black people shouldn’t have to worry about the color of their skin.
But, even though slavery no longer exists, passing as white in this world is still a privilege.
This has caused problems with the Black community, and Nadra Kareem Nittle acknowledges this in her article, going on to say —>
Could you, a white person, imagine having to make this choice? To have to choose your family or your freedom?
Singer Halsey has experienced this first hand, as a person with a white mother and Black father. She came under fire after a Tweet addressing race, where she advocated for “letting Black people speak,” because she didn’t say “let our people speak.” She has been accused of “not claiming her Black side,” and has said in the past that “I look like a white girl, but I don't feel like one. I'm a black woman, so it's been weird navigating that. When I was growing up I didn't know if I was supposed to love TLC or Britney.”
Halsey responded to the accusation of not claiming her Black side, Tweeting:
"im white passing. it's not my place to say 'we'. it's my place to help. i am in pain for my family, but nobody is gonna kill me based on my skin color. I've always been proud of who I am but it'd be an absolute disservice to say 'we' when I'm not susceptible to the same violence," she said.
DO you see the privilege in being white or white passing?
“Who are some examples of people that are white passing?”
meghan markle
Markle, who has a black mother and a white father, wrote about her experiences growing up in Los Angeles in a piece for Elle Magazine in 2015. She once refused to follow a teacher’s direction to check the “white” box on a census form in her English class. While home on college break, she heard her mom called the N-word. “My skin rushed with heat,” she wrote. “I shared my mother’s heartache.”
rashida jones
Jones is what some white casting directors might describe as “ethnically ambiguous.” Her hair doesn’t really curl, her skin is light, her eyes are hazel. The 44-year-old actor has often played characters who were explicitly white or whose ethnicity was sort of left up to the audience to figure out. On “The Office,” she played Karen Filippelli, an Italian American woman. On “Parks and Recreation,” she played Ann Perkins, a character described only as “ambiguously brown.”
pete wentz
“The only thing that was a little weird is our family is mixed race, and it was a super-white neighborhood, so it was like, ‘Oh…I don’t look like any of the people that I live near in this community.’ But there was no great sadness to it. If anything, it made me be like, ‘Well, I’m just who I am.’ It gave me armor.”
I need some help… how can I talk to my friends and family about white privilege without a fight?
Are you thinking to yourself, “I’d rather watch paint dry than talk to that person about their white privilege?”
Us, too.
We recommend leaning on your empathy and staying patient. Put yourself in their shoes; Have you ever had questions but been too scared to admit you don’t have the answer? How would you feel if you were trying to learn something but felt attacked everytime you tried to have a conversation?
Below are some suggestions on having that hard conversation:
“When exploring privilege, it is useful to use "Serial Testimony," a disciplined mode in which each participant gets to respond in turn, uninterrupted, for, say, one minute, timed. I call this "the autocratic administration of time in the service of democratic distribution of time." - Peggy McIntosh
This point gets to the heart of the problem with white privilege- we don’t say Black Lives Matter because we believe that white people don’t struggle, but because we deny that it exists. Use this quote as a conversation starter: “American culture, not impoverishment, has taught white folk to misunderstand white privilege. Individual white people shoulder no responsibility for creating white privilege, but denying its presence prolongs its life span. And that does warrant criticism. Granting the white working-class this moral reprieve absolves them from culpability.”
If you’re trying to talk about what white-centering is, we suggest using this excerpt from a piece by Ijeoma Oluo as a starting point: “At a university last month, where I was discussing the whitewashing of publishing and the need for more unfiltered narratives by people of color, a white man insisted that there was no way we were going to be understood by white people if we couldn’t make ourselves more accessible. When I asked him if all of the elements of white culture that people of color have to familiarize themselves with just to get through the day are ever modified to suit us, he shrugged and looked down at his notebook. At a workshop I led last week a white woman wondered if perhaps people of color in America are too sensitive about race. How was she going to be able to learn if we were always getting so upset at her questions?”
Looking for an exercise to talk with other white people about privilege?
SURJ has a great exercise that allows for personal reflection and conversation.
ACTIVITY: The benefit of being white
Paul Kivel says: I FIND IT A CONSTANT EFFORT TO NOTICE that People of Color don’t share many of the economic and other benefits I enjoy from being white. This activity can help white people understand how racism works in our favor, and on many different levels. The exercise is for all white participants, or for mixed groups in which the white people participate and the People of Color observe. Since white privilege—the specific kinds of economic, social, and political advantages that white people gain at the expense of people of color—is generally invisible, this exercise can help those of us who are white see and acknowledge just how extensive and pervasive those benefits are.
ACtions for change
A lot of great resources for combatting white privilege exist, so we’ve rounded up a few of our favorites.
Check out The Privilege Institute’s 21 Day Challenge:
“Change is hard. Creating effective social justice habits, particularly those dealing with issues of power, privilege, supremacy and leadership is like any lifestyle change. The good news is, there’s an abundance of resources just waiting to empower you to be a more effective player in the quest for equity and justice. Please use this plan just as it is, or adapt it to a sector, an ethnic/racial group, or interest area.”
We learned above that middle-class white people are often guilty of opportunity hoarding, so do some work there:
Read this full thought piece about racism in higher education and the privileges white people experience in society
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights gives 10 easy actions you can take now to personally fight white privilege