White Privilege Explained

White privilege is being able to purchase bandages that match one’s own skin tone.

White privilege is walking into a grocery store and finding ingredients for a meal from one’s culture outside of the “ethnic foods” aisle.

White privilege is learning the history of one’s own race as “American history”.

White privilege is never having one’s intelligence or position of authority questioned based on the color of their skin.

White privilege is seeing characters predominantly of one’s own race in books, movies, and TV shows.

White privilege is an inherent entitlement to conveniences based on the color of one’s skin.

“[White privilege] is the level of societal advantage that comes with being seen as the norm in America, automatically conferred irrespective of wealth, gender or other factors. It makes life smoother, but it’s something you would barely notice unless it were suddenly taken away — or unless it had never applied to you in the first place” (Emba, 2016). White privilege is an “unearned power conferred systematically” based on the color of one’s skin (McIntosh, 1989). These powers and advantages are granted to white people by society, often unconsciously, because light skin has been perceived as the “norm” for so long. The video above (retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hD5f8GuNuGQ) exemplifies just how such advantages affect so many parts of life, every single day. “White skin privilege is not something that white people necessarily do, create or enjoy on purpose...white skin privilege is a transparent preference for whiteness that saturates our society” (Holladay, 2000). Because “white” has been perceived as predominant, even though it is not, and white people have reaped these advantages for many years, many white people have come to accept and expect the advantage of white privilege in everyday life, which has caused many to become blind to the inequities found throughout society. However, as Emba mentions, the inequities are apparent to other races who have watched others reap benefits denied to them for decades.

Image retrieved from:
http://www.gradientlair.com/post/102200016923/white-privilege-cartoon

While the term “white privilege” has been around for several decades, it has just recently entered the mainstream. As more people become familiar with the concept, there is more a push to not only acknowledge its existence, but a movement to eliminate it. In 1989, McIntosh said that “obliviousness about white advantage...is kept strongly inculturated in the United States so as to maintain the myth of meritocracy, the myth that democratic choice is equally available to all” (McIntosh, 1989). The acknowledgment that white privilege exists is the first step in dismantling its unequal benefits within society. However, as Holladay states, “White privilege is a hidden and transparent preference that is often difficult to address. Only on closer inspection do we see how it creates a sense of entitlement, generates perks and advantages for white people and elevates our status in the world” (2000). As DiAngelo describes, white people in America are insulated from race-based stress as if they are “surrounded by protective pillows of resources and/or benefits of the doubt” (2011). This insulation can make it difficult to see that not everyone receives the same treatment or privileges. The recognition of white privilege and the benefits it has afforded white people is the only way to start the process of developing equal opportunity for all races and ethnicities. 

Video retrieved from: https://www.facebook.com/HappyEndings/videos/10155421330915288/?autoplay_reason=all_page_organic_allowed&video_container_type=0&video_creator_product_type=2&app_id=2392950137&live_video_guests=0