What is White Privilege?

Throughout undergrad and graduate school, I had multiple discussions with my college professors about white privilege. Only recently did I realize that many conservatives do not even believe white privilege exists. And I have concluded that most people do not understand the definition of white privilege. Therefore, the first step to understanding is to define it. In the article, White Privilege in Health Care: Following Recognition With Action, Joseph Hobbs states that "White privilege is defining a set of privileges available to white people because of their race and unavailable to others." With this definition alone, I can start to understand the issue some individuals might have understanding white privilege. The most common misconception of this concept is that white people believe that this means they get handed free stuff due to their skin color. This is not the case. The way one should be thinking about white privilege is not based on what white people have but instead on what they do not have to deal with. There is a reason why many scholars believe that if you have white privilege, you are not aware of this privilege. This makes total sense. Privilege is often blind to those who have it. How can someone possibly know how another person lives and the obstacles they face? Now, let me make myself inherently clear I am most definitely not saying that a white person's life is going to be easier just based on their skin color. I am in no way, shape, or form talking about one person's personal experience because even I am aware that not every caucasian individual is better off than some minorities. I am talking about the majority. Statistics have constantly proven that the justice system targets minorities and that there is systematic racism. The justice system and systematic racism can be discussed in later blog posts. For now, I want to leave you with the question, do you know what white privilege means? Have you ever been targeted specifically because of your skin color? I ask this question, and many people say because I am white, people do not believe I have hardships, or my accomplishments are not noticed as much as someone of color. This may be an issue for some people, but we are not talking about this today. This is not derogatory in any way, shape, or form. Have you ever been targeted negatively because of your skin color? Have you felt the systems that are supposed to be protecting you working against you? Although some individuals may not have felt this, we must look at how this affects the majority of the population, not just a handful of people from the minority group. Overall, white privilege has been going on for centuries, and it is definitely not going away until we start recognizing it exists.

Resources

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5951245/

https://www.coe.edu/why-coe/discover-coe/human-resources/diversity-inclusion/white-privilege-symposium

https://civicreinventions.com/2019/09/22/from-white-privilege-to-allies/