I’m sure the title of this article has already got some people feeling as if an inevitable attack is on the horizon; that another rant about white people being terrible is rearing its head once more. Let me assure you now that this is not the purpose of this piece. I have no desire to bring shame or blame to any individual through my writing, rather I simply wish to tell you my perspective without inciting an argument, or being told that I am overreacting.
To start, one thing that I have found is that privilege, particularly white privilege, is hard to see for those who were born with access to power. However, for people such as myself, it is quite visible.
This divide in understanding the nature of this power has been a major contribution to the problem that has made the topic of white privilege ever so difficult to discuss. For many white people, they may not feel “powerful” or as if they have privileges others do not. White privilege though, hardly has anything to do with something this arbitrary. It deals more so with having greater access to power and resources than people of color do. In other words, purely on the basis of one’s skin color, doors are open to white people that are not open to other individuals. Therefore, the idea that white privilege can only affect those with money or in upper classes is simply a redundant and frankly inaccurate argument. Every white person has been afforded this power due to centuries of systemic oppression that has focused on uplifting those who are white and discouraging those who are not.
Take an example given by the Pew Research Center in 2012. They found that white people in the United States are two to 10 times more likely to get a housing loan than people of color which is an access to resources that could be life changing. The effects of decisions such as these are not short term; they do not simply affect one generation and end with the next. Situations such as these create a cycle in which people of color are reminded that we are not the same as our white counterparts, and that we will consistently be given fewer opportunities while also being expected to be happy with the little chances we receive.
Your white privilege has nothing to do with whether or not you are a “good” person. White people can be the worst of the worst and still have white privileges; people of color can be the most wonderful individuals in the world however, and not have the same privileges endowed to them. White privilege is also not a matter of status, for these inherent privileges are bestowed onto white people by institutions solely because of the color of their skin, not because they are deserving as individuals.
White people need to understand that you have been bestowed chances and opportunities that we, as people of color, will never have access to. Your privilege has been handed down to you systemically and it something that will always give you a leg up against your counterparts. While some of you may give 100 percent of your effort, we as people of color will always have to give 10, 20 sometimes even 30 percent more, just to have a chance at success.
Thus, it is only when white people are willing to relinquish this systemic power, when they are willing to level the playing field, will the talk about equality really mean something. Racism is not dead. Inequality is not a thing of the past. Let’s stop ignoring the real issues and have the conversations that will produce change.
Juwan Howard, a Contributing Writer for the Voice, can be reached for comment at JHoward19@wooster.edu.