White Privilege In Today's Society

“You educate a man; you educate a man. You educate a woman; you educate a generation.” Bringham Young (GoodReads, 2015) Women have a tendency of starting a new view or a new idea. It is from women’s beliefs and values that changing times have come for more values and more beliefs. From looking at Women’s Suffrage, White supremacy, and stereotypes, you can see how women have impacted today’s society and my life.

Peggy McIntosh wants to differentiate between "earned strength" and "unearned power" on her essay White Privilege: The Invisible Knapsack. She believes that conferred privilege is essentially a given advantage, unearned power through privilege can look like strength when it is just a form of oppression. By saying “humanity” she refers to treating others as less powerful. McIntosh is most likely referring to whites having a subconscious superiority over other social groups, therefore making the ignored groups feel distorted.

New York, New York - Who ever said; "When Opportunity knocks, open the door?" Whomever uttered that statement should be shot and gagged. That's the problem we face in this egotistical society! Opportunity is a fundamental gift that reserves itself for those who take and embrace a situation by exherating effort to make it happen. Charlamagne Tha God, the co-host of Power 105.1's The Breakfast Club explains in his new book Black Privilege: Opportunity Comes to Those Who Create It, how embracing one's truths is the fundamental key to success and happiness.

Conclusion: white privilege was a thing in the past, but now it is not. In reality it seems like you get more set back from being white in certain situations. White Privilege and racism is not about what race you are but more about the culture you live in. People see privilege in their own way. People are born in a various cultures and to different poverty or wealth levels. You cannot change where and who you are born too. You however can change what you do with your life no matter the circumstances you were born

As part of my ongoing quest to understand the intersectional and multi-faceted world we live in, I was drawn to the McIntosh reading “White Privilege:Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” and its powerful commentary on racial biases affecting women in our modern world. I loved the way she spoke about the many simple things that she as a white person doesn’t need to worry about as a default, which non-white people wouldn’t,like the assumption that her tax audits would be executed fairly and without ludicrous scrutiny.This reading inspired me to venture out into my home town and look for an event that spoke to the same issues.I found myself in a small art gallery which was featuring various pieces by indigenous women. The exhibit had a particular focus on the

Racism has been a big epidemic since the early 1600’s and is still a problem throughout society today. According to Dictionary.com, racism is a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human racial groups determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to dominate others or that a particular racial group is inferior to the others. The Tortilla Curtain, by T.C. Boyle exemplifies racism and discrimination by the dividing of communities from the impoverished minorities and the superior majority. Boyle reveals how more fortunate people stereotype the way minorities and poverty live rather than acknowledging

White privilege is defined as “…………..” After reading this and comparing it to my life and experiences I can recognize the resemblance. As a white person in my society, I hold copious privileges and forms of power that I have not earned, but has been handed. Although, I cannot speak for my entire race when I state this, I believe that any Caucasian person living in Canada, who would be willing to take the time to stop and think about their lives, would realize that they hold power over other racial minorities. This power is acquired solely due to the fact that they have a different colour of skin. This is not to imply that white people cannot be oppressed in other aspects of their lives, as a cause of the other social identities with which they

Many people claim that racism no longer exists; however, the minorities’ struggle with injustice is ubiquitous. In the “Anything Can Happen With Police Around”: Urban Youth Evaluate Strategies of Surveillance in Public Places,” Michelle Fine and his comrades were inspired to conduct a survey over one of the major social issues - how authority figures use a person’s racial identity as a key factor in determining how to enforce laws and how the surveillance is problematic in public space. In the beginning of the article, she used the existed survey reports to support and justify their purpose to perform this survey. The survey analyzed urban youth interactions with authority figures, comprising police, educators, social workers and security guards.

Over the past decade the term white privilege has emerged in our American history. White privilege is the concept that one particular group is benefited which is typically identified as white people. Most of the victims experiencing harsh conditions are non-white people under the same social, political, or economic circumstances of mistreatment. A conversation took place with a few people about white privilege whose race is identified as white. An interviewer started that “the belief that being white comes with unearned advantages and everyday perks”. However, a white retiree disagreed that white privilege does not exist but shortly afterwards he stated that black privilege does. Many people were confused by his comment and asked him to further elaborate on what exactly black

Racism plays a large role in dividing entire groups of people and most of the time, the racism comes from stereotypes and assumptions made of each other. One example of insensitivity and divisiveness when maintaining stereotypes is when someone starts asking questions about the said stereotype to another who is affected by it. Such as if a white man goes up to an Asian girl to get help with math because ‘all asians are good at math’. These kind of stereotypes are very insensitive towards others. An example of racism that proves that society is oblivious to how people of ‘other’ backgrounds are treated is the pay and job gap. It is clear, even to this day, that caucasian men and women typically have higher paying jobs and make more than their coworkers of other races. Society should know by now that everyone doing the same job, should get payed the same no matter if they’re a man, woman, white or hispanic. Lastly, there are many examples of how maintaining stereotypes is hurtful to those who are judged accordingly. A large one in our society is the racism against Muslims. People assume the worst of them because ‘they cause so many terrorist attacks’, however, that isn’t true. They are blamed for a lot of horrible events because of their race and culture which in turn, really hurts them. Our world shouldn’t be full of racism anymore, but somehow, there still is a bunch of it

Black privilege is far from having white privilege. White privilege is having an easy way out of most situations and having everything almost granted to you. I would consider black privilege is having not a dime handed to you, but the odds stacked against you. When people look at me, I always wonder what is the first thing that comes to their mind? A female or a black person, or both? What amazes me is the fact that most white people know that they have white privilege and will even admit it. Some are arrogant, while others are aware of their white power privilege, but try and let it not be known to the world. Tim Wise wrote a book talking about his experience as a white man with white privilege. The book is a true eye opener for not only blacks, but whites as well. “When you’re a member of the privileged group, you don’t take kindly to someone telling you that you can’t do something” (Wise, 2008). Tim openly admitted what your average black person already knew. Minority groups are so used to doors beings slammed in their face or being told no. What’s difficult is when your privileged group of people can get away with acts, that if a minority group committed the consequences would be horridness. I work at Zaxby’s in Bainbridge, and I witness a lot of racial injustices unfold right in front of my eyes. I’ve witnessed young white boys fight in my drive through while the police were present and neither boy was arrested, nor told to leave the premises via the police. I’ve also witnessed a young black boy who was clearly mentally unstable come into Zaxby’s, and ask to use the phone. When we told him we did not have a public phone he cussed; causing the officers to come to the counter and escort him out. Which happened to be same officers who did not remove the two young white boys off of the premises for fighting. Which crime was worse? The

Racism is the belief or idea of superiority of one race over another, often resulting in discrimination and/or prejudice towards people of the race. The ideology underlying racist practices often includes the idea that humans can be divided into distinct groups that are different due to their social behavior and their innate capacities as well as the idea that they can be ranked as inferior or superior. Since the late 20th century the notion of biological race has been recognized as a cultural invention, entirely without scientific basis.

Whites are privileged because we are seen as the average American. We do not get second glances, because nobody suspects we are doing anything but living our lives. Though since we are not subject to this intense scrutiny we do not realize that we in turn do this to African Americans, just simply living their daily lives as well. McIntosh (1988) points out that she repeatedly forgot each of the realizations on this list until I wrote it down. For me white privilege has turned out to be an elusive and fugitive subject. White privilege was identified in her article by a list of fifty items that Caucasians never have to deal with as a daily concern. Matters such as leading a group, schooling that supports our race, living situations, institutions that do not judge our race. These are issues a Caucasian family will never have, and a child of that race will never face feeling judged, and never have to learn that the very entity there to protect you may be responsible for your death. Whites are privileged, though this way of life should be common for every race. Our privilege should not be taken away it should be granted and transformed into a greater idea American Privilege. Whites are not aware of the privilege they have, simply for the fact that this is their life the majority do not know anything different. When you have been drinking coke every day of your life and everyone else has ben drinking diet coke labeled as coke you wont know the difference. Lipsitz (1995) affirms whiteness is everywhere in US culture, but it is very hard to see. This is how white privilege looks to the average American even though everyone else is not getting the same treat as the whites they do not understand it because they have been treated the same way or so they think their whole life as well. Minorities are getting diet coke their whole life, though they see the whites making more money, and treated better in turn they begin questioning and coming up with the

The racial inequality that we have in modern day blossomed from the historic oppression and comprehensive prejudice of minority groups. From the very beginning of “American” history, other groups of people who were not of European decent were discriminated against and treated inhumanely and without the smallest regard for their lives. Native American populations were decimated by diseases brought oversea by Europeans and forced from their ancestral lands by settlers to make room for their expanding populations. African people were enslaved by the millions and were used as tools of labor, and weren’t even regarded as humans,

Racism is an ever growing issue in the world, and something we can’t hide behind. According to dictionary.com the defintion of racism is: “the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics, abilities, or qualities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races.” Race was created socially by how people perceive ideas and faces people are not used to yet. It is the “hatred” of one person to another individual, solely based on that person's belief that the person is inferior because of their language, birthplace and skin colour. Racism is an issue that has lasted throughout history, providing justification for a group’s dominance over another. In this essay the main focus will be looking at a wide array of perspectives, including local in Hong Kong, global in USA, some solutions, and my own personal perspective.