White Privilege

1. Rita Kirk
White Privilege
The term white privilege means that white people have more advantages over people of color.
White privilege may be defined as the unearned advantages of being white in a racially stratified
society , and white privilege is seen as a powerful legacy of racial identity that is often
unacknowledged by whites. Many whites do not realize how good they have it and some don’t
even realize all of the privileges that we have. I honestly do not agree with all these privileges
given to us. We are all human so all of us should be able to live in a world without the hatred of
another race. I see white privilege kind of as a racist thing so no I do not agree with it.
Many white people do not think that we do not have to take the issues of racism
seriously. People of color understand being able to read the white system but those of us who are
white know very little experiences of people of color. If you walked into a country drugstore and
was looking for a hair product you would easily find something. However, if an African
American walked into a county store looking for shampoo they would more than likely not find
any to suit them. Another thing is that they have band aids out called “fresh color”. Of course
they are talking about white people. White folks really have it made out. How would you feel if
you were someone of a different race and didn’t get all these privileges? We need to start
thinking out of our shoes and into someone else’s.
White people also never have to really listen. We sometimes can silence others without
intending to or even being aware of it. The white community has the power to get up and leave if
they don’t like someone or can say what is on their mind. If this country has a freedom of speech
than why do so many people judge the people of color? Shouldn’t they have the right to speak
to? We don’t realize what they go through. They understand us but we don’t really understand

2. what it’s really like to be in their shoes. People of color would get judged right away if they just
got up and left out of a meeting or have said something off topic. As white people, you basically
have the privilege to make people of color feel unworthy. One of the scariest things is that white
people can cause a lot of damage by just saying a simple comment.
Another privilege is that they see white as normal and they see anything else different
from normal. White people think that they have that acceptance as normal members of society.
We also always turn the conversation around back to us. In an online article that I read called
Understanding White Privilege by Francis Kendell they talk about an example from the situation
I just mentioned. This author says that say a white woman is crying because of some race issue,
the black woman would have to put her pain and feelings aside while she helps the white woman.
Why should this be so? Everyone has feelings. People of color should have more of a reason to
cry than we do. They get treated so much worse than we do. However, that’s where the white
power gets stuck into our minds.
Lastly, I want to discuss about crimes and people of color. Although there are many
people of color who get arrested it seems like today a lot of people that are white assume you are
bad if you are a different color. It’s like they don’t even come to the sense that white people get
locked up a lot of the times for the same thing people of color do. Just because someone is a
different skin tone than you are doesn’t mean they have committed a crime. There is bad and
good in every color. Some white people don’t see that though because they think that they are
greater and have some kind of power than people that are a different color from them.
White privilege can mean many different things to people and have many different terms.
I see it as racist and I do not agree with it. Everyone should have the same privleges and should
not be judged because of their skin color. Although, it has changed some over the years but you

3. will still see it today. White people needs to realize that we are all human and that we all make
mistakes. We need to come to mind and think about what we are really doing and how we can
help change the attitude about racism.

4. Sources:
Kendall, Francis E. "Understanding White Privilege." Cpt.org. Christian
Peacemaker Teams, 2002. Web.
This sourcehad really helped me a lot because it gave a lot of facts to white
privilege and what it was really about. The author I know was credible because he
had a Ph.D. and the publishers behind it were credible as well.
Rodriguez, Nelson M., and Leila E. Villaverde. Dismantling White Privilege:
Pedagogy, Politics, and Whiteness. 73;73.; Vol. New York: P. Lang, 2000. Web.
This journal gave background and insights to white privilege which really helped
me with my decision as to what to exactly write this paper about. This sourcewas
very credible becauseI found it online at the Marshall library and it is a scholarly
journal.