Race Blog : White Privilege

White Privilege

by Jarod L.

January 8, 2007 12:38 PM

White privilege. Two words with a huge history. Two words that don’t get a lot of discussion outside of certain circles. As I suspect is the case with most white people in America, I wasn’t aware of the concept growing up. I knew about racial and class discrimination and thought I was better informed than your average high school kid. It wasn’t until I headed off to college that I ran into the concept of white privilege. I knew going to college that I’d be exposed to a fair greater range of ideas than I’d experience in my decidedly conservative, intolerant, homogenous high school. It was one of the reasons I picked the college I did. But what I wasn’t expecting the emotions behind those ideas. I was in for a wake-up call. My first year dorm was actually a program house where you were supposed to have applied and illustrated your commitment to third world issues. I didn’t apply, nor did the mostly white 20 or so other first years that were placed there by the housing office since the college had over-enrolled that year. Suddenly, I was around who didn’t particularly like me, not just personally, but because of what I represented -- because I was an interloper in their space, because I was white, because I wasn’t self-aware. I’d never looked at it from the other side. Never thought about how I might have something to do with power structures. Never thought about how whites are considered the norm or how people don’t question our actions or take them to represent the actions/feelings/deeds of an entire group. However, someone in my dorm wanted to be sure that we got it. Copies of Peggy McIntosh’s “White Privilege: Unpacking the invisible knapsack” appeared in every bathroom stall, in the hallways and in the dorm kitchen. 26 things was everywhere, dominating thoughts, conversations and later becoming a running joke. But as part of the larger experience, it really did change the way I thought about things. I started examining my expectations and behavior and assumptions. It made me question. It made me delve into what white people don’t (or don’t want) to know.

There is a quote by Patricia J. Williams, columnist and legal scholar, in the promotional material, for the RACE project, it goes ´How can it be that so many well meaning white people have never thought about race when so few blacks pass a single day without being reminded of it?´ I am not usually fond of sweeping one liners, but this one struck me as odd. If so few white people think about race, then how come racism is so prevalent? Or is it just well meaning white people that don’t think about race. I was able to go through childhood, and up to mid twenties before giving race much thought. Coming from an island where the inhabitants were 90+ percent Protestants, and pretty much 100% white, race and racism wasn’t anything that people gave much thought to. We saw it in film and TV material from here (US), and deducted that black people seemed to be doing fine. Then I moved here. The first place I lived was a quiet little street with one big white house lording over the rest of the more modest ones. I had been there for less than a week when I saw a middle age black woman get out of the house and get into the drivers seat of a rather big American automobile. After she started the car up, she left it and went back into the house. A few minutes later she appeared again with a little, old, white woman practically under one arm. She assisted the old woman into the back seat and drove off. ….´we had our own Driving Miss Daisy´

Comments

Robert Jensen said on January 11, 2007 1:44 PM:

Here's what white privilege sounds like: I'm sitting in my University of Texas office, talking to a very bright and very conservative white student about affirmative action in college admissions, which he opposes and I support. The student says he wants a level playing field with no unearned advantages for anyone. I ask him whether he thinks that being white has advantages in the United States. Have either of us, I ask, ever benefited from being white in a world run mostly by white people? Yes, he concedes, there is something real and tangible we could call white privilege.

So, if we live in a world of white privilege – unearned white privilege - how does that affect your notion of a level playing field? I asked. He paused for a moment and said, "That really doesn't matter." That statement, I suggested to him, reveals the ultimate white privilege: The privilege to acknowledge that you have unearned privilege but to ignore what it means. That exchange led me to rethink the way I talk about race and racism with students. It drove home the importance of confronting the dirty secret that we white people carry around with us every day: in a world of white privilege, some of what we have is unearned. I think much of both the fear and anger that comes up around discussions of affirmative action has its roots in that secret. So these days, my goal is to talk open and honestly about white supremacy and white privilege.

White privilege, like any social phenomenon, is complex. In a white supremacist culture, all white people have privilege, whether or not they are overtly racist themselves. There are general patterns, but such privilege plays out differently depending on context and other aspects of one's identity (in my case, being male gives me other kinds of privilege). Rather than try to tell others how white privilege has played out in their lives, I talk about how it has affected me.

I am as white as white gets in this country. I am of northern European heritage and I was raised in North Dakota, one of the whitest states in the country. I grew up in a virtually all-white world surrounded by racism, both personal and institutional. Because I didn't live near a reservation, I didn't even have exposure to the state's only numerically significant nonwhite population, American Indians.

I have struggled to resist that racist training and the racism of my culture. I like to think I have changed, even though I routinely trip over the lingering effects of that internalized racism and the institutional racism around me. But no matter how much I "fix" myself, one thing never changes - I walk through the world with white privilege.

What does that mean? Perhaps most importantly, when I seek admission to a university, apply for a job, or hunt for an apartment, I don't look threatening. Almost all of the people evaluating me look like me they are white. They see in me a reflection of themselves - and in a racist world, that is an advantage. I smile. I am white. I am one of them. I am not dangerous. Even when I voice critical opinions, I am cut some slack. After all, I'm white.

My flaws also are more easily forgiven because I am white. Some complain that affirmative action has meant the university is saddled with mediocre minority professors. I have no doubt there are minority faculty who are mediocre, though I don't know very many. As Henry Louis Gates Jr. once pointed out, if affirmative action policies were in place for the next hundred years, it's possible that at the end of that time the university could have as many mediocre minority professors as it has mediocre white professors. That isn't meant as an insult to anyone, but it's a simple observation that white privilege has meant that scores of second-rate white professors have slid through the system because their flaws were overlooked out of solidarity based on race, as well as on gender, class and ideology.

Some people resist the assertions that the United States is still a bitterly racist society and that the racism has real effects on real people. But white folks have long cut other white folks a break. I know, because I am one of them. I am not a genius - as I like to say, I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer. I have been teaching full time for six years and I've published a reasonable amount of scholarship. Some of it is the unexceptional stuff one churns out to get tenure, and some of it, I would argue, is worth reading. I worked hard, and I like to think that I'm a fairly decent teacher. Every once in a while, I leave my office at the end of the day feeling like I really accomplished something. When I cash my pay check, I don't feel guilty. But, all that said, I know I did not get where I am by merit alone. I benefited from among other things, white privilege. That doesn't mean that I don't deserve my job, or that if I weren't white I would never have gotten the job. It means simply that all through my life, I have soaked up benefits for being white.

All my life I have been hired for jobs by white people. I was accepted for graduate school by white people. And I was hired for a teaching position by the predominantly white University of Texas, headed by a white president, in a college headed by a white dean and in a department with a white chairman that at the time had one nonwhite tenured professor. I have worked hard to get where I am, and I work hard to stay there. But to feel good about myself, and my work, I do not have to believe that "merit" as defined by white people in a white country, alone got me here. I can acknowledge that in addition to all that hard work, I got a significant boost from white privilege. At one time in my life, I would not have been able to say that, because I needed to believe that my success in life was due solely to my individual talent and effort. I saw myself as the heroic American, the rugged individualist. I was so deeply seduced by the culture's mythology that I couldn't see the fear that was binding me to those myths.

Like all white Americans, I was living with the fear that maybe I didn't really deserve my success, that maybe luck and privilege had more to do with it than brains and hard work. I was afraid I wasn't heroic or rugged, that I wasn't special. I let go of some of that fear when I realized that, indeed, I wasn't special, but that I was still me. What I do well, I still can take pride in, even when I know that the rules under which I work in are stacked to my benefit. Until we let go of the fiction that people have complete control over their fate - that we can will ourselves to be anything we choose - then we will live with that fear.

White privilege is not something I get to decide whether I want to keep. Every time I walk into a store at the same time as a black man and the security guard follows him and leaves me alone to shop, I am benefiting from white privilege. There is not space here to list all the ways in which white privilege plays out in our daily lives, but it is clear that I will carry this privilege with me until the day white supremacy is erased from this society.

M.A. Johnson said on January 12, 2007 11:30 AM:

Adversary Reminiscence vs. White Blamelessness

Black Americans (deliberate generalization) suffer from a thing called the "enemy memory" (coined by Shelby Steele). Many of the social injustices Black Americans have faced or have experienced have come by the hands of White Americans. Some of these experiences are de facto and some are de jure, but never the less, they are a personal experience that Black Americans have felt. With that said, there are times when a black person is mistreated by a white person, and race has nothing to do with it; that white person just might be mean to everyone, but because of that black person's vivid memory of racist “white people” (enemy) they automatically associate mistreatment with race. So if a black person goes into a retail shop and is followed around or not greeted by a white salesperson, then the Black American's "enemy memory" is triggered, and the black persons believes they are being mistreated because of race.

Now on the other hand, White Americans (deliberate generalization) suffer from "anti-white guilt". There was a time, when many White Americans felt "guilt" over the historical mistreatment of Black Americans. However, with the advent of Affirmative Action Programs and Raced based initiatives and scholarships, White Americans have become more and more resentful of Black Americans; and in fact, White Americans started feeling like they are the ones who are being discriminated against based on race (i.e. terms like reverse discrimination, and the race card). What this has done, is make White Americans diminish Black American's experiences of racism (be it legit or not), and made White Americans go toward the extreme opposite of "white guilt" and feel “white blamelessness” of Black American experiences.

Ange said on January 14, 2007 3:41 PM:

I love Robert Jenson's comment. I think we have conversed (through email before. I'm from Vermont and we discussed one of your articles.) I think what is most exciting for the anti-racism work (and forgive me, because I think anti-racism work is a silly name for serious work) is unpacking the fear and the shame from all sides. I think what continues the cycle of racism is fear of "what if?" What if everyone was treated equally. Then what? Would that white guy in my writing class whose craft is clearly inferior to my own still be allowed to study with me? Would the white woman on welfare with the three unruly children still be able to seek and found housing in the same condo complex as me (a black woman with several professional degrees and a completely Huxtable upbringing)? This is scary stuff. It's scary because on some level white people DO know this, regardless of whether or not white people "stick together". They do know there is something at work, unconsciouslessly, a feeling, like a word on the tip of the tongue. It's the reason that most white people would rather be white and poor than me (wealthy and black, well educated with class privilege you would not believe.) because being white still means something in this society. It still means default setting and a short cut to excellence. It still means trustworthiness and safety and all the illusions of cleanness and purity.

That's what anti-racism work seeks to change. That myth. That fantasy.

Hear To Learn said on January 16, 2007 8:27 AM:

We are all at a turning point and it is confusing for everyone, socially. As a minority myself, I sometimes wonder if minorities would be better off without affirmative action, simply because then it would not give those who oppose it room to say that an unfair advantage was given. The question is, are we crippling ourselves in the long run by taking affirmative action? The problem we are facing is that we are getting the importance of living in the present and not trying to relive an ugly past, and having affirmative action is both necessary for some minorities to be treated fairly and an unfortunate magnet for anger from those who oppose it. So I ask, how can we make everyone happy and live in the present? How do we do that? And I am curious to know how long others think affirmative action should go on. I think for now, there is a need for it and by choosing "white blamelessness" one must realize that minorities are not blaming the present, but the past, so reflecting the pouty "that's not fair" argument only stregnthens the ugly truth of why it is needed in the first place as Jensen stated earlier. Great article and I commend you on your honesty.

Daniel Taghioff said on January 17, 2007 5:37 PM:

It is undeniable that we live in a world fo white priviledge. I know this from being half Iranian Jewish a quarter French, a quarter British. I faced some racism growing up in the UK, although not in London, which is fairly multicultural.

I did the "white" quiz on this site whicih was interesting and very revealing. I can say from personal expereince that how an immigrant is treated is very much to do with if they are seen as white or not.

I was an immigrant to Sweden for three years. It is a vey nice country, with very well-meaning people, with a strong hegemonic dislike for almost all forms of oppression.

But I learnt what it was like to be black for a while. If I spoke in my stilted Swedish I was taken for a Middle Eastern immigrant, of which there are many in Sweden. Muslims in Sweden have a very bad name in what is a srongly feminist culture.

But when I opened my mouth, and announced I was an Englishman, it was like I was transformed: My brown skin peeled away to reveal a whiter than white interior (Swedes have a very strange love affair with the UK, sort of like an older brother they admire, without really understanding what a right-wing git he is in private.)

I felt like a traitor doing it, but the instant relief it gave was overwhelming. Doors opened, smile appeared. On the other hand being black was very handy when dealing with other immigrants, so I guess I was abit of a turncoat really.

However as a footnote, my experience of travelling has not broadened my mind. It is true that 'whites' are dominant and racist. But we will not be dominant forever, and others are also racist too, often far more so. The Chinese do not much like Tibetans, Mongolians or their Muslim neighbours, even as they occupy their lands. India is a fairly tolerant land, but there is a lot of negative feelign about Africans, perhaps a leftover of the colonial sandwich.

Point being, we have to think carefully about what we what we don't like about ourselves, but also what we do like and want to try and preserve, that may be of value to others.

A lot of our values are borrowed from others, and are taken up happily by others. Our values are not neccessarily ours, in the same way that this planet is not necessarily ours.

Gene said on January 21, 2007 12:42 PM:

Sorry if this bursts anyone’s bubble, but there is no “white privilege,” and your own statements show it.

First, let’s define some terms. “Privilege” is when you are given something that you haven’t earned. “Discrimination” is when you are denied something that you have earned. (You could also say “deserve” or “are entitled to.”) And while the end result is the same, the two are not simply inverses of one another. They are separate and distinct. You can have one without the other.

As Robert says again and again, everything he has accomplished, he has earned. He has worked hard to get where he is. He deserves his success. No one has just given him something – certainly not because he is white. (If they did, then all white people would have the same thing, and they don’t.) He is not privileged; he is simply being rewarded for his hard work.

Now, what if a non-white person does the same work? Will they get the same reward? In far too many cases, the answer is no. Tragically, racial inequality is all too real. But it exists not because whites receive a bonus; rather, non-white minorities are assessed a penalty. In other words, it’s discrimination.

How do I know this? Ange supplies the answer – white is the “default setting” in America. The country has always been majority white (which is why non-whites are called “minorities”). Whites, by and large, are treated justly and fairly by society. This is not a “privilege;” it’s what’s supposed to happen. Non-whites are all too often treated unfairly. They are not given the treatment they deserve, or the rewards they have earned. It’s not, as Robert claims, that the rules are “stacked to my benefit;” it’s that the non-white person is not given the benefit of the rules.

The bottom line: everything everybody has said about racial inequality is 100% true. But it cannot be called “privilege” for whites; it is discrimination against minorities.

Why is this distinction important? Well, as the hippies used to say, words mean something. We cannot resolve the issues of race in our society if we do not define them correctly. Otherwise, we attack the wrong problem, and just make matters worse. As Hear To Learn notes, affirmative action is becoming a liability for minorities. This is because it attempts to redress the unfairness of minority discrimination with another unfairness, reverse discrimination. And as we know, two wrongs will never make a right.

If we let ourselves believe that racial inequality exists because of some “white privilege,” we will try to balance things out with affirmative action, quotas, set-asides – in short, “minority privilege.” But if, on the other hand, we recognize that inequality actually stems from discrimination, then we can take action that will have a real effect. End discrimination. Treat all people fairly. Let the rising tide lift all our boats.

I imagine there are people who disagree with this post. That’s fine. I would just urge any respondents to avoid the fallacy in Robert’s argument, when he says that anyone who denies white privilege is merely afraid of facing the truth (as he defines it). In other words, not only is disagreement axiomatically wrong, but the act of disagreement itself is taken as proof that the proposition is true. I’m not sure if that’s a material fallacy or an ad hominem, but in either case, it’s an invalid argument. Worse, it can be seen as an attempt to cut off debate, which is antithetical to this blog.

Janelle said on January 30, 2007 12:24 AM:

I keep opening up these blogs, out of curiosity...and all I see is a bunch of people missing the point of this website. The only thing it has proven to me is that we are all the same regardless of race or (unfortunatly) intelligence....Use your brains for more effective actions, use them to love, use them to spread positivity and teach the young to do the same.

I am black, I am white, I am yellow, I am brown, I am purple and I am loved

So are you

move on.......

Lou said on January 30, 2007 1:01 PM:

Race can be of the past, present, and future. They were there then, we are here now, so what are we to do for the future? White Privilage exists only because we do, the means to rectify it is out there still. But we are more efficient at creating differences in each other and to point out wrongs. Then we are at finding commonalities and solutions.

Chavonna Savage said on January 30, 2007 5:17 PM:

Honestly, until I had read Peggy McIntosh's White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack I didn't know what the meaning of white privilege meant. Like I would hear a lot of people say it, but I never knew what it was and why people of diffrent races reacted the way they did when hearing this. White privilege is very common in America. It seems like it has lasted just about as long as slavery.

To me white privilege means that because of the white people's race they have more of an advantage to get what they want or to excel more in life than any other race. Since slavery, whites have always had the advantage to do what they wanted, while the blacks had to sit back and get beaten and terrorized for being who they were.

In Ms. McIntosh story she listed 50 privilages that a white person gets compare to any other race. In some of the privileges that she list I thought were true, but others I thought were false. The ones that I thought were false I feel as though those happen to all cultures. While reading the privileges, I noticed i have actually seen them happen to other races. For once they got the same advantage as the dominant race.

It seems as though Ms. McIntosh really wants racism to stop and for every race to have the same privileges. To me it seems as though all races are all starting to get the same privileges, but other races except whites, just have to work harder for them. But since Prospal 2 has been passed, I don't think black people will be getting the same privileges nor will women.

Kelsey Tait said on February 3, 2007 2:51 PM:

I grew up in a community that was 96% White. I went to school with one African American girl and two chinese children. My life was normal and I was content with my happy life. When I reached high school, my private school only had two black girls in my grade and 10 in the entire school of 650 girls. I have never seen any white privilege in my life because I have not been around more that four other people who aren't my race.

Although I had never personally seen white privilege, I had heard about it through school. I do believe there is white privilege. Since slavery, African Americans have never been treated as complete equals in our society. Some have been treated equal, but as a whole race, nothing has been accimplished. There are always racial issues in our society.

White's are privileged in schooling opportunities and work opportunitites. Whites are viewed as the "better" and "smarter" race. Many white's do not see the way they are privileged over other races. For example, bandades are made in a white skin tone color. Have you ever seen a black bandade? Maybe in a multi-color package, but that is about it. How many black dolls do you see children playing with? How many black dolls are in the stores to buy? There are very few. These are just two of the smallest examples.

I do believe there is white privilege.

Elizabeth Wilcox said on February 5, 2007 1:54 PM:

Until entering college, I never really thought about white privilege in the terms I think of it now. Prior to college, I thought of white privilege only in the most basic ways. For example, white people generally have a higher salary than most other races. Also, I was aware that most white people had better living conditions than other races as well. When thinking about white privilege, I failed to recognize the everyday privileges that I have over other races.

Being a white person in American society, there are so many privileges I have that I take for granted everyday. To say that white privilege does not exist is a complete lie. One thing that I never thought anything about before college is makeup. I can go to any grocery store, drug store, or department store and find a shade of makeup that almost perfectly matches my skin. I never thought about this privilege that I had until it was brought up in my writing class. At this point in time, it is absolutely ridiculous that makeup is not sold in all shades to accommodate all people.

Another aspect of white privilege I rarely thought about is the media. I can turn on the TV, go to a movie, or look at the cover of a magazine and almost always find people of my similar ethnicity. I never paid much attention to this and often took it for granted. Now I realize there are so few Asians, African Americans, and Hispanics represented in today’s media.

Latia said on February 6, 2007 6:27 PM:

I feel as an African American women white people have privilege every day of their life and never realized that they do. White privilege put them at a advantage over other races. I feel whites are carefully taught not to recognize white privilege.

White privilege gives whites the upper hand in getting visas, passports, cloths and so much more. As for me all these things would be question before I could get them. As an African American if I wanted to be in a company of people of my race most of the time this would not be available for me to do so. As well as watching the television or opening the newpaper and seeing people of my race represented. As a white person these simple things mean something different to people of another race.

When you usually here the word privilege you think of males privilege. Yet white privilege opens many doors for white wheather it's right or wrong. If these things are true about white privilege then this is not a free country that we live in. If one race is not having more privilege over the other than Americans wouldn't know what to do. Somebody always feels their better than the other even if their are no real differences.

Marshett Clarke said on February 7, 2007 6:00 PM:

I belive that whites have privileges over every other race. It has always been this way and I believe that it will be this way for a really long time. It just seems like it is almost natural for whites to have more privileges than blacks. It seems like whites are eye candy for Americans.

In a lot of the comercials and all over the television are white people. In a lot of the television shows that have black starts they are just the whole race as a whole. They are also putting false stereotypes about black people.

Many white people do not think that they are more privileged than other races but they are. They are more likely to get a job than say a black person even though the black person is more qualified than they are. It is a shame that our world still has an issue with race. I believe that man created racism and we need to fix the problem.

Samara said on March 4, 2007 6:32 PM:

Just a simple question for Gene, if it isn't white privilege, but discrimination, then how do we fix it?

Gene said on March 6, 2007 10:51 PM:

Samara --

A simple answer: stop discriminating. (Note: I said "simple," not "easy.") There are laws against discrimination -- let's enforce them. There are social pressures that can curb discrimination -- let's bring them to bear. Will society ever be perfect? No; no human creation ever can be. But already, I live in a world demonstrably better than the one I was born into.

We can see evidence of this improvement right here on this list. What are people complaining about? Voter discrimination? Housing? Employment? No, the common complaints are white people appear on more magazine covers, there aren't enough black dolls, and dark bandages are harder to find. If these are the biggest problems we face, then it would seem the battle is already won.

But, of course, it isn't. Racial discrimination remains a very real issue. As some of the more thoughtful commenters have said, minorities have a harder time getting jobs, getting loans, getting visas, etc. This is serious stuff. We are not going to solve these problems by conflating petty, inconsequential complaints with the real, substantive issues. In fact, it hurts our efforts. How seriously will anyone take charges of racial imbalance if the biggest evidence is “too many white faces in TV commercials”?

Serious problems demand serious attention, not claptrap like "privilege" and "media image."

Joe J. said on May 22, 2007 7:49 PM:

I think that everyone should get the same privilege too. Everyone should have the same privilege no matter white or black or Hispanic or whatever race you are.

wendy said on May 24, 2007 5:56 PM:

I wonder how american indians must feel.

August said on July 9, 2007 6:35 PM:

I’m sorry if this bursts your bubble, Gene, but there is “white privilege” and there is actually a field of study and substantive research that can confirm this. Claiming that “discrimination” exists, while ruling out “privilege” is unnecessarily reductive: of course it is conceptually possible to have one without the other, but in reality, the two are often inextricably bound together and require an explanation that addresses both.

Let’s start by (re) defining the term privilege. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, privilege is defined as:

1. A special advantage, immunity, permission, right, or benefit granted to or enjoyed by an individual, class, or caste.

2. Such an advantage, immunity, or right held as a prerogative of status or rank, and exercised to the exclusion or detriment of others.

First, this clear definition of “privilege” already implies association with “discrimination” thus: and exercised to the exclusion or detriment of others. It seems that even in the definition of “privilege” someone loses out, or is discriminated against. It is in this indirect form that we see significant systemic racism today; not so much visibly active political (the KKK, or angry white mobs,) legal (Jim Crow laws,) or cultural (Birth of a Nation, black-face) racism, but as the often unwitting whites who enjoy the privilege of having not been currently or historically discriminated against based on the color of their skin and thus enjoy the full benefits of the system to the exclusion and detriment of others. As you yourself agree, “whiteness” is the socio-cultural default setting of the United States; is this not an “advantage, immunity, or right held as a prerogative of status”? One concrete example is that in simply “being the norm”, whites enjoy immunity from racial profiling. Is that not a “privilege”? One could make an argument that this is simply discrimination, but whites undoubtedly enjoy and are granted a certain benefit at the expense of people of color in this situation. Again, the two notions are not so clear and distinct, nor can privilege by ruled out of the picture. If we, say, fill in “by whites” in place of “by an individual, class etc” in the definition above, it would be hard to deny the existence of “white privilege” as so defined, and real world examples abound not least of which Robert Jensen eloquently highlights in the post above regarding the dialogue with his white, conservative student: whites even have the privilege of ignoring white privilege. And, I’m not afraid to risk saying this but, in the United States, “white privilege” is axiomatic, but not because whites are “merely afraid of facing the truth” (that would be a fallacy) but because “privilege”, as so defined, is so readily apparent. I do think we need to define our terms better, Gene, and I‘m glad you brought up this point, but if we engage in a close textual examination of the term “privilege”, it seems to indicate that it cannot be so decisively erased from the agenda of race relations in this country.

Diane said on September 1, 2007 9:42 PM:

The concept of privilege is not that easy when you are on the receiving in of it Gene. You attempt at argument is to diminish the ideas of others by using terms as "bubble" and "claptrap." August is right; someone benefits from discrimination. It does not occur in a vacuum. Those who benefit knowingly or unknowingly from discrimination have privilege. A mere result of to whom I was born, a middle class family who worked hard, has resulted in the privileges that go along with class. Do I work hard to maintain it? Yes, but nonetheless, it give me certain privileges that were given at birth.

afs said on September 6, 2007 2:32 AM:

ITS NATIVE AMERICANS NOT american indians. Columbus was looking for India remember. He cam across north america and found natives and just called them indians because he thought it was india. So if you want to call any native from any country they are INDIGINOUS people.

afs said on September 6, 2007 2:39 AM:

AND I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO ADD THAT THERE IS WHITE PRIVILEGE. THIS IS NOT JUST IN THE USA BUT HERE IN PARTICULAR THE WHITES HAVE DONE EVERYTHING WITH THE HELP OF THE MINORITY. TILL THIS DAY A WORKING MOTHER AND FATHER CANNOT GET BY WITHOUT A NANNY WHO USUALLY WILL BE UNDERPAYED. WARS HAVE BEEN FOUGHT WITH THE HELP OF THE MINORITIES. THE USA WAS BUILT WITH THE HANDS OF THE AFRICAN SLAVES ALONG WITH THE INDUSTRY. FROM THE BEGINNING THE WHITE MAN HAS NEVER WANTED TO GET HIS HANDS DIRTY. WHITES HAVE THE POWER AND THE PRIVILEGE.

VASHON MCINTYRE said on September 20, 2007 9:00 AM:

if you understand history, the true definition of racism and race-white privedge falls into a classification of "When a race (culture) feels by BIRTHRIGHT that they are superior to others is the basis for understanding race/racism and white priviledge. The Founding Fathers of the United States based all aspects of establishing this great country on male priviledge, in the 1500-1700's. (1776). As a modern day society, 21st century we have the ability to cultivate, break barriers, strereotypes, challenge, and erradicate the old historic perspective to uplift all people. Each individual has to determine their level of Power whether it is economic, personal, spiritual, and/or educational. when you master and balance all of these-you posses Power and determine your own destiny. And it is not based on White Priviledge it is the Individual.

swegaifsfautt said on March 25, 2008 10:15 PM:

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