White Privilege

            Society, through the government is tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that the rights and freedoms of its people are protected. Since one of the rights is the right to live, countries engage in different ways to ensure that citizens are provided with the means to lead a comfortable life. There are however occurrences where some members of the community take more than they need while others are left lacking even the basis essential. The act of giving access to government resources to certain people and denying the same opportunities to others is what has come to be referred to as political inequality. The existence of political inequality has led to the emergence of white privilege as it gives more opportunities to whites than members from other ethnic backgrounds.

            White privilege is the existence of constructs in society that give more opportunities to one specific race, whites, while denying the same to members from different races (Foy & Smith, 2007). The existence of white privilege is strongly as a result of the various forms of racial discrimination that have existed in society throughout history (Fitzgerald, 2014)). For years, whites have carried themselves as a superior race while all other race were regarded as inferior. While racism is not as common as it was in the past, the effects are still being felt as people, either intentionally or not, consider whites as being better and therefore deserving better opportunities.

            White privilege is a form of political inequality as it offers more opportunities to whites than any other race. A good example of how white privilege disadvantages non-whites is the case when seeking employment (Shapiro, 2004)). To some extent, education is used as a measure of quality when determining if a possible candidate is qualified for a specific job. In a society dominated by white privilege however, whites have a higher chance of getting employed than people from other races like African Americans (Moore, 2008). In such a setting, whites find it easier to meet their goals because they have an added advantage. Employment makes it easier for the whites to earn a living and maintain a respectable status in society.

African Americans on the other hand have to struggle just to enjoy some of the opportunities available to whites. Something as simple as selecting schools is a challenge for non-whites because the first positions are usually reserved for whites (McIntosh, 2017). After school, most African Americans continue to struggle because the opportunity for a promising career, or any job for that matter, is usually reserved for a white candidate.

Despite its negative outcomes, white privilege has managed to remain unchecked as people are yet to differentiate it from racism. Most people consider any vice carried out on someone on the basis of their gender is a form of racism (DiAngelo, 2018). This makes it easier for other vices such as white privilege to go unchecked. When people mistake the two, it becomes difficult to resolve both of them accordingly. Success in the fight against racism for instance can be seen as success in the fight to end white privilege (Rothenberg, 2008). The two are however unrelated and there is a need to create awareness on the negative impact white privilege causes. Focusing on white privilege as an infringement on people’s rights on its own is therefore a call to action for all researchers as this will help to share more information on how white privilege affects people and why it should be done away with like all other forms of political inequality.

 

 

References

Blakemore, M. T. (2017). White Privilege. Minneapolis print

DiAngelo, R. J. (2018). White fragility: Why it's so hard for White people to talk about racism.    Boston: Beacon press

Fitzgerald, K. (2014). Recognizing Race and Ethnicity: Power, Privilege, and Inequality. New     York: Westview Press.

McIntosh, P. (2017). White privilege and male privilege: A personal account of coming to see             correspondences through work in women's studies. Wellesley, MA: Wellesley College,    Center for Research on Women.

Moore, W. L. (2008). Reproducing racism: White space, elite law schools, and racial inequality.             Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Rothenberg, P. S. (2008). White privilege: Essential readings on the other side of racism.

Shapiro, T. M. (2004). The hidden cost of being African American: How wealth perpetuates         inequality. New York: Oxford University Press.

Smith, C., & Foy, M. (2007). The cost of privilege: Taking on the system of white supremacy and             racism. Rocky Mount, NC: Camino Press.