Power, Privilege and Language

Photo Credit: Danilo Ugaddan

Growing up, I was always aware that being white had its inherent advantages – but I could never have imagined the extent.

I grew up in a very tiny, rural and conservative town. The community was almost entirely white. I was never victim to racist remarks or unfairness. I always felt fairly comfortable in my community and like I had the tools to do whatever I wanted in life. I was ‘smart’ and expected from a young age that I would go to a good college and get a good job. I didn’t have to try very hard in school, and I had all the tools necessary to assure I made it through easily and without a hitch. And here I am now, college. Just like it was the next logical step.

I realize now that it isn’t like that for everyone. I’d never really thought about that until I went to college, maybe because it’s almost a hard pill to swallow. The whole process – graduating with good grades, getting into a university – felt rather easy to me, which I always attributed to being ‘smart.’ But a lot of people are smart, and not all of them get scholarships to attend college or to live on campus far from home.

Like Peggy McIntosh states in “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack,” “My schooling gave me no training in seeing myself as an oppressor, as an unfairly advantaged person, or as a participant in a damaged culture. I was taught to see myself as an individual whose moral state depended on her individual moral will.”

I always saw myself that way, too. The classic narrative of working hard to achieve something and ‘pulling yourself up by your bootstraps’ seemed very attainable to me. But I realize now that perhaps my view of a guaranteed education and career was unfairly granted to me, and I was maybe even a little entitled to think it was something I was promised.

Being white, I have had all the opportunities and tools I’ve ever needed to succeed. I was provided with everything I needed as a child to learn and advance my education – others do not get that chance. People who aren’t white, straight, or male are at an automatic disadvantage and are constantly reminded of such through mistreatment, inappropriate remarks, and the many sinister effects of institutional racism.

It took me a long time to realize, but I never watch the evening news and see people of my race being called ‘terrorists.’ I don’t have to fight to see people that look like me represented in movies. People don’t assume I got my job or a scholarship because of the color of my skin.

Though it is invisible to many white people, white privilege is a tangible thing. Many of the privileges and opportunities white people enjoy are advantages we hold onto and claim without thinking why – but those advantages need to be seriously re-evaluated. For our society to ever be rid of institutional racism, I think white privilege needs to be addressed and brought to light for those that do not even realize they benefit from it.