That thing called White Privilege
Hey doves,
It seems fitting to publish this post on the day of Trump's inauguration because quite frankly he is the epitome of white privilege and I can't think of a better day to share this article with you, that I wrote last year for the print edition of Ramona Magazine for girls.
White Privilege (noun): White privilege is a set of advantages and/or immunities that white people benefit from on a daily basis that not only is inaccessible to others but also inhibits them.
Ethnic minorities have always been considered the lesser race, whether it is indirectly done through privilege or directly through racism. There has never been a point in time where people of colour haven’t been made to feel inferior due to the colour of their skin, and that sadly is reality. So often, people will try to brush their privilege off as hard work or circumstantial but fail to recognise that they were practically born with a silver spoon in their mouth that puts them several steps ahead of their minority peers.
I, myself, come from a bi-racial background and this is something that has always proved difficult for me and made it hard for me to find my identity; both culturally and personally. As a teenager, I became much more aware of the struggles that ethnic minorities faced on a daily basis and thus found it hard to directly attach myself to a part of me that I know would have played a part in enslaving my ancestry. It didn’t help that peers at school would attempt to belittle me by saying things like “eww you’re so white” because I preferred country to hip-hop and one direction to Migos. To be honest, a part of me agreed with them; how could I claim “black” when I didn’t listen nor like any of the popular culture that was associated with black history. Was I just a fraud? Or a product of a fight that had been raging before I was even born? It hurt me that I had to be judged based off the music I listened to rather than the nature of my character, but that’s the thing about discrimination- it’s based on assumptions and subjective beliefs on how a person should be/live.
This is no different to privilege, those who experience it are a culmination of discriminatory beliefs and a refusal to see how their skin colour presents a golden ticket to success within society. Take for example, the All Lives Matter movement. These are a group of people who refuse to see that black people in America and all around the world are more likely to be racially abused/or killed by the police. Why? Because they are beginning to feel discomfort at losing a bit of their privilege, equality to them feels stifling and that scares them to death. Also, the racial makeup of the movement is majority white which is pretty ironic considering that white people are never really put into a position where the fate of their lives rests in the hands of the police. Last year, young black men in America were nine times more likely to be killed than any other minority, with a shocking final death toll of 1,134. Furthermore, of the 1,134 people killed, about one in five were unarmed. This means they were not in possession of a weapon at the time of the incident, so if they were posing no threat what possible reason could the police have for murdering an American citizen- the very people they are paid to protect. Some cite “implicit bias,” where others claim it to be a “mistake”; but I mainly see it as taking advantage of their privilege by taking the law into their own hands in weaponising the colour of the black majority.
When I turned eighteen, I decided to make the transition from a feminist to an intersectional feminist as I hated how much traditional feminism focused on white issues and did not take into account that ethnic minorities experienced inequality in different ways. I started reading literature that focused on privilege and black feminism- before I knew it I began to notice things that I didn’t really consider before. I guess you can say I had my ‘woke’ moment.
During my penultimate years at school, I actually began to notice just how white-washed my sixth form management is- 99% of the positions of power within the school are white, middle class men who as my sixth form management teacher put it in assembly once “go swimming at Harrow School for boys on a Monday morning.” *if you aren’t aware of Harrow for boys; it is a public school that has been attended by the likes of Winston Churchill and typically associated with the elite* The lack of diversity within the teaching department means ethnic minority children, particularly boys often go overlooked and are regarded as challenging rather than encouraged or praised. It is not that my teachers are inherently racist or discriminatory because they’re not, majority of them are lovely; it is just that they are not all accustomed to the lives of other minorities. Many of them come from privileged backgrounds and don’t realise that not everyone has been brought up the same way they were and their kids will be.
Privilege within education has been a topic of discussion for a while now. Privately educated children are often seen to possess a lifelong privilege over those stately educated- children educated by the state are seen to be limited in terms of opportunities available to them and deemed to have less social mobility. However, the reality is that majority of the kids who are privately educated come from white, middle class backgrounds with a small minority being from BAME backgrounds; so if most middle class children already get a head start in life, should we really be focusing on their success as much as we do?
Let’s take a look at last year’s Oscars nominees, for example: The absence of actors of colour did not go unnoticed and led to an anti-white protest by actors who have quite simply had enough of not being given the recognition they deserve. Protestors ranged from: Will Smith, Ava Duvernay, Spike Lee and Jada Pinkett Smith. However, this should not come as a shock; in 2014 only 2% of the Academy’s voters were black, compared to the 94% that were white. The sheer white-washing of the academy meant that talents such as: Michael B Jordan (Creed) and Idris Elba (Beast of no nation) were overlooked. Now, I was the first person to say *or scream* how much Leo deserved to get an award… I mean it was a long time coming wasn’t it? But was it not ironic to say the least how much we focused on an already privileged actor over the ones who are constantly having to prove themselves amongst the Hollywood “top dogs.” Now, inequality within the industry does not just apply to black actors but all minorities- Hispanic actors have secured only 3% of the nominations, although 16% of Americans are Latino. Asian-Americans (6% of the population) have had to make do with 1%. On the other hand, white actors have secured up to a staggering 95% of nominations. Moreover, it has been suggested that those privately educated are more likely to receive an academy award than those who have been state educated, for example: 67% of British winners have attended fee paying schools- the majority of these are white, with the exception of a few who come from ethnic backgrounds. But, it has been proven countless times that middle class white children are more likely to attend such a school, have better networks and more access to certain career opportunities. Dame Helen Mirren has previously warned that “acting is becoming a preserve of rich youngsters whose parents will fund them through drama school.” So are we really celebrating “talent” if we are just paying attention to the ones most likely to succeed anyway?
White privilege is not an ideology more than it is a practice but a culmination of prejudice and discrimination that is rooted in history. Privilege is granted off the backs of individuals that have always been considered inferior because they looked different; privilege is a solution to a non-existent threat that was created by the minds of the ignorant.
As I said before, I witness privilege on a daily basis at school and it is pretty obvious that majority of those who hold the upper hand in society are either really oblivious about their position or just simply comfortable with their place in society. It seems that equality is considered a threat in the eyes of those already privileged in that equality is seen as demeaning their status and stripping them away from their entitlement; which leads me to my final note on when we will finally see change. As of right now, I do not believe equality is near because it seems as though we are playing an endless game of tug of war with the elite. I think the better question is, who will be the first to let go?
