White Skin Privilege Analysis

900 Words2 Pages

One could define privilege as the benefit that is a birthed right to certain individuals and not to others. Privilege is a thought that is introduced at a very young age. Privilege cannot be earned; one can only be born into it. White privilege inhabits the white racial group through an advantage that is typically blinding to those it involves. “Privilege is used to interrogate the ways in which structural and systematic inequalities operate.” (Harris, 2016) In order to evaluate the privileges the white racial group experiences as a blinded entity or a recognizable nature we must look into privileges as a whole. Privileges create inequalities through a structural and systematic perspective, which breeds through a social, political, and …show more content…

Firstly, it finds a subjective meaning within racial differences like intelligence and character. Next, “it seeks to maintain dominance through a complex system of beliefs, behaviors, use of language and policies”. (Anon, 2017) Finally, it seeks to raise superiority of one racial group over another or others. Separating the manifestations from an individual and institutional perspective of racism, “white skin privilege is a transparent preference for whiteness that saturates our society.” (Anon, 2017) The white racial group doesn’t fathom the realization and involvement of privileges they acquire just solely based on their race. . Privilege can never be earned through achievements; it is simply a chance at birth. If you are not born with it, you will never achieve it. Privileged should be considered an unfair advantage among a social, economical, and political context. Tasks experienced daily contain multiple privileges the white racial group cannot identify as different because they are experienced through societies “norms”. Daily routines experienced unconsciously by the white race are seen as “the normal way”, they sometimes oppress the minorities through housing, occupational advantages, education, and the aspects of the “American Dream”. White dominance causes this racial group to be blind to the fact that they experience social privileges that the minority groups never experience. A …show more content…

Racial identity is not recognizable to the average white individual. This makes it very complicated when discussing how the white individual is blinded by their privilege when being white in general blinds them. The educational system, families, and the political system have implied the white racial group as the “norm”, they considered this advantage as the normal way of life. How can the white racial group be put into blame if they are taught to think it is normal? Take for example, laundry detergent shopping. Your family has always used Tide laundry detergents. You are aware there are other brands, but you feel obligate to stick to what you know and what you have been taught is the right thing. This is the white racial group’s logic. “White students are not taught at a young age about diversity.” (Davis and Gentlewarrior, 2015) Stated in (Case, 2017), students attempted surveys to spread awareness of racial inequalities and racial bias to recognize racism as a whole. Results provided white privilege adaptations and racial injustice. White privilege believed to be benefited in unjust ways. (2017) Majority of the time, white people do not intend to come across as racial or biased, they are labeled into this institutional structure that already tagged them as

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