White Privilege Essays Example

Privilege is a special advantage; right or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group. White privilege is a special advantage to white people due to their skin color. The writer compares white privilege to male privilege and says that the white people are unwilling to believe that they are overprivileged. The white people deny that the white privilege puts them at an advantage and are taught to reject the white privilege. According to the writer, white privilege is an invisible pack of unearned advantages which she can count on cashing every day. The white people may be termed as oppressive, but they do not recognize that they are oppressive because they do things unconsciously. They do not see some of their actions as racist because they have a corrupt meaning of racism. They are taught that racism is an act that puts others at a disadvantage but not that puts them at an advantage.
The conditions that the author describes that are attached to the daily effects of the white privilege of her life are true. The author also says that this is not a free country. I agree because one’s life is not what one makes it; many doors open for certain people through no virtues of their own. In addition, it is true that the whites may be confident, comfortable, and oblivious and in the same proportion other groups may be made unconfident, uncomfortable, and alienated. I disagree with the writer on her account that due to her skin color she could freely disparage, neglect, fear or be oblivious to anything outside of the dominant cultural forms. I also tend to differ with the author in her statement that it is challenging to unravel features of unearned advantage that rest more on social class, race, ethnic identity and sex. That is wrong since it relies on the mindset of individuals and their initiative to make a change. Also, it depends on the actions that we make consciously or unconsciously. The blacks are not privileged because they endure racism acts. For example, while shopping the owners of the shop will monitor my every move because they think I may steal from them because of my skin color. I have also faced and witnessed how law enforcement treats those of a different skin color. It may be warranted because of past trends, but the intensity of suspicion toward me, unlike my White counterparts is great. In restaurants also, I have been made to wait as a white person got served first, despite I having arrived before him. We can rationalize all these skewed and unjust events, but we may fall prey to the same blindness of racial inequality that plagues us still. With that, we can conclude that privilege depends on the mindset of people and if we can alter this and treat everyone as equals everyone could enjoy the privileges.