It takes a special kind of person to deny that white privilege exists. Thankfully, I am not one of them; however, I do admit that the concept was originally foreign to me. My first response was not believing in it. When looking at things like affirmative action and diversity requirements, it is easy and disappointing to see how this confusion can happen. Fortunately, I was misunderstanding the situations at hand. White privilege is not about proactive action taken to aid Caucasians. Quite the contrary. It is simply the systematic disadvantages given to people of color.
So then I realized what it meant to check my privilege. I had to realize I was privileged by being who I am, not just white. I am privileged by having parents who are financially well-off, so that they could pay for private schooling and college education. I am privileged by never suffering from food insecurity, again, thanks to my parents. I am privileged by being heterosexual, and never facing discrimination based on my orientation. I am privileged by being male, and benefiting from wage inequality whenever I might be employed. And moreover, I am privileged by being white, by having a far lesser chance of incarceration, by having unfairly statistically greater chances of employment, by not being stopped unnecessarily by law-enforcement, by likely getting off charges if I am caught with drugs, by having a lesser chance of being shot while unarmed, and by not being treated with suspicion, just because of the color of my skin. The list sadly goes on and on to a depressing extent.
My question is: what now? It is clear to see how privilege is a complete crap-shoot in America. Privileges are not earned, but given. Who our parents are, the arbitrary way out society formed itself, all contribute to the advantages that people like me have been given. My question is, what should I do about it?
Is it enough to be conscious of these issues, and work hard not to perpetuate them? Or, to a lesser extent, is it simply my responsibility to vote for a candidate who promises reform of financial, penal, and educational institutions?
Now my conundrum becomes clear. What is too much? What is not enough? Because whenever I think about the way racism has screwed up America, I always think of a quote by Fredrick Douglas, who said: "Do nothing with us! Your doing with us has already played the mischief with us... And if the Negro cannot stand on his own legs, let him fall also. All I ask is, give him a chance to stand on his own legs!"
It is then that the true issue become clear. America is not even at the point where we can consider Douglas' insistence. We are literally behind the vision of Fredrick Douglas. We still think that the black community would not function without our intervention. African Americans cannot be inferior, as some supreme court justices apparently still believe. A great deal of people in this country cling to the racist Ideologies of the past; that the black community cannot, and will not be a productive contribution to society.
It is not correct to say that racism is over in America. Nor is it possible to say, let us elevate people of color to our level of privilege, the level that we so easily take for granted. According to DeRay Mckesson, one of the leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement, the next step after checking privilege is dismantling it. But even that is not a clear-cut process.
We need to realize that white privilege is not about actively helping to shore up the disenfranchised among us. The issue is actively helping to destroy the hindrances that we insanely still allow, and moreover, to remember that it is not our responsibility to correct the black community, but simply to make sure that our establishments do not block their paths.
