This is a sensitive topic amongst most people, but it needs to be discussed; the fact that it is so rarely discussed is just as much of the problem as the problem itself: white privilege.
White privilege doesn’t mean that all white people are more rich and privileged than minority groups, because that is not true. It means that society’s perception of them compared to minorities has them on a pedestal.
White people are born into this world and they are already at an advantage because of their skin color. When people see a black child who is just as successful as a white child and they compare the two, society will assume that the white child comes from a better home and background. The stereotypes that are thrown upon African Americans are so suffocating that it is hard to live life without running into them on the daily. We have to work twice as hard as a white person who is equal with us on every level. Society’s perception of the African American is so behind the times. We currently have a black president who has been in office for two terms, yet society still views blacks as inferior to whites.
In schools especially, these discriminatory attitudes are quite obvious. Most of the time, the kids in detention and who get in trouble the most often tend to be the black kids. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that they didn’t do anything to earn a detention, I’m just saying that black kids are under a microscope at school. They can't get away with any of the little things that white kids can get away with.
The most important thing about this issue to focus on is how to bring about change. What can we do as individuals to change society’s perception of African Americans? What can we do to eliminate white privilege? There is not just one single right answer to the question, but it is something that we can fix. Somehow, we as a society need to figure out a way to change the way people see black people compared to the way they see white people.
Non-African American people always want to be "black." Girls want to have thick hips, big lips and they want to dance like us, but they don't want to take the heat of actually being black in America. The boys want to act "hood," sag their pants, try to rap, but don't suffer the consequences that African American males in this country suffer. For example, if two boys were doing something suspicious on the street, with one being black and the other being white, at the end of the day, it would be the black boy who gets in trouble. This is white privilege. Society, especially law enforcement, sees whites as good people who can do no wrong, whereas they see blacks as people who are always up to no good. In order to eliminate this, we need to start with the way society as a whole views African Americans. And once we solve that, we can start to move forward and eliminate white privilege.
