It's safe to say that there has been many instances over the course of many years that prove white privilege exists.
Yet some still choose to make up excuses for the occurrences that make a perfect example of the terms meaning. People want to ignore the reality of it because anything racial tends to make people uncomfortable, especially when calling out racial unfairness and mistreatment. People don't want to understand what they haven't experienced it for themselves. Well, I have experienced it first-hand and it sucks.
I guess you could say I'm frequent flyer. But my last two trips to the airport left me feeling angry and small. I was at an airport in Louisiana the first time I was picked out of everyone in line, to be pat and down and have my hands swabbed for traces of explosives. Yes, traces of explosives -- that's pretty harsh. I was the only one who received this offensive "random" treatment, but also the only one going through TSA who had brown skin.
The second time was a year later at a South Carolina airport. It was my very next time being at an airport following the incident in Louisiana. Again, I was "randomly" picked to be patted down -- which if it was left at that I wouldn't be nearly as upsetting. But for them to go the extra mile once again and swab my hands for explosives was unbelievable. But it gets better. The TSA security guard gave me no explanation as to what she was doing. That's a big no-no. I only knew because it had happened to me before.
My boyfriend, who is white, was flying with me and had a knife in his wallet that he had forgotten about. Once TSA noticed it, all they did was ask if he wanted to check it in to keep or throw it away. They weren't really worried about it and he certainly didn't get pat down, let alone get his hands swabbed. But me, the one who made it through the metal detector with no problems, was the one that they chose to have my hands swabbed for explosives? Who again, just so happens to be the only one around with dark skin? So before you say TSA was just being careful and just doing their job, where was that with my white boyfriend with the knife?
At the JFK airport in New York, I carefully observed how TSA pat every other person down. You could clearly see that they were choosing who to pat down based on a random pattern. But no one got there hands checked for traces of explosives. So one thing the airports where the incidents occurred have in common? They're in the South: the belly of racism in America. Just a thought.
Don't tell me it was just a coincidence or that it was at random. Because it was not. Don't tell me that I'm over reacting, because it is extremely offensive to be picked out of an all white crowd and be checked for traces of explosives. It is extremely concerning when you are the only one with a brown complexion and you are chosen two consecutive times to be checked for explosives. Explosives, people. When your white boyfriend had a knife in his pocket, but TSA is more concerned about you. I shouldn't have a panic attack every time I walk through an airport because i fear my skin color will draw attention to me. Can you imagine what it's like for those that are actually from the Middle East or Muslim heritage?
With everything going on these days and with the irrational fear of people who come from the Middle East, or people who look like they could be from the Middle West, you would think TSA, especially being in the South would be more careful about blatantly picking someone based on the color of their skin. I mean seriously, you don't randomly check someone's hands for traces of explosives, you do it because you are suspicious. And what would would cause suspicion other then my skin color?
This is white privilege. The term isn't a tool to make you feel guilty for being white. It isn't something that says there has never been a white person to ever face struggles and hardship. But it is to say that people of color have a very different experience of this world than white people. You will never be treated unfairly because you are white. A white person will never have to worry about being stopped at the airport because their skin color is suspicious.
White privilege means you will never become the subject of systematic and institutionalized racism. You will never know how it feels. But it does mean that you can recognize its existence and speak up for those that experience it's reality first hand. When people of color speak up about this they are demonized. If white people speak up about it, others might listen.
