We were all reading excerpts of Michelle Alexander's "The New Jim Crow" in class one morning when a classmate indignantly raised his hand.
"I agree with what the author has been saying, generally," he started, "But I don't see why she had to label all the white people in the book as racist, as racist white people. I'm white and I'm not racist at all."
I raised my eyes from the reading to study his face. He looked as indignant as he sounded, and he sounded pretty sincere to me.
The longer I looked at him, I began to mentally list all the differences we had between each other, one after another. Yes, we both claim to not be racist, but there is a myriad of factors that shaped our lives the way we know them that created completely different realities for us. They all stem from the privilege this person receives due to the color of his skin.
White privilege is real, rampant and something that cannot be ignored. White privilege is what allows my classmate to be favored by school authorities and the education system. To be as articulate as he wants to be in class without people being surprised. To not have to explain all the time why cultural appropriation is not at all appropriate. To be favored by the media, and not labeled as a "terrorist" if he committed heinous crimes. To not have to worry about job prospects due to the color of his skin, hair or cultural accessories. To escape negative—and often violent—stereotypes associated and perpetuated with his race. To generally have a good relationship with the police, and not having to worry as much about being stop and frisked. To never have to inform his children about the harsh realities of racism. To feel welcomed and secure wherever he goes, because pretty much every institution will cater to him and others like him.
Hardships do not erase the existence of privilege. For all I know, my classmate may have had some struggles growing up, and I am not disregarding them nor apathetic of them. But it doesn't, and will never change the fact that, despite everything, the odds will always be in his favor, and that people of color will always remain on the bottom no matter how we grew up or what we continue to do.
Acknowledging white privilege would not make you racist. It certainly wouldn't make my classmate racist. We cannot change the color of our skin, nor how people perceive it. But continuing to deny white privilege while people of color clearly express and demonstrate how white privilege affects us certainly might make you be racist. By constantly denying your privilege, by ignoring the complaints, you are keeping the benefits. By acknowledging your privilege instead, by acknowledging the blatant disparities in living between you and me, and the complaints we have, you are relinquishing your power. You essentially want to sacrifice the benefits that came with the color of your skin so that everyone, regardless of race, can be treated fairly and equally.
The "racist white people" that Alexander mentioned in her book are people such as policy-makers who have used their white privilege for their own gains to subdue people of color via the criminal justice system, mainly the African-American community. My classmate may not identify himself as a racist person, but if he never acknowledges the fact that he reaps multiple benefits due to the color of his skin, and doesn't stand up for the people that are wrongfully impacted by those benefits, his privilege will continue to remain, and he will remain complicit in it and white supremacy as a whole.
Yes, white privilege is real, and acknowledging white privilege will not make you racist. Instead, it will allow us to move forward, and to be able to work together with other people of color to address institutionalized racism. It can allow us to dismantle clearly skewed systems that favor one group while subjugating everyone else. Denying its existence will only hinder us from progressing towards racial equality for all marginalized groups in this country. As a privileged person, you have the choice of remaining silence, and, therefore, complicit in systematic racism, or speaking up about your privilege and using your power to fight back against it.
