While I was scrolling through Twitter trends trying to find some inspiration for my article this week, I came across the #WhitePrivilegeMeans trend. I clicked on it to see if, in light of recent tragedies, people were putting actual thought into what it means to be white in today’s society, and recognizing the privilege it gives. I was sadly disappointed in what I saw. While a few of the tweets were thoughtful, most were white people defending themselves, as if somehow this trend was attacking them.
A lot of the tweets were claiming that white privilege is something made up by people of color to either justify their “reverse racism,” excuse them from being lazy and not being as successful as white people, even though they were treated exactly the same way, or not understanding that it’s not about how much money you have, but how you’re treated because of your skin color.
#WhitePrivilegeMeans that we are the majority, and the power we have in the United States makes “reverse racism” impossible. Racism, in its simplest terms means discrimination against someone based upon their race, however racism is not a simple perception. Racism implies that one race is being oppressed, and white people simply are not at risk of being oppressed in the United States. Sure, people can be prejudice towards white people, but until there is a systemic oppression of the entire race I refuse to call it racism.
#WhitePrivilegeMeans that you can have the same qualifications as a person of color, and you will get the job over them (the employer may even do this subconsciously, but it happens all the time). Nobody is denying your hard work or success, but by saying that white privilege doesn’t exist, you are denying the hard work and success of people of color. #WhitePrivilegeMeans that the only thing we have to worry about when walking into a job interview is whether or not we meet the qualifications, and how well we can interview. People of color have to worry about whether or not their interviewer has a hidden bias towards their race that could even be hidden to the interview themselves.
#WhitePrivilegeMeans that regardless of how wealthy you were growing up, you were rewarding opportunities that people of color were denied simply because of the color of your skin. This is an umbrella term, it does not apply to every single person, and it doesn’t make you a bad person, but denying its existence only perpetuates the problem.
Ultimately, #WhitePrivilegeMeans that white people can take a trend that is supposed to allow us to take accountability for some of our actions, and turn it into a personal attack on our race, or simply deny its existence altogether.
