Aurielle Florencia Tanuwidjaja
16018068
K-03
Questioning the Privilege of the Colorless
Nowadays, racism has become a popular topic that almost all people talk about, except for
a small portion of the masses who consciously recognize white privilege as a part of their lives, giving
them protection from being racially profiled or unfairly stereotyped by others. This is a reckoning
issue in America, where a various amount of people with diverse backgrounds have come to live
together in one giant community in the United States of America, and the people of color have to
face the overuse of white privilege almost everywhere, which has become a staple belief in the
whole country. After reading the article “What Is White Privilege, Really?” by Cory Collins
(https://www.tolerance.org/magazine/fall-2018/what-is-white-privilege-really), as a person who
lives outside of the said community, I have my own views regarding this issue persisting in America.
Personally, I disagree with the article because white privilege is merely a cloak to overshadow their
racism and the seemingly innocent behavior, silent treatment and blissful ignorance of the people
receiving this privilege.
White privilege is an unjust excuse to overshadow racism. Being the product of racism, it
doesn’t feel right to say that it doesn’t include racism in it. White privilege, in general, are the
benefits that white people receive, either consciously or unconsciously, and mostly experience in
daily life. It’s the fact that TV shows mostly put a white people in the spotlight; the flesh-colored
band aid is suitable for the pale skin; the grocery store mostly catering for the culture of said
ethnicity; and the stereotyping of people of color being more suspicious than those not of color.
White people mostly deny the fact that white privilege exists, all for the sake to avoid being called
upon as racist, and prefer to just enjoy the benefits of said privilege in silence. They have been born
with the belief that they are the epitome of humans and other ethnicities are to be treated
differently than they are. Surely, we cannot blame the newer generations for being born into this
kind of community, as white privilege was already a staple, especially in America, since the 19 th
century. White privilege itself is derived from the years of biased opinions regarding race, which
then stems to racism, which is when their beliefs are sprang into action, and what was once just a
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silent privilege becomes an act of racism. This issue persists in America due to what is known as
systemic racism, a condition whereas the government applies racism in a large scale, which then
causes the masses to apply this in daily lives, as they believe that what the government is doing is
right.
People with the so-called white privilege are able to watch people get judged merely from
their skin tone in silence, because they seemingly aren’t part of the problem. There are, however, a
few times where white privilege is used for the greater good. Like when Joy DeGruy and her sister-
in-law were having a casual trip to the grocery store and the two of them were treated very
differently by the cashier because of their skin tone, despite the fact that Joy’s sister-in-law was
actually biracial; half-white and half-black. Joy was unnecessarily inspected and treated impolitely,
whereas her sister-in-law was treated with respect and open-arms. Seeing Joy treated unfairly, she
stood up and used her white privilege to stop the cashier from continuing to sabotage Joy. Though
what Joy’s sister-in-law did was commendable, surely this would not have happened if white
privilege and racism never existed in the first place. Dishearteningly, most people with white
privilege never use their privilege to help others. They tend to stay silent and just watch the scene
unfold, like the two elder white women from Joy’s story, as they fear the fact that they might be
judged instead if they risk their comfort of being able to live their so called perfectly-normal-life, but
then again, as a part of white privilege, they have the power to remain silent in the face of racial
inequity. What’s more infuriating is that a majority of white people support the idea of racial
equality but aren’t supportive of policies that could make it more possible, such as reparations,
affirmative action or law enforcement reform, which makes them, unarguably, hypocrites.
In conclusion, I think that white privilege is merely an asinine concept that is used as a shield
by a majority of white people to allow them to silently slip through this world filled with racism and
avoid conflict whenever they please. In worse cases, this privilege is often misused as a weapon, to
attack others but not be judged as being racist by other people of the same ethnicity as them. Then
again, it depends on who’s wielding the sword, it is in their hands whether or not they are to use
their privilege for the greater good, but alas, if such a privilege had never existed, perhaps we would
have achieved what we aspire – a world with less racism – because we are humans and we can never
expect the world to be fixed in a blink of an eye.
Reference:
https://www.tolerance.org/magazine/fall-2018/what-is-white-privilege-really
