Politics of Location

I am a white woman living in America in the 21st century. Growing up white has made my life fairly easy when it comes to the opportunities I have had to become more successful. For example, I probably have an easier time getting a job, getting into college, or even buying a new car than someone of a different race. Our country doesn’t want to accept it, but it happens all around us. I have also had it easy in that I did not grow up in poverty, in the ghetto, on the streets, etc, as many people of different races have. I grew up in a nice house with my two married parents and four siblings. We were just an average family living the American Dream. I remember going to elementary school and seeing all the kids of races other than white walking to school from the “bad” part of my neighborhood. Most of the white kids never stepped foot in that part of our neighborhood because of a fear. When I think back now,

White privilege is the ability for whites to maintain an elevated status in society that masks racial inequality. It is also considered a system of advantage based on race, as well as societal privileges that benefit white people. It is usually known as the “other”, or the opposite side of discrimination. Some people in society, typically people of color, feel as though people with white skin have benefits over people of color, just because they’re white. White privilege is sometimes seen as a higher social status, having the freedom to move, buy, work, play, and speak freely as one wishes. The effects of white privilege are predominantly evident in professional and educational settings. Some critics argue that the concept of white

Privilege is defined as “a special advantage or authority possessed by a particular person or group” in the Cambridge Dictionary. Globally, white individuals are often granted privileges than minority groups do not receive. While white privilege often goes unnoticed by white individuals, it causes many disadvantages for people of color and effects how they see themselves. Furthermore, Affirmative Action attempts to equal the playing field for minorities but is faced with contention by many white people.

The ways some of my privileges are related to race are to the fact that my mother is white. She is very educated, and a successful business owner. By having the upper hand in life, my mother was able to take care of me great.

Before any collegiate courses, I had not heard or given much thought to white privilege, and even once defined and mentioned in other courses I still have no let go of my oblivious nature. Absorbed in individual concerns I was unable to recognize the privilege and advantages I utilized throughout my life unknowingly. My behaviors and actions, such as the way I spoke or dressed, and even the simple availabity of my preferred food was never questioned or linked to my race. These advantages appear in McIntosh’s list of everyday advantages associated with white

White privilege is a new term that has been classified by academia, but has been experienced for millennia. The course of history is told through the eyes of European Caucasian white males, whilst capturing, infecting or enslaving many ethnicities. Laws in the United States were at some point designed to limit the number of people that were granted freedom, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Even though they have been abolished, in current society, major companies and workplaces have found loopholes to still discriminate as much as possible. To be a white male in this society can be compared to winning the “genetic lottery”, because they have little obstacles in the real world.

Are you privileged , are you only successful because of the color of your skin , was everything in your life handed to you ?

In this sense, I noticed how privileged I am because of my sexuality, socioeconomic status, and country of origin. I was raised in a European country where I had the same ethnicity as the majority. Coming from an upper-middle class family, I never suffered from poverty or the stigma associated with it. This means that I grew up in a nice house and in a nice neighborhood where my neighbors were also middle-class families. I could walk alone around my neighborhood without the concern that I could be assaulted or robbed. This means that I was part of a privileged group, but without being aware of it since, as a kid, my parents could afford healthy food, medical bills (such as dentists, dental brackets, or new glasses) but, also toys and clothes. Furthermore, I was able to participate in extracurricular activities or go to college without worrying about the financial cost. Moreover, I have not struggled with stereotypes or stigmas that come with lower socioeconomic statuses such as thinking that they are less educated. Thus, I was never questioned for being intelligent, honest, or hard-working. Overall, I never faced discrimination or racism and that makes me unaware of how it truly feels like. For that reason, I need to acknowledge my identity

As an individual with an eclectic variety of European descent, I have experienced white privilege. White privilege, prevalent in Western countries like the United States, is a societal structure that puts those who are non-white at a political and sometimes economic disadvantage. Many who do not face these negative experiences are not made aware of the effects white privilege has on their life, unfortunately. Having grown up in Los Angeles, I naively thought I was well versed in racial injustice. It wasn't until I met my partner, and made a deep connection with an individual whose life is negatively affected by the same privilege that benefits me that I began to understand. By sharing their experiences as a non-white citizen of this country,

I spent the last year and a half working for the YMCA in Indianapolis. This experience really opened my eyes to white privilege. During the summer I worked as a camp counselor for the YMCA in Lawrence. The majority of children were African American, or mixed. As I spent time with these children I started to realize that even though they were only six or seven years old that had experienced things I would probably never experience being a white person from a middle class family. Most of these children came from split homes, or they were part of the foster care system. I am from a town where the majority of the population is white, and there were very few foster children. I

In our class discussion, it was mentioned how whites still have privilege over people who are colored. To an extent and through some aspects, whites may have have advantage. However, if people were to examine “privilege” closer it would see that colored people are more privileged then they would like to believe.

Throughout my whole eighteen years of life, I have always been in public school with people that were not like me. For as long as I can remember it seems like I had always been a minority because I was the “white student” in the class. As a young naive girl I would always ask mom why I didn’t have

Congratulations for those of you who have won the fictitious genetic lottery imposed by society, the government, and first world countries for being born white. The prize: the white privileges granted to us every single day; set by the racist, the profiteers, and the selfish individuals allowed to prevail for centuries through the silence of our own fears and thinking that this was and is not our problem. The topic of white privilege has unsettled many. Have you ever stopped to think what privileges you may take for granted everyday for having a certain shade of skin? To have a generally “positive relationship with the police,” the ‘nude color’ matching your own skin tone, the hotel shampoo matching your hair type and texture, seeing people of your own race celebrated in monuments, textbooks, currency, not being followed by security personnel in stores, and to be not perceived as a danger to the community in the media (Greenberg and Holladay). It's easy to overlook our white advantages when it's not you who is being directly confronted, violated, and unjustly prejudiced for simply having a different colored skin. If you had a different skin tone, would these everyday inconveniences to downright discrimination become more apparent?

From the moment a person is born, they enter the world with an ascribed status. An ascribed status is an inborn status and is usually difficult or impossible to change (116). My ascribed status is that I am a white/caucasian female. Because I come from a white/caucasian family, we would be considered more “privileged” than others. However, because this system is not based on race or ethnicity, our assigned class in society had everything to do with how my parents worked and lived their lives. When I was younger, my family’s social class status was considered to be the working/lower-middle

In high school, I thought of myself as being more privileged than most of my classmates. Most of the students that I attended class with came from a relatively low socioeconomic background. Diversity was present at our high school but privilege was scant. In the activity that we participated in during class, I was surprised to find out that many students were not very close to the front of the group