Seeing White Podcast Essay

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

“But on other levels, James’s gaze at “new immigrants” a racially inflected term that categorized the numerous newcomers from southern and eastern Europe as different both from the whiter and longer established northern and western Europe migrants to the United States and from the nonwhite Chinese and other “Asiatics” opened for him new possibilities and alien drama”, stated by Roediger (2005, 5 & 6). With white’s being on top of everything and the new immigrants are not being accepted very easy as to pass under the government’s regulations, it makes them confused of what they are really supposed to be and what identity they belong

When you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son asking in agonizing pathos: “Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?”; when you take a cross-country drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading “white” men and “colored”. (p. 4)

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,

The way people of color lack whiteness can come in appearance, speech, activities and many more. We associate certain things to certain groups and obviously white American have their own standard that the whole society has created. When non-white people do not fit that standard of the American society, “whiteness”, we see it as a threat or something “not acceptable”. So our automatic reaction is to fight back, distance ourselves from the difference and start using discriminatory practices against them; where these tensions and status quo can emerge as a

“Race is always historically specific” (7). This quote summarizes a major argument in Mae Ngai’s book, Impossible Subjects. Ngai argues that since the Johnson-Reed Act of 1924, race and immigration are closely tied together in the United States. This act solidified the category of the illegal alien and this group of people have since become a major concern for leaders of the government. Mae Ngai goes in-depth about how the Johnson-Reed Act of 1924 impacted American immigration policies until it was replaced by the Immigration Act of 1965. The Johnson-Reed Act of 1924 greatly impacted the plight of racial and ethnic minorities and Ngai clearly depicts each of the many instances throughout her book. Some of the groups that became disenfranchised where Filipino immigrants during the 1920 and ‘30s and Japanese immigrants during World War II.

White privilege is defined, according to Emba, as the “the social advantage that comes from being seen as the norm in the United States, automatically conferred irrespective of wealth, gender or other factors.” Because it is an inherited membership, most of the people in this group do not understand the

I think this because look at how the term first came about; it was created as a way to identify someone. Then as years progressed, it evolved to mean a person with power and used to define someone, telling them where they stand on the social hierarchy. Now, “white” goes far beyond skin color. Being “white” is a concept, if you have money, no matter what skin tone, you are white or white washed. White doesn’t mean to be white, it means to be privileged, so if you are privileged you are

In his documentary Tim Wise explains; how it is easy for whites to assume that they are not racist, that they are "post-racial." White Like Me also shows how these "colorblind" racial attitudes should not be the end goal or embraced. Instead, we as a society need to be “color conscious.” The goal of the video is to help individuals understand that racism is an issue faced by our whole society, not just by people of color, he also makes point that while many whites remain oblivious to racism, others have courageously challenged it.

One of the major topics in the documentary was what white privilege was and what it means to those being interviewed. The term “white privilege” seemed to evoke many different responses, some couldn 't even answer when asked "What are the disadvantages of being white?" by the interviewer. One of the interviewees even taught a class on white privilege to other white students at is college. There he posted several privileges that white people had over those of color and discussed them, including that whites can ignore the issues people of color face and the ease of getting a job when you are white compared to being a minority. Other points brought out under the white privilege umbrella was the sense of entitlement white people experience, the lack of police harassment, and lack of prejudice they have to experience.

Asian immigrants in the history of United States had a hard time gaining legal citizenship. For instance, the Naturalization Act of 1790 excluded both free blacks and Asian Americans from U.S. citizenship, while the 1870 revision expanded the white racial qualification to include “aliens of African nativity and to persons of African descent,” keeping aliens of Asian origin excluded. Even under harsh conditions, Asian immigrants did not give up attempting to be naturalized after 1870. However, it is remarkable that no Asian immigrants sought naturalized citizenship by claiming that they were Blacks. Instead, they learned the strategy to cast themselves as Whites while applying for U.S. citizenship. This noteworthy historical phenomena

With my identification as mainly White, I receive more privileges from this affliction and privilege that other groups do not always inquire. I feel that this identity offers me a lot of opportunities to develop as a person, but also creates ignorance towards other minority groups. I used to strongly hold the belief that people of color should not been seen as their skin color and should be treated only based on their human value. Even though sometimes ignoring skin color can be beneficial, it can create strong oppression towards cultural differences and not allow for diversity to be present in the community. My ignorance towards decreased my understanding on why certain groups were being oppressed and different cultural ways that I could fix those being oppressed. The identity of being White can help me reach opportunities that increase my chances as a human being, but it also increases the chances of other groups being oppressed by my White

In the film “White Like Me”, Tim Wise expresses that white privilege affects those people who have advantages from the privilege and the ones who suffer as a result. The film constantly conveys instances where society continuously expresses racial bias and as a result has entered into a period of color blindness. Color blindness can be defined as white people attempting to reject racism, and continue to remain oblivious to society’s racial inequality and white privilege. Most white people are ignorant, being that they believe black people are treated equally to them. They constantly bring up facts about post slavery and freedom, but are blind to the white superiority in our society.

In Takao Ozawa v. United States and United States v. Bhagat Sing Thind, both appellees were denied the right to become naturalized citizens of the country they currently called home. Despite being educated on the mainland and “white” in terms of language, religion, and learning, Ozawa and Thind were still classified as non-American due to their Asian ancestry. Section 2165 of the Revised Statuses states, “Any alien being a free white person…may be admitted to become a citizen.” However, the Court tries to dissect and find exceptions to this act by reading between the lines and forcefully pulling history into the mix.

To begin, I would like to examine the privilege that I inherited when I was born to a white mother and father. It is important, as a white person, to end the silence that so many white people engage in daily, regarding their privilege. It is not common to hear people speaking about the privilege they experience. This may be due to guilt. It may also be because most people wouldn’t want to willingly admit that all they were able to achieve, the stability they feel in their lives, and the pride they feel for the success that they created for themselves, in large part is due to how people in society perceive them as members of a privileged group. This isn’t to say that those who have achieved success have not earned it, but it must be said that skin color has made certain things easier for white people, and that it may have played a large role in their ability to achieve their potential. Of course I worked hard to be where I am today, but I