A friend once told me that we don't know what privilege we have till we lose it or step away from it. But how do we do so? He said beautiful people don't understand that power they have till they stop being beautiful if someone treated them fair they think the person is being rude because it's something they're not used to... A man can't understand what a woman go through and what challenges she faces because of her gender. A white man doesn't know what a black man or woman go through on a daily basis because they haven't been there...
To truly understand the privilege we have we have to walk in the shoes of the other person..

Of course white privilege is real. As a white person, I don't worry about:

1. Being harassed, beat up or called racist names due to the color of my skin.

2. While driving, get stopped by police for no reason, and fear being shot and killed.

3. Discriminated against in housing, employment, college admissions, etc.

4. Told to leave stores. Not waited upon. Given dirty looks.

5. Being arrested for no reason.

6. Getting shot in the back by police.

7. Shunned at school due to the color of my skin.

[yesmagazine.org]

There was no option for "fuck yes". So invalid poll.

What am I agreeing or disagreeing to? That this happens? That it's okay? I can't decipher the point of this post. White privilege is indisputably a real thing, although I can't say I'm happy about that. Since I can't make it go away, I try to use it for good and not evil.

Of course this specific scenario is untrue (unless the driver is the police chief's kid, in which case all bets are off). But white privilege does exist. For example, African-Americans get turned down as Airbnb renters more frequently than whites do. African-Americans get police called to investigate them even when they are not doing anything remotely criminal or even suspicious. So yeah, white privilege exists.

I don't think the meme is accurate. But I do believe there is a problem with "privilege" though it isn't always as cut and dried as we make it out. I think privilege can be different in different areas.

I never really thought about privilege until I saw a video where a large group of college students did a "privilege race." I can't find it again and there are a lot of similar videos now but they aren't as profound. This group of many different nationalities was brought to a starting line and told they would race but before the race started they were going to be asked some questions. If the answer to any of the questions was yes, they were allowed to take a step forward. They were asked things like never having to miss a meal, having a two parent family, getting scholarships, and things like that. After several questions it was painfully obvious that the white kids were the ones getting the biggest head start and the colored kids were mostly being left behind.

When you're the one experiencing the privilege, you don't really notice. You're comfortable and not motivated to question the status quo. The entitlement that comes along with privilege blinds people into not noticing that they are taking advantage of others. It's a very painful truth to face and most people simply refuse to do it.

One thing I know for certain: I would not still have thousands in student loan debt if I were black. I came from a poor family and my only way to college was either by scholarship or enlisting in the military. Instead, I waited until I was in my mid 20's to enroll so my parent's income would not be used to calculate my EFC (even though they were poor, the government considered them rich enough to pay for most of my education). So I went on a scholarship search and there was nothing, zero, bupkis, nil, zilch, nada, nothing at all for white males. And I did extensive searches every year for several years - nothing for white males. But there were so many minority scholarships that, had I been black, I would have gotten a free ride as long as I maintained a C average.

Fast forward a few years to when I served on the Leadership Cabinet of my State's CPA Society. We spent enormous time and effort trying to attract minorities into the profession, going as far as to recruit high school freshman. We offered free tutoring, full ride scholarships (including books, room, and board) to any public university in the state with an accounting program (just maintain a C or better GPA), plus GUARANTEED employment at one of several firms or companies with starting salaries (pre-2005) averaging around $50,000 a year. After several years, we could find only two who expressed any interest at all. So we ended up expanding our search for minorities by going to the suburban high schools and offering the complete free ride to any minority who wanted it. We ended up having to limit the number of program enrollees due to massive response - even though most of the kids came from well-to-do families who could afford to send them to college on their own.

What I learned from 7 years of doing this is that it mostly boils down to the individual's values. You can hand someone a free ride to a good life (partners at CPA firms typically earn over $200k/year), but if the person thinks it's "selling out", well, there really isn't much that can be done about it. All I know is that when I was in high school, I would have traded one of my siblings to get an offer like we were handing out 15 years ago.

Finally, I have had quite a few conversations with minorities who are "successful" in terms of socioeconomic status, and to a person, none of them shared ever having felt held back, harassed, discriminated against, or looked down on. The just plain don't see it. But several of them pointed out that a lot of it has to do with the way a person presents himself/herself.

In short, if there is white privilege, I would love to start finally taking advantage of it, because I have been shit on, stepped on, spit on, fucked with, and pointed at my entire life. Nothing has come easy. Nothing. And I learned from experience that no one cares if you're poor AND white (especially if you're male). So no, at least in my experience, I don't see white privilege as a thing. I do, however, see privilege for those with money - white or black. That is a thing for sure.

Yes. Seen it in Miami many times over. White privilege exists.

A link from the NAACP regarding racial disparity in re to minor drug charges. [naacp.org]

Where I come from, there are real caste privileges. I was born into the top caste and top sub caste. I know very well what it is like to be born with privileges. I was invited even as a kid to festivals, functions, ceremonies, homes to eat with them, even to spend time with them because of the belief that our caste was pious, closer to God. I know very well. But I am on the other side here. Lol.

Straight, white, christian, males are definitely the privileged class.

You’d have to have your head deep up your ass to not see white privilege in America. There are
Certainly enough studies out there that illustrate it, plain as day, for all those “but, i -personally- haven’t witnessed it, or experienced it, or heard of it, and evvvvverybody I have ever known has told me explicitly that they’ve never experienced or witnessed any white privilege, too”.

Only if in a newer car, dressed in clean shirt proper pants or shorts!

Not wearing a dirty T-shirt with basketball cap, cut offs with dirty face and meth teeth!

White privileged has rules to live buy!

I agree that white privilege is a thing. Or rather it’s a term for the positive space left in our lives from having one fewer major thing to worry about (ethnic discrimination) that others have no choice but to deal with on top of life’s normal struggles. Sensitive broflakes like to protest and say they aren’t privileged because they have a victim mentality and think that, after centuries of walking all over everyone else, the prospect of equality would feel like tyranny. They feel like suffering is a competition and if they aren’t the most put upon demographic then someone brown might horn in on their pity party and make it about social justice and that would just be a bitch of an unsatisfactory situation, I tell you whut.

I disagree with the meme however; we do get away with more shit from cops than black people on average, it’s just that no one regardless of skin color feels like doing 20mph over the speed limit if they’ve smoked herb. You get real patient in traffic if you smoke herb.

I would say yes it is real. not my intention to capitalize on it but I am sure its been beneficial tome. I try to treat people equally but seems not all do

Yes, it's a thing. I had it in America if I kept my mouth shut but the moment that Irish accent came out, I dropped in status.

Definitely yes.

I've been white my whole life and I'm still waiting to see all this privilege I'm supposed to have.

It should say "Rich white privilege".
If your driving a BMW it would work.
If you're driving a beat up ford, you're not getting any slack.

Looks like a strange Norman Rockwell.