The White Advantage

Although most people choose to turn a blind side to the advantage of being a white in today's America, it is existent. In Tim Wise's book, White Like Me, he explores the societal differences between whites and blacks in America. Reading a chapter of Wise's book called, "Privilege", I do agree with him that whites are privileged since we are the majority of our nation. It is very hard for a white person to see what it is like to live in the life of a black person, but we can try to understand the differing perspective. However, many whites deny the automatic privilege that we receive, or at least fail to deny it. But Tim Wise pointed out very wonderfully that we, as people, love to accept things given to us, even though we may not have worked for them, without consequences. He says, "We love to accept things we didn't earn, such as inheritance, but we have a problem taking responsibility for the things that have benefited us while harming others" (18). This is why whites many times deny the fact that we are privileged; it is hard to accept the fact that our race accepted and encouraged bringing harm to other races. But, we have an obligation, as a human race, to accept what we have "inherited" as a white privilege. Wise also said, "Likewise, persons who reap the benefits of past actions-and the privileges that have come from whiteness are certainly among those- have an obligation to take responsibility of our use of those benefits" (18). As a part of the white race, and the human race, we must accept these privileges that we have "inherited", and acknowledge them with an effort to make change.
A big part of the author's argument in "Privilege" was the fact that our nation's education system is not entirely exactly, but it is not "anti-racist" either. The majority of America's public school teachers are white, and many white teachers claim to be "colorblind" to race. To many teachers, treating all of the students equally, omits discrimination. However, as Wise fairly wrote, "To treat everyone the same, or like the white common denominator, is to miss the fact that children of color have all the same challenges white kids do, and then that one extra thing to deal with: racism. But if you've told yourself you are not to see race, you'll be pretty unlikely to notice discrimination based on race, let alone know how to respond it" (21). Teachers cannot ignore the fact that some of their students are not white, because that ignores their heritage, culture, family history, and part of their personal identities.
Aside from our educational system, whites have a societal privilege against discrimination. Tim Wise very bluntly pointed out that we, as Americans, (and especially white Americans), have been very quick to judge Arabs and Muslims, (or anyone perceived as either), since September 11, 2001. Although it is very clear that our nation is not at war with the Islam faith or Arabs in general, many of us still profile these groups, (although we may not act on our thoughts). However, after several white serial killers are portrayed as barbaric in our society, much as the 9/11 terrorists were portrayed, we do not seem to profile other whites. According to Wise, "That's what it means to be white: the murderous actions of one white person do not cause every other White person to be viewed in the same light... Whites can take it for granted that we'll likely be viewed as individuals, representing nothing greater than our solitary selves" (53). Although it makes many of us uncomfortable to accept, whites are privileged because, since we are the majority, we are not judged as a group nearly as often as many minority groups.
When Tim Wise was in college, at Tulane University, he noticed his white privilege when engaging in drug use. Although many college students engage in drug use, it is easier for whites to get away with their usage than it is for blacks. From Wise's experiences, he has noticed that police officials, generally, judge whites and blacks differently, even though they both may be in possession of drugs. As Wise simply put it, "I am not the stereotype" (42). He goes even further to explain that when he asked local police officers how they judge whites and blacks, there is a difference. According to their answers, if they saw a young black man in a very nice car, they would assume him to be a drug dealer. But, if that same man was white, he would merely be a spoiled rich kid. As the majority of our nation, whites are privileged to get away with many societal consequences. Although we do not always notice it, we are not judged nearly as much as others are judged. As whites, we often lack an acknowledgment of our privileges, and try to persuade ourselves that we are all on a balanced scale. But, the faster that we accept the fact that whites are privileged, the quicker we can try to break that privilege. Whites must accept both the benefits and the consequences of our inherited privilege, and then change it so that the "white privilege" does not carry on to our future generations.