Most of the time, when people hear the word "white privilege" it tends to end in heated arguments. The most common response is how: "I have to work hard as everyone else", "People of Color have affirmative action or BEE, let's get over the whole race thing." and the most typical line: "Stop making EVERYTHING about race."
These comments that I have read lately have started to frustrate me and has now led to this - a blog post about what EXACTLY is white privilege.
In today's lesson, we will start with the basic foundations.
If you have gotten this far, this means that you are interested in wanting to know what exactly WP is. White privilege is defined as “a term for societal privileges that benefit white people in Western countries beyond what is commonly experienced by non-white people under the same social, political, or economic circumstances.”
In other words, in Western countries, white people are to be considered the "normal" whilst people of color are to be considered different.
White privilege is simply the fact that majority of beauty products are meant to cater for the 'normal' group, causing a lot of beauty products to not work properly on People of Color (POC) skin or hair. As a black girl, finding my shampoo is nearly impossible, and when I do it is in an aisle labeled something like “ethnic products” and costs a lot more than “normal” shampoo.
A lot of people use the fact that POC have designated TV channels (BET, Mzansi Magic), groups, laws and other spaces as a pointer for white privilege not existing. If anything, these prove the fact that white privilege exists, because there doesn’t have to be a White Entertainment Channel for white people to see themselves playing a majority of the roles.
In high school, I always used to envy the girls that society appreciated. That is what society wanted and accepted. I, a black woman was seen as the deviant. The other that should not be regarded in society. White girls and boys are taught from birth through the media that they are beautiful and desirable while POC children are taught the exact opposite. So phrases and movements like Black Girls Are Magic exist to empower Women of Color and remind them that they are just as good. They are not put in place to say Women of Color are “better.” Most of the laws, groups, channels and other spaces made for POC were created because white people either refused to listen or allow POC to fit their standards of “good enough,” so POC created a safe place for themselves to grow and feel confident.
Don't agree with the previous paragraph? Let's discuss the "All lives Matter" movement. In Chicago, America, more people die in this state compared to the lives lost in Iraq and Afghanistan COMBINED. Don't believe me? Watch Spike Lee's Chiraq movie. Earlier this month, a young black boy was shot and killed for carrying a toy gun. Many things were said, but the statement that resonated with me was: Black lives clearly do not matter. "When a white man is stopped in America, he has the opportunity to justify himself for carrying a weapon. When a black man is seen with carrying a suspicious object, he is shot and killed." We can not override the Black lives matter movement because black bodies are worthless. The justice system has failed many black people in America, and it SHOULD be fair to give the minority the protection they require and DESERVE. White people who fail to see the importance of the movement, are further marginalizing People of color.
Now, let's see how South Africa practices White Privilege:
There are many highly skilled and qualified black professionals however they tend to remain junior managers and window dressers in Corporate South Africa, including the famous Hart Bank aka Standard Bank where there is only one black person in the eight-member white male Executive Committee. To add on to this, thousands more black graduates remain unemployed because they "lack experience." This is the democratic dividend which reproduces white privilege. And we as South Africans are expected to forgive and forget and not "think in racial terms."
The truth of the matter is:
No matter how many #screwbeauty campaigns we have, eurocentric standards will still be the norm, and people of color will always be deemed as the other.
No matter the fact is that 90% of American mass shootings are done by white men, the American Justice system will continue to paint people of color as violent.
No matter how many times we talk about white privilege, many people will sweep under the rug and tell people of color to forget about it.
Now let me, at least, make people of color experiences a bit clear for readers:
As a POC, whenever you bring up the unfairness or injustice of your race, people will not regard your experiences. THIS IS FRUSTRATING.
As a POC, you have to be careful of what you name your children, so that in the future when our children go for job interviews, they will sound "hireable."
As a POC, when you speak proper English and get good grades, YOU will ALWAYS be compared to the "normal" people. You are going to be told that you "sound white" or "act white" therefore being accepted and assimilated into society.
As a POC, you are constantly thinking about your behavior in order to reject the stereotypes society has created. Black girls are usually - loud, fierce, hard to get, ANGRY, poor, and oversexualized. I am always having to prove these notions wrong in a society that claims that you can be whoever you want to be.
NOW, White privilege doesn’t mean that white people can’t have hard lives, it’s saying that their lives won’t be hard because they are white. If a POC’s name doesn’t sound hireable enough, they could be rejected from a job that they need and deserve simply because of a stereotype. A privilege is anything you have or get that you don’t have to think about. Imagine being denied opportunities in life-based on the premise of your skin color and not on the premise of your character.
This is a simple request:
The next time you start complaining about the fact that you could not find parking at the shopping mall, or you broke your iPhone screen, take a moment to listen to your friends who find their own race to be a struggle, who find society judging them because of the color of their own skin.
Kind Regards
A Loving, Opinionated BLACK WOMAN.
