White Privilege Explained

I watched something today that made me angry. I can’t even tell you what show it was, but it was a bunch of people debating the existence of white privilege.

It’s 2023 and we’re still debating this?

Apparently. So, I thought I’d throw myself into the debate and explain, once and for all what white privilege is and what it’s not.

Let’s start with what it’s not.

WHITE PRIVILEGE IS NOT A FREE PASS FROM LIFE’S STRUGGLES: It’s not some golden ticket you’re assigned at birth that guarantees the bearer a smooth ride.

But that’s the argument, isn’t it?

What white privilege? I’m white and I’ve had to work my ass off.

I’m white and I can’t pay my bills.

I’m white and I’ve gotten no breaks at all. Where’s my white privilege?

I think the misunderstanding comes from the word “privilege.” White privilege doesn't mean that because you’re white, you get to have a privileged life as we understand it.

Let me explain. See the woman in the picture above? The one in the middle? Not bad, eh? Milky white skin, blue eyes, and pretty curly hair. She’s so white that 20 minutes in the sun cooks her to a very unpleasant and painful shade of red.

That woman is me. I spent most of my life walking around as a white woman. Not on purpose, it’s just how I look. And to make matters worse, I was also thin and well, not for nothing, kinda pretty. Privilege, on top of privilege, on top of more privilege. Bitch!

And it didn’t protect me from the ex that beat me black and blue on at least a weekly basis for the better part of 12 years. It didn’t stop me being stalked and terrorized by not 1, or 2, 3, or 4 men (there were 5). It didn’t stop me from being poor.

It didn’t stop me from being a single mother, living in a trailer, sometimes working 3 jobs, and robbing Peter to pay Paul, only to have Jack show up and snatch it all away.

It didn’t stop me from having to work all night at a call centre while taking university classes during the day to get my 2 degrees.

And it doesn’t stop me from sleepless nights worrying about how I’m going to pay the bills now in an increasingly crappy economy.

People struggle. And white privilege is not a claim that they don’t. Black, Brown, purple, white ... people struggle. Nobody is saying your struggle is invalid.

Did you read that? Let me repeat it so I don’t have to ever hear this argument again — the concept of white privilege in no way denies, denigrates, downplays, or dismisses the very real struggles that many white people have. So, toss that little paper dragon out because I’ve torn it down once and for all.

So, what is it then? What is white privilege? Well, to me, it’s an inherent bias in favour of those of European ancestry, conscious or not based upon centuries of institutions, systems, attitudes, morals, etc. that have been established and that in many ways, continue to exist. It’s a history and a present.

Europeans came to the new world. And being the majority, established institutions, systems, etc. that reflected and favoured a white, European, largely Christian way of life. Anyone falling outside that majority norm was “other,” and treated as such.

I can hear the sighs. And along with them, the next paper dragon. It goes like this, right?

That was then. Why do I have to suffer for something I didn’t do that happened hundreds of years ago?

Okay, I hear you. I see you. And I’m going to give you an honest and simple answer. Permit me to use an analogy to illustrate.

Let’s suppose you’ve decided to host a game night. It’s you and 4 friends, a total of 5 people, just to keep the numbers tidy. But the rules of the game are slightly different.

In THIS Monopoly game, the rules clearly state that the person with the shortest hair has to sit in jail for 3 turns while all the other players get to start at GO. You, my friend, have the shortest hair.

You’re already grumbling. You already think it’s unfair and a great injustice. You don’t want to play anymore. But you’re there, so let’s just keep the analogy going.

Your 4 pals tear through the board, collecting loot, buying property, establishing hotels and homes, and systems and institutions. And you sit.

Then, on the 4th go around they decide it’s not fair to make you sit out the last go around and invite you to join them at GO. You have no money. You have no property because they’ve bought it all up and you’re not sure how things work, exactly. But you’ve been invited to the so-called level playing field.

You land on their Boardwalks with the hotels. You land on their railroads. You’re fighting to catch up, and they don’t get it.

They tease you a bit. Hey, what’s the problem? We brought you over to GO with us, so catch up already.

Sure, they stumble too. They land on each other’s vast estates. They pull that Chance card and wind up in Jail, but they’ve had the time to build systems around themselves to insulate them some. THAT’S WHITE PRIVILEGE.

It’s expecting equal outcomes because now the playing field looks like it’s level, and ignoring that we all didn’t start from the same place.

It’s a set of assumptions that still exist that put barriers in front of people of colour.

Again, I’ll use myself as an example. I look white. I am not white. The people on either side of my photo are my birth parents. White mother, Black father. And then I was adopted into a Black home.

I’ve benefitted from my light skin. But I’ve also had those benefits snatched from me when my paternity was discovered.

I’ve made friends only to lose them because I was, what their parents at the time called “coloured.”

I’ve been invited places and then either hastily uninvited or told my presence was conditional on not “saying anything” about my ethnicity.

White privilege is one of those things. It only extends to how white someone thinks you are. And when you aren’t, you aren’t.

I have several siblings. Some half, some full. All are darker than me. I’ve seen the difference in how we experience the world and how the world experiences us.

I can walk into any store, anywhere, and not be bothered. I can carry a backpack, a big purse, whatever. I can browse 'till my heart’s content. The only thing that might happen is an over-eager sales clerk will want to assist me.

My siblings can’t. I’ve seen this firsthand. Same store. Same staff. They’re met with suspicion, fear, and sometimes anger. They’re followed. Sometimes, they’ve been told, "Buy something and go."

Cops don’t stop me. Even if I am speeding. Even if I’m in a fancy area. The last time a cop stopped me, he asked for my phone number and told me that my car was pretty big for a little thing like me…yuck, just sayin’.

I can’t say the same for my siblings.

Those are just a couple of simple examples to demonstrate that white privilege is real. It exists. I’ve seen it from both sides. Granted, I have never experienced, and will likely never experience the worst of it because of an accident of genetics. I get that.

Basically, white privilege is a starting point, it’s a default position that favours whites due to the historical biases, institutions, systems, etc. Hundreds of years ago, Europeans came and started at GO while the rest of us were left behind. It’s not a guarantee of anything, it’s just a fact, and without recognizing it as a starting point, the dialogue can’t really go much further.

Don’t get it? Well, come play Monopoly with me and see for yourself.

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Originally published on Medium.com