White Privilege from and White Point of View
In light of the recent tragedies surrounding Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, and the shootings in Dallas, I decided I could not continue simply retweeting 160 characters or liking pictures on Instagram. I am aware that I do not have a huge platform to speak on this, but I cannot keep my mouth shut any longer.
Let me start by acknowledging my situation.
I am an upper-middle class, white teenage girl living in arguably the most liberal state. Despite relatively minor issues, I have lived a privileged life, in every sense of the word. Everything I have ever needed has been provided for me: food, housing, education, and - most notably – protection. I have never thought twice about calling the police if I ever felt threatened or feared for my safety, I have never worried about where my next meal was coming from, and I have never wondered if I was “welcome” in certain establishments. I have never experienced extreme, systematic oppression, nor do I know what it feels like to be hindered or discriminated against due to my race.
I have a privileged life, and it is my duty to acknowledge how comfortably I live.
I am more than aware that the position of security that I occupy is not the case for many. I will never have to stand next to my mother as she stoically and admirably addresses the entire nation on the death of father at the hands of law enforcement for selling CDs. I will never have to dutifully make a video documenting the death of my boyfriend for having a busted taillight in order to somehow prove the validity of my disadvantaged situtation.
I will never have to do that because I am white.
People of color are terrified to leave their house, and I will never know how that feels. However, that does not mean that their fear and disgust is not validated or important.
Just because I do not experience oppression, fear or hatred, does not mean others do not experience oppression, fear or hatred.
As I elaborated on before, I am privileged, meaning I belonged to the favored class. It is completely okay, and even necessary, to be aware of my real and apparent advantage in our country. Ignoring white privilege or acting as if these police brutality issues are not the results of hundreds of years of racial discrimination is the reason why these crimes keep happening. White Americans have yet to truly accept their advantaged situations, therefore preventing people of color from truly experiencing the freedom we take for granted. Only when we take a step back and put ourselves in the shoes of someone like Alton Sterling, murdered while subdued by police for selling CDs, can we truly understand and start to stand with the oppressed.
These racial issues are American issues. There is a war raging, and it’s been raging for years. Police brutality is not a new concept, but because it has been failed to be addressed at the root of the issue, it has never been solved. White people fear that recognizing their racial advantage makes them racist in some sort of way; as if something deep in our psyche convinces us that race is not an issue, and racism is expelled because we never witness or experience it. We tend to feel oddly threatened when people of color speak about their disadvantages, and many feel that things like the “Black Lives Matter” campaign is an attack on the white people. This thinking is poison, and it is why the war continues.
If the first step to ending this war is acknowledging our advantage, the second has to be working to spread that privilege to the disadvantaged. White Americans must understand that the goal of “Black Lives Matter” activists is to simply be on the same social, political and economic level as white Americans. No one is trying to put whites down, nor is it some sort of “reverse racist”** uprising, people of color just want to know what it’s like to feel protected and comfortable around law enforcement, they want to be able to provide consistently and wholesomely for their families, and they want to be secure and free to exercise the rights that I, and many other white people, blindly take advantage of. As responsible, aware, and patriotic citizens, it is the duty of white Americans to stand with and support the BLM campaign, and any other group that has never experienced the notion of American “freedom” or “equality”. Simply put, the Black Lives Matter campaign does not disregard the fact that all lives matter, but highlights the very real issue that not all lives are respected and valued the same way. Any argument from a white person saying “all lives matter” or “blue lives matter” frankly comes from a place of white guilt, another very real, deeply rooted side effect of privilege.
Harper Lee famously wrote “you never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view […] until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.“ This is a frequent and drastic battle that goes unseen; white people have a hard time removing themselves from their situation and attempting to understand other peoples’ experiences or situations. I have never gone hungry, nor have I wondered how my family is going to afford rent, but that does not mean that hunger and poverty are not very real and common issues. I could never imagine being afraid of law enforcement. However, I cannot tell a person of color, who has been historically violated and discriminated against by law enforcement, or has personally experienced systematic hatred, that they should not be afraid of police. Our personal experiences shape our beliefs, apprehensions and habits, so it makes absolutely no sense that white Americans so blatantly dispell scared and angry people of color and their very valid feelings. As soon as we stop being threatened by and start validating very real fears of our fellow Americans, we can begin living freely.
As a teenager, ready to begin life on my own in college this coming fall, I am what is considered the future of America, and I am completely and utterly disgusted. However, I am choosing to harness my anger and frustration, because I have hope that things can change, and that we can coexist. Of course, this notion is not as simply executed as it sounds. We can only achieve peace if we peel back the layers of race and hundreds of years of hate and speak openly and frankly about personal racial situations, seriously, and I mean seriously, listen to those who have been discriminated against without feeling threatened or uncomfortable, and, most importantly, support the liberation of people of color. It means we cannot elect officials that make blanket statements or spew hateful rhetoric about certain races or religions. It means we support and uplift the oppressed, because we can no longer act like “it is not about race”. We live in a country founded on the idea of freedom and equality, and any true patriot fights for that ideal, meaning they understanding that freedom and equality is not the case for many in this nation, even if it is the case for them.
You should be angry at the present situation in this country, no matter what race you are, and you should understand that it can only change if we change our thinking. I truly believe in the good of our country, and the loving and caring citizens that genuinely care for the future of our nation. We just have to get out of own way.
** This term is utter nonsense, reverse racism does not exist.
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