2 definitions by TekkenKO
An invisible package of unearned assets that whites can count on cashing in each day, but about which they are 'meant' to remain oblivious. White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools , and blank checks.
Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack of white privilege:
-I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time.
-I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented.
-When I am told about our national heritage or about "civilization," I am shown that people of my color made it what it is.
-I am never asked to speak for all the people of my racial group.
-I can remain oblivious of the language and customs of persons of color who constitute the world's majority without feeling in my culture any penalty for such oblivion.
-I can easily find academic courses and institutions which give attention only to people of my race.
-I can chose blemish cover or bandages in "flesh" color and have them more or less match my skin.
-I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time.
-I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented.
-When I am told about our national heritage or about "civilization," I am shown that people of my color made it what it is.
-I am never asked to speak for all the people of my racial group.
-I can remain oblivious of the language and customs of persons of color who constitute the world's majority without feeling in my culture any penalty for such oblivion.
-I can easily find academic courses and institutions which give attention only to people of my race.
-I can chose blemish cover or bandages in "flesh" color and have them more or less match my skin.
by TekkenKO August 3, 2011
White privilege refers to the concrete benefits of access to resources and social rewards and the power to shape the norms and values of society that whites receive, unconsciously or consciously, by virtue of their skin color in a racist society.
Examples of white privilege noted by Tim Wise:
Studies have found that...
-Job applicants with white sounding names are 50% more likely to receive a call-back for a job interview than applicants with black-sounding names, even when all job-related qualifications and credentials are the same.
-White men with a criminal record are more likely to get a call-back for an interview than black male job applicants who don't have one, even when all requisite qualifications, demeanor and communication styles are the same.
-White women are far more likely than black women to be hired for work through temporary agencies, even when the black women have more experience and are more qualified.
-There are about two million cases of race-based discrimination against people of color every year in the United States. That's not just bad for folks of color; the flipside is that there are, as a result, millions more places I can live as a white person.
-Although data...indicates that whites are equally or more likely than blacks or Latinos to use drugs, it is people of color (blacks and Latinos mostly) who comprise about 90 percent of the persons incarcerated for a drug possession offense.
-Despite the fact that white men are more likely to be caught with drugs in our car (on those occasions when we are searched), black men remain about four times more likely than white men to be searched in the first place.
Studies have found that...
-Job applicants with white sounding names are 50% more likely to receive a call-back for a job interview than applicants with black-sounding names, even when all job-related qualifications and credentials are the same.
-White men with a criminal record are more likely to get a call-back for an interview than black male job applicants who don't have one, even when all requisite qualifications, demeanor and communication styles are the same.
-White women are far more likely than black women to be hired for work through temporary agencies, even when the black women have more experience and are more qualified.
-There are about two million cases of race-based discrimination against people of color every year in the United States. That's not just bad for folks of color; the flipside is that there are, as a result, millions more places I can live as a white person.
-Although data...indicates that whites are equally or more likely than blacks or Latinos to use drugs, it is people of color (blacks and Latinos mostly) who comprise about 90 percent of the persons incarcerated for a drug possession offense.
-Despite the fact that white men are more likely to be caught with drugs in our car (on those occasions when we are searched), black men remain about four times more likely than white men to be searched in the first place.
by TekkenKO August 3, 2011