White Privilege Essay Example for Free

White Privilege EssayHow the States came round is fascinating, and learning about immigration, rights, laws, and racism makes learning to a greater extent(prenominal) beneficial. It helps you to under get up why we, as a nation, be they way we ar today, and why we allow for continue to be stuck in our ways. According to crowd together Barrett and David Roediger, The invoice of Ameri deposeization is vital and compelling, but it took place in a nation also obsessed by racethe process of becoming whitened and becoming American were connected at every turn (36). One of the most controversial topics is white franchise and discrimination.Segregation within school systems has been a dominant business in the old and will always continue to be. Being claimd is a something that individuals should be conscious of due to their past and understand that it is a privilege to be white rather than to be discriminated against. Becoming conscious of ones own white privilege is the fi rst step to understand the deeper importee of racism and discrimination. My intentions of writing this paper were to describe a locating in which I was conscious of my own white privilege.White privilege was always on my side until postgraduate school where I felt as though I was discriminated against as organism a petite, white girl, from upper-class Allendale leaving me to been seen as an easy target. While at my locker one day during lunch, I was approached by two of the down in the mouth students (one male and one female) and a Latino girl, and they move to convince me something hurtful was written about me in the bathroom. Being that I am not the type to care, get involved, or respond, I move to murderer away. The Latino girl proceeded to grab my hair causing me to turn and face her and she punched me square in the face.after several minutes of back and forth combat and punches, the fight was broken up my teachers. It turns out that there was nothing written about me, t hey were just trying to get me into the bathroom to fight me, opposed to the lobby which is out in the open. All three of the students that were there were take a leakn to the principals office immediately and suspended for two days whereas I got off free and I was allowed to go back to my day. During the duration of the day, one of the African American men left the principals office in violence and had a mission to destroy all my extendings in my locker.The boy pried open my locked and poured a bottle of soda all over my books, note books and belongings. After I reported this to our principal, he held the three students involved in the fight until one person came readable about who had been at fault for ruining my locker. It turned out, that no one admitted to it, and they were all suspended even longer than originally for not fessing up. The following week, none of the three students attended my richly school any longer and I was told by my principal that they left to atten d otherwise high schools in surrounding towns. After this incident, I curb never come into receive with any of them ever again.However, several of my male friends rig out what happened that day and wanted nothing but to get revenge and retaliate against them and show them who dominates the high school, being that whites are minority. I became very conscious of my white privilege growing up in a one-square mile suburban town of Allendale, unfermented Jersey. My entire educational career through eighth grade consisted of white, middle-to-upper-class Americans. All the muckle were similar, with the same morals, values and beliefs. Everyone dressed similar and drove similar cars, partook in the same activities and hung out in specific niches.At this point in my life, I could say I could correlate my life to Peggy McIntoshs article when she describes the matrix of white privilege There was one main piece of cultural turf it was my own turf, and I was among those who could the tur f. I could measure up to the cultural standards and take advantage of the many options I saw roughly me to make what the culture would call a success of my lifeI could think of my ego as belong in major ways, and of making social systems work for me. I couldbe oblivious to anything outside of the dominant cultural forms (295).It wasnt until high school where I thought I would potentially move out of my small town bubble. My high school is regional students from Allendale, along with the surrounding towns of Ho-Ho-Kus, Upper Saddle River and half(a) of Saddle River attended. Being that I came from such a white school system, the thought of going onto high school and being surrounded by students of other races and ethnicities is something that never crossed my mind. I was never taught about the disadvantages of being white, but rather I learned about blacks and their disadvantages of dealing with racism.Over the years, little was taught about racism and what it stood for, instead we were just told that this is what happened to people when they were of different races and ethnicities back in the day. The article by Peggy McIntosh describes how whites are taught to think of blacks As a white person, I realized I had never been taught about racism as something which put others at a disadvantage, but had been taught not to see one of its corollary aspects, white privilege , which puts me at an advantage(291). Being white was never something that I had to deal with in or outside of school, or even within my community.I wasnt necessarily shocked to walk into high school my first day to find only a select hardly a(prenominal) of Latinos and African Americans. However, these were things that I never thought about or even had to think about. The few Latinos and African Americans came from Upper Saddle River and Saddle River. I was never stereotypical of these groups of people until I was surrounded with people from towns that had engaged with these people all the way up through high school. The Latinos in my school all stuck together, as well as the three African Americans that attended my high school.I encounter as though this particular situation involved me having the white privilege advantage and it seems as though my white privilege helped to get me out of trouble. I should have gotten in trouble for self defense and throwing punches back, but I feel as though since I had never caused problems before, and they had been the center of most of the problems I was let go with no punishment. The students that got in trouble, were seen as troublesome students because of their past, where I had a clean record with no reason to suspect I was the start of the brawl.Considering my school is mostly do up of white students and entirely white faculty, when the three students got in trouble, it was probably a stereotypical decision based on non-whites. Blacks have always endured pain and agony as, victims of discrimination, segregation, and violence, bl acks in the North encountered a powerful wad of negative racial images. These stereotypes contributed to the conditions of racial degradation and poverty, which, in turn, reinforced prejudice (Takaki 107). This excerpt further explains that stereotypes stick and the negative racial images will forever be a part of the everyday lives of blacks.The primary reason of why the situation occurred, I believe dates back to sundown towns. Beginning in about 1890 and proceed until 1968, white Americans established thousands of towns across the United States for whites only. A sundown town is any organized influence that, for decades, was all-white on purpose. Many towns drove out their black populations, and then posted sundown signs. Other towns passed ordinances barring African-Americans after dark or prohibiting them from owning or renting property.Evelyn Nakano Glenn helps to further explain the regulations, White controlled municipalities passed ordinances creating racial zones. When t hese laws were found to be unconstitutional, whites formed neighborhood associations and turned to private arrangements such as economic boycotts, violence, and restrictive covenants. These restrictions deprived blacks of a central element of liberal citizenship, that is to say property rights (37-38). This is proof that the African-American populations had no choice but to leave because they werent welcome.No one would support their businesses or wanted anything to do with them they were literally driven out of these towns and wouldnt stand a chance if they stayed. Being that the town of Allendale where I grew up was a sundown town, which is the most obvious account statement as to why I grew up surrounded by all whites. Moving onto high school, the other regional towns of Ho-Ho-Kus and Upper Saddle River were sundown towns as well. This plays a huge role in the situation at my high school because people of modify and different races are focused on to a greater extent and white students carry all the dominant privilege.If I had been a different race I think the entire situation would have never occurred because I would probably be a person that was known for affiliating with them. If I had been black, I would have probably felt like I should stick with the other three black students in the high school. The situation would have been the same if I were Latino or another race. Segregation still takes place in America and being one of only a few black families within your community will be a repetitive cycle for black families sounding to move to our dominantly white community.According to Douglas Massey When avenues of spatial assimilation are systematically blocked my prejudice, and discrimination, however, residential segmentation increases and persists over time. New Minorities arrive in the urban center and settle within enclaves, but their subsequent spatial mobility is stymied, and ethnic concentrations increasewhereupon group members are forced to ad jacent areas, thus expanding the boundaries of the enclave (225). I feel as though since my region of New Jersey is predominantly white, what would things change now?Why would blacks and ethnic families feel inclined to move to a neighborhood where they stand out? Especially for African-American families, my town along with the surrounding towns do not sell African-American hair products in any of my supermarkets or pharmacies nor are there salons where African-American women can go to get their hair braided. My community has adjusted to the white population and being that my town is so small, I feel as though it would take dramatic lengths to change the way our community functions.Being white, I feel as though I benefited from the whole situation because I did not get in trouble for punching the girl back, and I did not get suspended. I was allowed to return to my day at school as though nothing happened while they were kept in the front office until school was let out and were sus pended for the rest of the week (2 days). This experience made me think about my race in a different way because I had never encountered issues with non-white people, because I was never around them. Coming from a originally white school, white students stand to make white privilege stick out like a sore thumb.It helped me to understand that white people dominate my school population and that this would have never been an issue if the school had always been made up of a majority of other races and ethnicities. It is as if the select few minorities felt as though they needed to stand up for themselves and prove that just because there are so few of them they can still run the school. The three students involved, I feel, chose to leave due to feeling like they were discriminated against and treated differently than other students.They could have felt mistreated or felt that being out numbered was a disadvantage for them. Moving to surrounding schools definitely made them feel like t hey belonged better because I know there were mixed groups of people outside of our high school district. Being that ninety-nine percent of my school was white could have made the few students feel intimidated and make the white students angrier and feel the need to gang up on them after this incident, almost to prove their white privilege.This incident correlates to issues of citizenship and my ability to participate as a affluent and equal member of American society because I suffered no consequences from the incident except for a bloody nose. A bloody nose is a temporarily occurrence but because of what happened, it hasnt affected me being a full and equal member in the American society. It has however, affected the minority students at my high school, and drove them away. As described by Evelyn Glenn, At its most general level, citizenship refers to full membership in the community in which one lives.Membership in turn implies certainreciprocal duties toward the community (37). These black students are citizens but they do not live in a community with other African-Americans reside. They can be still be involved in the community but the families as a whole might not be as bore to get involved as they are outnumbered and may feel their voices may not be heard or make a difference. There are a few potential long term consequences of white privilege for myself that will be with me as long as I live.Being that Quinnipiac University is not very diverse, but more diverse than my high school, it was difficult to get used to seeing people of color and different ethnicities every day. I do not believe growing up in an all white community has been beneficial to me, and I wish I was more natural around people of different races and ethnicities. It is unrealistic to say that I will never have to deal with this, but in the real world, and when finding a job, you will be presented with a variety of people that may even become more of friends rather than co-workers.So meones accent or skin color does not determine what kind of person they are, it is their personality that makes them who they are. I also believe in regards to the incident, if I had been at fault, and was suspended for my actions of self defense, I would have not been able to attend a prestigious school such as Quinnipiac. When applying for colleges, most industrys ask if you have ever been suspended, such as the Quinnipiac application which asks if you have ever been suspended or missed significant time from school.I would have then had to explain the situation and how I was suspended for self defense. If colleges see that you are a troubled student, and have a record for misbehaving, they will not accept you to their school. Community colleges of lower rankings will be more willing to accept a student with a past, rather than a private school like Quinnipiac University. Discrimination and segregation still exist today. The past makes up the present so learning about what people of all races and ethnicities went through in history is important as a citizen of the United States.Everyone, in some way, or somehow, has dealt with discrimination whether it is you or friends and family. While on the other hand, it is imperative to pay attention to your privileges and understand what it means to be American. Works Cited Barrett, James E. , and David Roediger. 2005. How White People Became White. Pg. 35-40 in White Privilege Essential Reading on the Other Side of Racism, 2nd Ed. , Paula S. Rothenberg, Ed. New York Worth Publishers. Glenn, Evelyn, Nakano. Citizenship Universalism and Exclusion. Pg. 18-55 in odds-on Freedom How Race and Gender Shaped American Citizenship and Labor.Cambridge Harvard. Massey, Douglas S. How Space Gets Raced. Rethinking the Color Line. By Charles A. Gallagher. 3rd Ed. New York, NY McGraw-Hill, 2007. 225. McIntosh, Peggy. 1997 White Privilege and Male Privilege A Personal Account of Coming to See Correspondences through Work in Womens Studies. Pg. 290-99 in Critical White Studies Looking Behind the Mirror. Richard Delgado Jean Stefancic, Eds. Philadephia Temple University Press. Takaki, Ronald T. A Different Mirror A History of Multicultural America. New York, NY Back Bay, 1994. 108.