White Privilege

When it comes to White Privilege I am slightly educated on the manner. I was one of the students that participated in the first "Understanding White Privilege" course here at UW-Parkside. I didn't get to watch any film because I was absent this class but I still wanted to write something. I went back and reflected on what I had learned years ago and from that I remembered a book I got to read called "Understanding White Privilege" By Frances Kendall

White Privilege refers to the unearned benefits that someone enjoys simply because they have "white" skin. These exist in every aspect of our lives and do so at the expense of people of color. While reading the book I was intrigued by her story. One thing that stood out to me what how she compared her mixing bowl to a young black girls mixing bowl. What makes the mixing bowl significant is because in the south where Frances comes from "People of color" couldn't afford the same things whites could, so for her to go to the east coast and see people of color have the same things in which her family had achieved was shocking to her. This was an interesting connection because in the south she was taught to believe that only whites could be of high standing.

In relation to the book in chapter 1 "Deculturalizaton and the claim of Racial and Cultural Superiority" the books talks about how when it comes to race and cultural superiority it can become difficult to define. The books talks about how often when defining the two it can be seen as prejudice plus power. This means when power can be used to serve feelings of prejudice, then it is in fact an racist act. One benefit of white privileged is having control above someone due to the color of your skin. In addition, to having the ability to know see that you are privileged.

White privilege, is something that I think will always exist. I also believe that in most ways we all are privileged to a certain extent. I feel that this is a sensitive topic but in my opinion it all ties into the tactics that were set in place to belittle other cultures. White Privileged was used when it came down to deculturalizing other races. At the time the white race was the dominate race and were responsible for a lot of the acts that took place throughout the history of Ethnic Studies.