White Privilege And Black Discrimination
Privilege is an advantage granted to a certain group of people. The privilege is much more certain to get a position in power. They have a higher chance of having a commanding influence in politics. Privileged people can be a lot more successful than others. Groups that are privileged have way more power and influence over oppressed people. These people can control and have a big impact on social media. Privileged people can also use their position to help assist other privileged people.
Our individual responsibility in terms of perpetuating or abolishing white privilege is to teach people who do not know they have privilege. Teaching them will help people understand more about how minorities are treated in America. People need to learn that white privileged does not always mean you have a good life or that you did not work hard. White privilege can mean that you do not have to face certain obstacles minorities face in life. There are many ways people with white privilege can access and utilize their privilege.
Colored men are sentenced for much longer time in prison than white men. According to the States Sentencing Commission black men who commits the same crimes as white men receive almost 20 percent longer sentences. Judges are more likely to voluntarily revise sentences committed by white people. For colored people judges are less likely to revise sentences. When judges reduce black offenders sentences they barely reduce the amount. For white offenders they reduce the sentences way more than black offenders.
White people accessing and utilizing their white privilege was in the article “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” by Peggy McIntosh. McIntosh created a list of privileges that she had as a white person. She said, “I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed.” She is saying because of her white privilege she able to be safe going to a store but for colored people it is the opposite. She is saying that she could walk around not look suspicious to anyone and feel safe. McIntosh knows that people of color can get followed by cops because they look suspicious, when they are just walking to a store. She knows that colored people have hard life always having to watch their backs.
After reading “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” McIntosh was trying to explain that white privilege is really embed into American life. Some white Americans grow up not knowing they have privileges that other people do not have. They need to see how hard it is for colored people in America to live. Also, need to see how their white privilege makes them have better lives than others. These people need to be more educated about the privileges they have in America. White privilege is just as much a form of social control as limiting access because people with white privileges have a lot of power. One way some white people try to social control is be Linguistic terrorism. Linguistic terrorism is forcing someone or a group of people to change their language to a new language, so they can fit in. This happens a lot in America today. The people who suffer the most to linguistic terrorism is minorities in America. Some white people want people to only speak American English. They want to take away people culture and heritage and assimilate everyone that comes to America. Trying to take away someone’s language is the same thing as trying to take away their identity. People should not have to change their identity to fit into America. Some examples of linguistic terrorism were in the story “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” by Gloria Anzaldua.
In this story I came to understand how important it is to be proud of your identity. In the story Anzaldua got in trouble for speaking Spanish at school. Her teacher told her “If you want to be American, speak 'American.' If you don't like it, go back to Mexico where you belong.” At a young she was already being forced to assimilate to be more American. She even took 2 speech classes to fix the accent she had. Anzaldua said, “I will no longer be made to feel ashamed of existing. I will have my voice: Indian, Spanish, white. I will have my serpent’s tongue”. What she meant when she wrote this was that no matter what language or accent she speaks she will not let anyone stop her from being who she really is.
Another example of linguistic terrorism was in an article called “Notes of a Native Speaker” by Eric Liu. Liu talked about how he was assimilated into the American culture. He was a Chinese American who felt like he was forced to fit in to the American standards. Liu said, “Thus it is that I have been described as an "honorary white," by other whites, and as a "banana," by other Asians” His own people does not like Liu now because he has forgot about his culture. After assimilating to American Liu does not feel ok forgetting about his culture. People should be proud of their identity. You should not force yourself to change identity just to fit in. Losing your identity could affect you in a negative way, just how it affected Eric Liu. No one should be able to take away someone’s identity. It does not matter what ethnicity you are you should be proud of your identity. There are many submissive tactics used by white privilege groups to limit access for color people. It is easier for white privilege people to get a loan form the bank then a colored person. Colored people are turned down loans, so it is harder for them to buy homes or even start a business. Colored people are getting limited because we are not able to get loans to start are own business and make money. It is harder for colored people to get loans because their wealth is significantly lower than white people. Colored people do not get loans for businesses because of the location. Big banks sometimes do not like to approve businesses in poorer communities. This makes colored people lives much more difficult because they would not be able to make money. If more colored people can get loans for businesses, it would really help their community a lot. They could hire people who need jobs in their community.
Another example of white privilege using tactics to limit other groups is by some white CEOs they do not hire many people of color. More white people have better opportunities. A poor colored person will not have these connections and resources. Colored people are very likely to be racially attacked. Prejudice towards colored people today is much stealthier and more unspoken. People will cover it up with made up stories to legitimize discrimination. Some white supervisor or co-workers may complain or give a colored employee a harder time for everything he or she does. This type of racism is more difficult to fight against because it allows people to pretend not to understand or know of any discrimination.
Some white people are privileged enough to go to low poverty schools and get a better education. While colored people go to high poverty schools. Kids at these school receive torn up textbooks. At high poverty school kids do not always get the best lunches. The classrooms are in bad condition. Kids that go to high poverty schools are more likely to dropout. If a school is in bad condition and do not provide a good lunch kids is not going to want to go to school. The kids who drop out of school is more likely to cause crimes. High Poverty schools school has lower math and reading scores then the low poverty schools. Not being able to get a good education is really bad for a kid. When they grow up they will not be able to help their community. Not being educated enough will stop them from being able to get a good job to support their family. Their kids will grow up in the same poor community and go to same high poverty school. This is reason why many colored people do not have money to support their themselves. These high poverty schools need to be helped so colored people can be more successful when they are older. Having a good education is very important and their need to be a change so less colored kids’ dropout school and start doing positive stuff in their lives. White privilege kids are lucky they are able to go to school in nice buildings and brand new text books. These kids are able to grow up and get a well-paying job. They have the opportunity to give back to their community to make it even better. Being able to get a good education allows white privilege people to get better jobs then a lot of color people. Being colored in America is never easy.
Some white people in America are stereotypical of black people. Even though colored people have shaped American history in different ways through sports, inventions and politically. The way some white people in America have looked at colored people has never changed. No matter how successful a colored person is or how they impacted the world in a positive way, we are still discriminated against in America. Colored people have been fighting for equality since the birth of this nation, and we are still fighting to this day.
