White privilege: it's real my friends!

I have been taking part in a facebook battle for the last 30 hours or so. A facebook battle you ask? Yes, a facebook battle, prompted by a status of a friend of mine. I am not going to go into the details, because it would be too painful. But I have chosen to take an excerpt of one response and perhaps we can go from there in building how ignorant some people can be.

Here it is...

Are you ready?

"Caucasians are the most socially suppressed population in north america and thats a fact".

You've heard it friends! White people are socially suppressed. In fact white people are the most socially suppressed of all races. I know this is a fact because someone on facebook said so. Oh wait, sorry, no, we can't say white people. We should say caucasian (makes white people feel more comfortable after all). Dear god almighty, I don't know what planet this person lives on but I am going to guess that it isn't Earth.

Look, white privilege is complicated business. It is so complicated that it works its magic in such an exceptional way that it exists without white people even realizing it! And then what results? Comments like the above. Look, no one is going to come up to you and say "Hey, congratulations! You are white, that is why you got the job!" and no one is going to say "Wow, you are so beautiful because you are white". It is not that simple. Rather, it is a power system that is deeply entrenched in the way Canada was built and founded (exterminating indigenous populations, for example). It is so entrenched that most of the time people don't even realize they are doing it.

I could go on and on here, but to be honest, I don't really have the the energy to dismantle racist structures of Canadian society in one blog post. Rather, I will post a few points that were written by Peggy McIntosh, an educator who wished to "unpack" what she terms the "invisible knapsack" of white privilege. They are privileges that she is granted as a white person.

The full article can be found here: http://www.nymbp.org/reference/WhitePrivilege.pdf

* 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 can be sure that my children will be given curricular materials that testify to the existence of their race
* I can arrange to protect my children most of the time from people who might not like them
* I can swear, or dress in second-hand clothes or not answer letters without having people attribute these choices to the bad morals, the poverty, or the illiteracy of my race
* I am never asked to speak for all the people of my racial group.
* I can take a job with an affirmative action employer without having coworkers on the job suspect that I got it because of race
* I can be sure that if I ask to talk to "the person in charge" I will be facing a person of my race

These are just a few examples of a larger list McIntosh has compiled, but I think they make the point. So in response to my facebook battler who claimed I am "one of those self hating apologetic whiny caucasians just because I feel sorry that my parents were able to pay my way through university", no, that is not the case. I am simply claiming my own implication in a societal structure that benefits me every day arbitrarily. I never chose to be white and did not choose to gain these privileges, much like one does not choose to be a person of colour and be faced with racism. However, that does not eradicate me from the responsibilities I have in being a more ethical person to ensure the next generation moves in a more loving and fair direction.