To be slightly fed up of white people doing this

[TacoLover]

Every time there is a thread discussing racism, there will be a mention of white privilege. Cue a flurry of hurt posters writing essays about how stupid the idea of white privilege is and how it doesn't exist, because their lives are so hard and they grew up on a few pieces of bread and a Red Bull

This really gets on my tits because after seeing this shit time and time again, THIS ISN'T WHAT WHITE PRIVILEGE MEANS. It doesn't mean your life isn't hard, it doesn't mean you don't face barriers in your life. What it does mean is the barriers in your life will never or hardly ever be a result of the colour of your skin. It doesn't mean you live in a mansion because you're white.

Just needed to get that out,sorry. I'm sure my only replies will be white people telling me how racist I am for only targeting them(Even though this is something that only white people do)

Completely agree with you, OP. White priviledge is alive and well.
As a white woman, I'm perfectly aware that ceteris paribus, my experience of life is quite different than that of a black female.

My question is what needs to be done to eradicate it?

Sorry that I've been away so long

I want to address some of the things I've seen...

To the people correcting my grammar and the people asking me why I'm not talking about male privilege, this is a classic response to being confronted with the idea of privilege; deflection because you don't want to think about the possibility of having something better than someone else.

To the person telling me my comments are disgusting.. Well, the racist jumped out there

There were some people making comparisons and asking why it's ok for me to say white people do x but they're not allowed to say black people do y well this particular issue is almost exclusively from white people denying white privilege. I can't think of an example of black people exclusively doing one thing that nobody else does iyswim? Normally people see saying black people do x as racist because it's never actually something that only black people do... for example saying I hate it when black people steal things would be racist because it's not only black people who do this, however saying I'm fed up with white people denying white privilege is different because there's hardly anyone that isn't white who does the same thing. Sorry that was a very long winded explanation.

The people who take issue white privilege also tend to take issue with Black Lives Matter. They want to talk about male privilege instead of white privilege and declare that surely all lives matter, not just black lives. So basically, they like to dictate what gets discussed and what they consider is worthy of discussion. Their ignorance is astounding.

Their ignorance is astounding.

Is it ignorance or arrogance?

I’m a white female, but can empathise, due to male privilege. Before I really educated myself on that, I’m ashamed to admit I might have been someone who heard the words white privilege and taken offence. I would have thought, “but I’m not racist, don’t lump me in with the KKK”!

But it’s not about that and Learning about male privilege and then seeing the reaction from men when called out, really opened my eyes to white privilege (and privilege in general). I do wonder if it’s something we (as in humans) might do as a gut reaction when told we’re privileged, but I do wish more people would try to listen rather than get defensive.

These days I shut up and listen. All I can realistically do is challenge rasicm where I see it, and listen to people of colour regarding their experiences I guess.

Useditup, how about both?

OP YANBU.

I think the problem is that many people haven’t come across the term before and don’t fully understand it, so become immediately defensive - they take it to mean either that they haven’t worked hard for what they’ve got or that they have the perfect life even if they’ve faced other disadvantages.

Really, all it means is that if you take two people who are the same sex, sexuality, class, disability level, class and wealth, but one is white and one is black, the black person will face certain types of negative treatment throughout their life that the white person won’t, simply because of the colour of their skin.

And the white person will probably be blissfully unaware of this as it’s not happening to them, so it’s not on their radar.

It doesn’t mean that they won’t face other difficulties in life, or that their life is better than the lives of all black people. It just means that any difficulties they do face won’t be because of the colour of their skin.

And for those people making the comparison between a rich, successful black person against a poor, low-educated, unsuccessful white person:

Yes, the white person will face difficulties in life that the black person won’t, due to their wealth.

However, despite their wealth, the black person will still face difficulties that the white person won’t because of the colour of their skin e.g. being stopped by police more, getting dodgy looks in the street, being assumed to be associated with gangs/criminals etc. This doesn’t mean that the black person’s life is worse overall; just that no matter how rich or successful they become, they will always be treated differently because they are black. Whereas if the poor white person’s fortunes changed and they became wealthy, they would not face similar challenges, as white rich people don’t get stopped by the police or get dodgy looks in the street.

Useditup, how about both?

Yeah, a big dose of both.
The grammar correcting post is so dismissive, I admit to being slightly shocked by it as other posts I've read from that person have always seemed kind and reasonable.
No need for it.
White privilege is a thing, I'm white, I know it.
I cannot understand why anyone would attempt to deny it.

Oprah did a great show to help people empathise with this:

Really, all it means is that if you take two people who are the same sex, sexuality, class, disability level, class and wealth, but one is white and one is black, the black person will face certain types of negative treatment throughout their life that the white person won’t, simply because of the colour of their skin

But that isn't how it is used at all, especially on this thread, and I am not white before you think I do not know about racism.

White privilege is a blunt broad brush Americanism that does not translate well into the UK. Broad brushing will IMO cause more harm going forward, we must stamp out racism, but the majority of the time "White privilege" is being used in regards to the UK it is 9 times out of 10 misunderstanding class.

This use of the word privilege tends to put people's backs up like words like chav and snowflake so I tihnk it's better not used and instead we all work towards treating people equally .

To privilege someone or something means to treat them better or differently than other people or things rather than treat them all equally.

Used as a verb (as in to confer privilege) this is the definition of the word.

We don’t need to change the meaning of words because some people are too far up their own arses to understand that their pedantry is not what is important.

It is white privilege. What else is it. It is not derogatory just plain factual. Chav and snowflake are derogatory.

God forbid that we white people should be confronted with uncomfortably facts. Our feelings get hurt and we demand to Bury the truth. Uncomfortable truth is for other people not us. We are offended but cry foul when others are offended.

It is white privilege and it's very different from equality. It goes beyond equality and has a lot of historical nuances.

Stop trying to bury the inconvenient truth because our poor backs will get all up and bothered. Our poor feelings. Yet again we use our privilege to surpress and twist truth because truth and how it is viewed is defined by us.

As a white person, I don't like the victim mentality of the concept.

I get discussing the issues like lower incomes etc which are measurable but to say we have it worst in a general sense, is your perception. In what way is it worse?

It's is not invalid to say it exists but it only exists from your perspective, there is nothing objective about it. Not everyone shares that perspective.

Everything else equal, you think in Great Britain your whiteness confers no advantage whatsoever compared to a black person for instance? So many studies are out there to prove this exist.

There are case studies where white people live as a black person for a day (using prosthetics). They found their experience to be exceptionally different.

Case studies have also been done where identical applications are sent, one with a white sounding name and another with a name normally associated ethnic minorities. You can guess the outcome.

There is evidence of white privilege and of you stop for a moment to think about it, you will see it.

I guess you also think that male privilege depends on your perspective? It only exist from your perspective or does that argument only hold when you are speaking about race?

Well said weight. We use the term male privilege - women clearly see it exists. It is not a derogatory term. Yet, put that to a man and most will get their backs up. So are we supposed to change the terminology for their fragile egos? Men live in a world where they have privilege every step of the way. Highlight this privilege to them and their feelings get bruised. So do women bear the responsibility of changing the truth to something a bit more softer, gentler, thereby cushioning the male from the aftershock of the term male privilege?

Like I said, I've no problem with specific issues being raised when they are backed with evidence but to make an overall judgement on it is clearly about perspective.

Language is crucial and imprecise sweeping statements are divisive and unhelpful.

As is being yet another person deflecting from what black people affected by racism are trying to tell us!

Why do these threads always, always come down to some white people engaging in the most deliberate filibustering and whataboutery.

It’s not about white people’s problems, it’s about the problems white people cause!

If "the Left" concentrated on viewing it via Class first before Colour I think we'd all benefit.

I think when people have privilege e.g. racial, class etc a lot of them don't like seeing it and they especially don't want to admit it. They maybe think it means they're stinking rich and never had to do a day's work or are racist.

I am white and do feel I have it easier being white than I would have done being another race, but I'm also privileged in that I grew up in a house my family owned, went to school till I was 18 etc.

People who aren't white can also be privileged e.g. wealthy, go to top unis, etc etc

People who are privileged in some ways can suffer tough lives in other ways.

I think we should be aware when we have it easier than others, but nothing is clear cut and one or the other, it's more a continuum, isn't it?

PS I absolutely don't mean to say that racism doesn't exist - it does and it's evil.

I only meant to say there are various types of privilege in different combinations in an individual, although I can imagine that racial privilege is very influential, every day.

Just once I experienced racism. I went to IKEA in Croydon, and the tram had to stop before we got there. A black London Transport official clearly only wanted to speak to / answer other black people's questions, and ignored the white people including me. I felt so hurt!! I soon realised feeling hurt was silly, and that he will have been treated far worse and often to be doing that - he'd been hurt and that was his reaction. At that moment I was very aware of my white privilege in my daily life.

What does 'treating people equally' even mean though, Xenia?

I've never seen you correct another poster's grammar. Particularly odd to see when your most recent post has a spelling error!

Would you like someone to write you a patronising little lesson for today about how important proof reading is, so that you feel treated equally?

Isn’t there a growing black privilege?

At work a new colleague (who happens to be black) has been misbehaving. His manager wanted to dismiss him.

HR said no, mainly because they fear a racism claim. So new colleague stays where likely a white person would have lost their job.

Formerbabe said this:

"Many of the black people I know have suffered racist abuse from EU migrants who come from countries where it is not so socially unacceptable to be overtly racist."
_

I can imagine! I am white, and I have heard disgusting racist comments from Eastern Europeans in particular (Bulgarians, Romanians, Serbs, Ukraine etc) . I have also heard a lot of homophobic comments from people from those countries.