I know I've benefited from white privilege but not even been aware of it. I've only recently begin to understand the extent. I'm a white British woman with a white name, so I have not been discriminated against in job hunting, in shops, in the street. Things I've seen my BAME friends struggle with.
I can give some examples of privilege and racism that have stood out to me.
When i was a teenager and needed help finding somewhere to stay in a city after attending a festival with just a day ticket, I approached a police man without fear but with trust. He took me and my white friend to the station and said we could wait in reception until morning, as all the budget hostels etc were fully booked. We got made cups of tea and looked after.
I'm a teacher at an intentional school. When we go on school trips abroad, I'm never questioned or detained while travelling. The white students sail through airports too. The BAME students? At least one or two are closely questioned or 'randomly' selected for searches, every single time. It's like this all over Europe, but much worse when landing in New York.
When travelling on Egypt over a decade ago, i missed my internal flight thanks to terrible Cairo traffic. The flights run every couple of hours so i just had to wait to see if there was space on each subsequent flight, and that this is quite common, so lots of people waiting. Each time a flight had space, people gathered around the desk to try and get a seat on the plane. Local males and I were given better treatment than a local professional female. I was in no rush, just on holiday, so offered to give my seat to the professional woman, who had a business meeting to attend but the staff member wouldn't even listen. While being female was considered lesser than being male, my whiteness elevated me above a well educated, professional local woman. That was the first time I was fully embarrassed to be white.