White Privilege Vs Majority Privilege

[Bumpitybumper]

I want to start this thread by stating that white privilege undeniably exists and I'm not intending to deny it's existence or the advantage it bestows on white people.

I have noticed recently a number of BLM posts on social media centred around everyday white privilege. They include things like:

• a child going to a white friend's house, having an accident and the parents only being unable to offer a plaster of the correct skin tone
• a black child not having the experience of having a black teacher or other black classmates

In my region of the UK less than 1% of the population in black and the demographics of my child's school represents this. I imagine the majority of parents buy plasters that match their children's skin tone and the teachers, parents and children are overwhelmingly white.

When these kinds of examples are used to explain white privilege I wonder how protesters think these kinds of scenarios should be tackled? Surely we should be looking to (for example) make sure that the teaching staff of a school are representative of their local population rather than suggest that all schools should have at least one teacher of each minority group? AIBU therefore to suggest that tackling white privilege is sometimes (not always) a different issue than tacking majority privilege?

@NotEverythingIsBlackandWhite
The nearest is nude or natural tan which are still nowhere near my skin colour.
Okay so the tights don't match your skin colour, but can you not see that the names of those shades 'nude' and 'natural' are assuming some shade of white skin?

@Hearhoovesthinkzebras
I agree that poverty is an important inequality, but the white privilege enters the equation because where discrimination exists it would generally be considered worse to be black and pior than white and poor.

We don't have two exactly equal people with one black and one white to test the theories, but we have the lived experience of black people, or families of mixed race where those with lighter skin (who can pass for white) don't face the same discrimination as their own siblings.

But take education. White working class boys have the worst outcomes - on what criteria would you work out privilege in education?

B) whose skin is "beige"?

It's pretty obvious they produced them to be close to white peoples skin tone. They would have just chosen the cheapest and quickest option.

It's pretty obvious they produced them to be close to white peoples skin tone. They would have just chosen the cheapest and quickest option.

But they aren't even close to white people's skin tone.

They may well have chosen the cheapest and quickest option though.

@Hearhoovesthinkzebras

I understand the concept of white privilege. I'm just not sure how you can differentiate between white privilege, wealth privilege, class privilege

I’m not sure what you mean. For starters rarely are black people ‘upper class’ for a number of reasons, secondly you cannot remove your skin colour no matter how rich you become. So the difference would lie there. Oprah herself talks about being discriminated against. She walked into a shop in Austria and was denied a handbag as they judged her as not being able to afford it. Would that have happened to a white person, despite them being in the same tax bracket or neighbourhood as her?

A) we didn't have them growing up

I definitely remember the brick coloured ones as somebody put it, but I definitely remember skin coloured ones too (as in skin colour to me, the kind of flesh coloured ones and I'm 40 cough something.

B) whose skin is "beige"?
Not sure if you're deliberately being obtuse, but nobody's skin is beige - just the plasters are that kind of colour.
More skin tone colour. That's the point though, to be "skin colour" it has to be coming from a default you're pale skinned/white.
A black person for example putting on a flesh coloured plaster, would be the same as me putting on a black plaster.
Why should others not have the choice too?
It's privilege to not even have to think about it in the first place

@Hearhoovesthinkzebras

I think this is where the privaledge comes it. If you are white then you have the choice to chose cartoon, clear, bright or skin toned ones. When you aren't white, you don't get much of a choice. That's the difference

Some of these arguments are really belittling the issue.

Why do you think we have privilege because we can use cartoon plasters? Seriously?

What plasters do you think are skin colour?

It's a representation of the wider issue. Of course the plasters thing is a tiny problem but you add loads more of these "tiny problems" and then you see how structural and institutionalised racism have occurred because of white privaledge. It's all about it being a daily occurance for black people to not:

Have any plasters for them
No dolls that are designed with them in mind
No black main characters in TV shows
Ect. Ect. It's about the everyday lack of representation and plasters is just an easy example. I figured people realised this but clearly not

This is ridiculous what is the world coming to.

What colour are plasters in other countries like Jamaica or iran? What colour are plasters in korea?

But they aren't even close to white people's skin tone.

Closer to white peoples skin tone than Black's...

Sorry did not mean the 's should have said Black...

Mumsnet needs an edit function!

Jangirl2018

How many white people do you think are upper class?

If racism was removed entirely, how would life chances and experiences change for the working classes?

Closer to white peoples skin tone than Black's...

Exactly

This is ridiculous what is the world coming to.

Typical response from a racism denier. How DARE those who have been oppressed for the last 400 years finally be getting the voice they deserve??

Closer to white peoples skin tone than Black's...

I don't consider a brick red plaster in any way close to or similar to my skin tone.
Do you think me having a plaster available that is the same colour as a house brick confers me with some sort of benefit?

Seriously, people take off plasters and risk infection because it doesn't MATCH their skin?

Also, whilst irritating if you can't find the shade you need, surely it's a matter of supply and demand?

What colour would you like plasters to be Great?

Whatever it is, let's change to that.

I agree @NameChangeForThisOneToday

I really don't understand.

As I said before. If I live in Japan, I expect to see Japanese faces on adverts, in school.books and to see Japanese food in the shops. I would never expect they change their plasters, books, dolls or otherwise to cater for the fact I (as a blond white person) chose to move there or have kids there.

In Britain we have done loads to adjust to immigration and support people from other countries, and people born in the UK to immigrants from other countries. We have black, Asian, other kids in school books, black people represented on TV, black dolls, Asian dolls, we've opened up mosques all.over the country, we've encouraged halal restaurants, restaurants that cater for all cultures. We are getting used to people wearing non traditional clothes (head scarves etc..).

I think the UK is doing well. Nowhere else in the world is there such diversity and gradual acceptance and nowhere have so much changes been made to accommodate people from all over the world.

If I lived in Iran, or Japan or Saudi Arabia, I would not be able to see white blond kids in school books, I would not expect people to bend over backwards to accommodate me. I'd expect to fit in with their cultural expectations.

We should not tolerate racial abuse or hatred or violence.

Bit come on - plasters for goodness sake. This is Britain. Maybe on time we'll expand the plaster selection, but this is a country that has already made loads of changes to accommodate others. Let's recognise the good stuff we've done. Why the hatred towards the native British. We have welcomed people from.other countries and and made loads of changes to accommodate them

I don't consider a brick red plaster in any way close to or similar to my skin tone
Do you think me having a plaster available that is the same colour as a house brick confers me with some sort of benefit?

Sorry, but did you miss where people have said there's flesh coloured ones?
Why do you keep referring to "house brick" coloured ones?
I know they'll probably still be around but I haven't seen any of those for absolute years - there's loads of flesh coloured ones now!
There was when I was growing up too.

I agree with you @NameChangeForThisOneToday well said.

The fabric plasters that we use are brick red in colour.

That was all that I had as a child too.

As for "flesh coloured" - whose flesh do they match? Definitely not anyone that I know.

Come on, there are so many more important arguments that could be used, rather than the colour of plasters which appear to match no ones skin colour.

Typical response from a racism denier. How DARE those who have been oppressed for the last 400 years finally be getting the voice they deserve??

Are you white?

The plaster situation /is/ ridiculous.

@NameChangeForThisOneToday

I really don't understand.

As I said before. If I live in Japan, I expect to see Japanese faces on adverts, in school.books and to see Japanese food in the shops. I would never expect they change their plasters, books, dolls or otherwise to cater for the fact I (as a blond white person) chose to move there or have kids there.

In Britain we have done loads to adjust to immigration and support people from other countries, and people born in the UK to immigrants from other countries. We have black, Asian, other kids in school books, black people represented on TV, black dolls, Asian dolls, we've opened up mosques all.over the country, we've encouraged halal restaurants, restaurants that cater for all cultures. We are getting used to people wearing non traditional clothes (head scarves etc..).

I think the UK is doing well. Nowhere else in the world is there such diversity and gradual acceptance and nowhere have so much changes been made to accommodate people from all over the world.

If I lived in Iran, or Japan or Saudi Arabia, I would not be able to see white blond kids in school books, I would not expect people to bend over backwards to accommodate me. I'd expect to fit in with their cultural expectations.

We should not tolerate racial abuse or hatred or violence.

Bit come on - plasters for goodness sake. This is Britain. Maybe on time we'll expand the plaster selection, but this is a country that has already made loads of changes to accommodate others. Let's recognise the good stuff we've done. Why the hatred towards the native British. We have welcomed people from.other countries and and made loads of changes to accommodate them

I genuinely am shocked you don't see the issues and bias within your own post. Genuinely shocked.

Japanese cultures adore white people, they are looked upon as royalty - interesting and fascinating.

Please don't quote random countries thinking it helps you. You just come across as ignorant.

As a BAME the plaster situation is not ridiculous. Dismissing it as such is disrespectful.

I have never had a plaster match my skin tone. My white friends use plasters that don't look too dissimilar, not enough to notice it, if I wear one it sticks out like a sore thumb. So I would rather not wear the plaster. THIS is the issue.

I cannot believe Mumsnet is allowing this post to continue. It's filled with ignorance. @mumsnethq I genuinely don't get how you can't see some posts are highly insulting.

Alicejen - I disagree. When I lived in japan people would touch my hair, call me 'outsider' (the Japanese word for that). People moved train carriages when I got on.