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?

@alicejen my players are blue. I cut my finger and wore plasters for a week in work. Why on earth do you care if people can see you’re wearing a plaster?

I'm BAME and I think the plaster situation is absolutely ridiculous. OP could have used another example to demonstrate white privilege.

I do first aid in a school. There is zero doubt that the 'skin tone' plasters readily available from school suppliers blend in to an extent on whiter skins but stick out like a beacon on black and darker asian skins. I will be asking for increased funding for better plasters after reading people saying they would rather have no plaster.

@namechangeforthisonetoday

Personally I feel like in Britain we have more of a historical duty to represent the multi culturalism that historically we have 'imposed' upon others and ourselves with colonialism.

We essentially took over a lot of countries and popped British rule on them. We were also a lot more involved in the slave trade than we like to think.

Considering we have, as a result of this, always had higher levels of immigrant communities as a result of slavery/colonial immigration- we should really have a higher representation of those populations within our everyday lives, products and general activities than we do. In a lot of ways we still seem to view white British as the default which we shouldn't. It's been hundreds of years and there is still the element of 'the other' with skin tones other than white.

Aren't some plasters blue?

Whos skin is it matching if go for the main colour ? It's not "white", it still stands out on all people!

If you think White Privilege is Majority Privilege I suggest you take a visit to South Africa.

@TornadoOfSouls

This is really thought-provoking. It’s interesting that lots of posters come on to defend their plaster-buying habits. I think the idea of White Default makes sense (I haven’t read the Times article). It’s like how things are set up for men, not women. Things are set up for white people. And the people in whose favour things are set up rarely notice it, because for them it’s the norm, and they feel entitled to have things that way. Then when it’s pointed out to them they often feel they are being attacked. But really they are just being asked to adjust the way they see things.

I love the idea of white default. I understand this and totally accept it. ‘Privilege’? No. It implies a certain status, which I’m not sure people feel they have, and it’s accusatory and therefore toxic.

Perhaps there are black privileges, that some white people think are valid? If we’re getting down to plaster colour level, then there’s bound to be some.

Southsideowl - thanks, that's helping me understand a bit.

But that said - as a white British person it is not MY fault what my ancestors did. It is weird for me to see people from other countries and cultures coming to the UK expecting the native British to bend over backwards to accommodate them, rather than thank us for what we are trying to do (eg. Trying to have more BAME representation on TV, in books etc. And all the other things I said in my post). Of I moved to another country and had kids there I would not expect that country to change their media, their school books etc.. to accommodate the white person who chose to move to their neighbourhood (but if they did, I'd say thanks not complain)

The thing is namechange, they didn’t come to the UK, I’m guessing most were born here.

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

Exactly, I genuinely don't understand what people aren't getting, and I say this as a white person!
If I was to put a plaster on, you could barely tell it was there as I'm pale skinned.
I don't mean it matches exactly, but it's definitely not dissimilar to my skin.
Now if I stuck a black plaster on that'd stick out like a sore thumb.....
saying "but some plasters are blue or have Mr Men or Sponge Bob Squarepants on!" is completely missing the point.

There's also clear plasters isn't that for all?

I agree with the nude bra, though again it assumes one shade of 'white' and lack of nude skin tones for black womens make up.

It is weird for me to see people from other countries and cultures coming to the UK expecting the native British to bend over backwards to accommodate them, rather than thank us for what we are trying to do (eg. Trying to have more BAME representation on TV, in books etc. And all the other things I said in my post). Of I moved to another country and had kids there I would not expect that country to change their media, their school books etc..

I don’t understand your point. BAME does not = foreign. Most are British. What do you mean by ‘native’ British?

LemonadeAndDaisyChains

Then you are lucky that plasters match your skin tone.

How many shades of white skin are there?

White people aren't all the same colour and we aren't actually white.

Stressing - nearly all my colleagues are BAME. Very few were born in UK. Of those that were, all are second generation (I think that's the right term - basically their parents were not born here). In terms of frinesa I went to school with, most were born in UK but their parents were not.

This seems recent to immigration me - either first or second generation

It takes time for countries to adapt to immigration. The UK has come along way. We are not there yet - but of my parents had moved abroad and I was born in the country they moved to, I would understand that was their choice and would be thankful for the adaptations the country were making to reflect recent immigration, but would accept the native traditions and not have the expectation that everything should change just because my family moved there and chose to have me there

White default is perhaps a good description - but that's the case across most of the country.

I was buying a birthday card for a little girl. There are a lot of princess/fairy type ones (not Disney, just a picture of a girl with a wand or crown). They all had long blond hair and blue eyes.

“In a lot of ways we still seem to view white British as the default which we shouldn't.”

14% of UK population is BAME. Many of these populations are localised in certain city districts where they are represented. There are schools that are almost all BAME. You can probably get dark plasters there and see posters with dark models and get the right colour makeup. White people probably couldn’t. Nationally, yes it swings the other way. But we’re getting closer to proportional representation everyday in TV. We’ve currently got better representation in front bench government too.

They all had long blond hair and blue eyes.

Surely that's because until the last 20 years or so, most little girls in this country were might and a great many had blond hair. A large percentage still are white

*White not might (sorry lots of typos)

It's not racist to buy plasters for home use that match your own skin tone if you are white. It is racist that most plasters (that aren't colourful) available are pink tones.

So offering a pink plaster to a visiting black child at your house is fine, but it would still be more inclusive to just buy the colourful ones instead.

But white parents should also use their privilege to contact the plaster manufacturer and ask them to make brown plasters if they don't already. And schools and businesses etc should keep both in their first aid kits.

In terms of teachers, 13% of the UK population is not white, so there should be at least one black or brown/BAME teacher in every primary school (more in secondary schools), if not for systemic racism. Obviously this is an average (as people from different backgrounds tend to live in different areas), but that still isn't the case (and even less so for leadership positions).

But white parents should also use their privilege to contact the plaster manufacturer and ask them to make brown plasters if they don't already. And schools and businesses etc should keep both in their first aid kits

So 86% of the population is white.

14% is BAME - should we be asking for just brown plasters? And why is it white people that should be asking for them? Presumably manufacturers will produce whatever there is a market for? So shouldn't it be people who want to buy the item who should be asking manufacturers? If, as a woman, I thought they should produce a product for women it wouldn't be helpful to ask men to request it would it? They'd want to know that there's a market for it.

NameChangeForThisOneToday - true - my DD is and it's for economic reasons, presumably. This was a card for a mixed race girl who was very much in the minority in her class. I couldn't find anything that represented her when I went looking for it (and as a white person I wouldn't normally have had to give it a thought - that's the "default" point). I bought one with a bear on it in the end.

@drspouse
If you think White Privilege is Majority Privilege I suggest you take a visit to South Africa
My point isn't that White Privilege and Majority Privilege are the same thing, infact I'm arguing the opposite. My argument is that in most countries (not all) you will have an advantage if you are part of majority groups. If you follow the same religion as the majority you will be less likely to be persecuted, more likely to have national holidays aligned with your religious events and have a greater choice of places of worship. This trend will generally hold true for race, language and culture too.

Where the majority don't enjoy this privilege then it's normally seen as a sign of structural inequality and discrimination. So the fact that white people hold a disproportionate amount of power and resource in South Africa is a case where White Privilege has trumped Majority Privilege.

Yup. If it a product has the potential to make money, someone would already be supplying it. This is for sure.

@Stressing
The UK is getting better with "representation", but still has a way to go with regards to proportional representation. The cabinet is an interesting example b/c in Parliament as a whole, only 10% of MPs in England are BAME. 0 BAME MPs in NI, Wales & Scotland means 0 representation of BAME communities in these countries.

In FTSE 100 companies, only 6% of CEOs are BAME, so you are less than half as likely to be a CEO if you're BAME.

So the UK still has a way to go with representation.

@letmethinkaboutitfornow

The issue with your statement about 'African' skin is that it reflects the casual lumping together of 54 separate countries incorporating 1000s of ethnicities into one big other.
Africa is a continent, not a homogenous blob. It includes Arabs, Berbers, Tuaregs etc in the north, as well as the Sub saharan ethnic groups of which there are too many to mention. Some Africans are even white. There is no such thing as African skin.