Who Am I vs. White Privilege

Who am I and what does that mean? These are questions that I think about more then I should, I believe. But living in America encourages me to recognize who I am, so I can stay in my "place". I am aware that I am a young educated Black, African American male with a bright future, which I was told after I became a part of the Advanced Placement program in high school. And it has not changed since I have been attending the University of Texas at Austin, however, after hearing about the injustice killing of Trayvon Martin something changed. That something reminded me of what it means to be me in a society that has much racial tension in its 236 years of existence. This society recognizes my blackness and has minimized it many times through acts such as taking away Ethnic and Cultural Studies in Arizona, opting out of material that discuss important minority leaders in U.S. History, acts of discrimination and racial profiling, and the list goes on. Yet, because of where I am today I have experienced and understand more of these issues. I am well aware that when I walk down the street the first thing someone will recognize is the color of my skin and all stereotypes that come with it. These stereotypes range from working class, low-income, single mother, broken household, drugs, the use of improper English, lazy, government assistance, anything else that could be considered negative. These are mostly comments I will live with until the day that I die. Nevertheless, when things happen surrounding race and justice its something we, as Americans, want to keep quiet about. We do this because we do not know how to talk about race or deal with these stereotypes. Some say it's the reality, but I strongly have to disagree. Look at our institutions; it's the reality for those who are in power, but not the people as a whole, which leads me to the discussion of white privilege.


White privilege is definitely not a topic we talk about everyday, but we see it. We walk into our classrooms and see the professors (majority of them being white), we look at the student demographics at the university, we look at the achievement gaps in our public education system and see that whites are at the top, etc. To define white privilege Robert Jensen’s (1998) essay titled “White Privilege Shapes the U.S.” provides a clear example of what white privilege is and how it impacts others. In his essay Jensen is having a conversation with a student and states,

“I am sitting in my University of Texas office, talking to a very bright and very conservative white student about affirmative action in college admissions, which he opposes and I support. The student says he wants a level playing field with no unearned advantages for anyone. I ask him whether he thinks that in the United States being white has advantages. Have either of us, I ask, ever benefited from being white in a world run mostly by white people? Yes, he concedes, there is something real and tangible we could call white privilege. So, if we live in a world of white privilege--unearned white privilege--how does that affect your notion of a level playing field? I ask. He paused for a moment and said, "That really doesn't matter." That statement, I suggested to him, reveals the ultimate white privilege: the privilege to acknowledge you have unearned privilege but ignore what it means.”

In conclusion, before coming to college, students (like myself) do not know white privilege exist, and are shocked when it is mentioned and its impact effects me greatly. I am a person who strives to have perfection in all that I do, but I feel like I always fall short. I work hard and still feel average, yet my white peers make it seem so easy to do many things or to have such means because of the resources granted to them before arriving to college. Even being a part of an organization that has a majority of white members can sometimes bother me. So, as a member of a racially mixed group going to Ghana, I must say it will be interesting. Interesting because we all go for different reasons and most times do not take the time to ask why another person decided to apply to this program. With that being said, I am sure there will be times when emotions are high for the black students or anyone for that matter, which some may not understand. In addition, I will do my best to keep an open mind and understanding that other members from our group may not have high emotions at times or feel guilty about what happen in history. In my opinion, I believe this will be an interesting learning experience for all of us and we will all capture something greater beyond belief from studying abroad in Ghana. I am excited to see my classmates and I grow together in this experience and I hope to see my questions of Africa and Ghana be answered.

Resources:

http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~rjensen/freelance/whiteprivilege.htm -Robert Jensen

http://wewritewhatwelike.com/2011/08/31/in-the-interest-of-justice-let’s-dismantle-the-solidarity-industry/- Picture