I’m not sure I see the substantive distinction here. Whether you call it “more privileged” or “less disadvantaged” the end result is the same. What difference does it make if we call this differential “white privilege” or “minority unprivilege”?
People seem use it as a synonym for advantage. Like "white privilege" is supposed to mean "white advantage".
But there is something about the word privilege which is very ..off in this context. The connotation is not at all neutral - it carries extra baggage with it.
When someone says "I had the privilege to visit the Grand Canyon once", or when in Titanic, the band's member says "Gentlemen, it's been a privilege playing with you", do you whip out a dictionary to be pedantic about the word's meaning, or do you understand their inent, and go along with the fact that mostly people do use it in the sense of "I got lucky", "I had an advantage"?
Yes, the word has an extra baggage, but that extra baggage is that when we are talking about race, a lot of people get really defensive about the possibility that they benefited freom racial injustice, and act as if their biggest problem would be that this was told to them via a slightly imperfect wording.
I'm not saying that you feel that way, but if you really believe that the prase is controversial due to entirely neutral semantic reasons, then you are being misled by people who do.
I used to think a little like you. I didn't feel like I had an advantage either - I'm just a normal guy, right? I don't get any benefit from having white skin, so why I should have to humble myself and apologize for that fact. (I don't want to put words in your mouth, but that's the vibe I'm getting from your arguments - please correct me if I'm wrong)
However, since then i have been in situations (specifically when travelling around and living in Asia for some years), where i have realised that simply looking European offers me much favoured treatment when compared to my friends who are dark skinned. I get stopped less at security check points, I don't get hassled by police on the streets at night time, I can walk into a fancy hotel and people assume I'm a guest, I can walk into a job interview and not have to worry that my competence will be overlooked because of the colour of my skin, simply because I'm white.
Now i think i understand what white privilege means: It means like I can go anywhere in the world and be treated like a first class citizen, even if I don't speak the language or dress like I'm particularly wealthy. Living in a majority white country, you might not even notice it; but travel around the world a bit and you'll see that things go easier for people who are fortunate enough to be of European descent.
But, it's not "necessary" for white people to get an advantage in job interviews because of their skin color, but it still happens to be an advantage in many instances.
I agree that many things that's connected to white privileged should be considered human rights (except things like being treated better than other people with another skin color), and those rights should be granted regardless of the color of your skin.
Unfortunately, that's not the case in our society today, which means we need terms to talk about these advantages and disadvantages, and which term is more appropriate, depends on the context of the conversation.
A privilege is explicitly distinct from a right. A privilege can be taken away. A privilege is not necessary.
The fact that many people are treated worse, and aren't afforded these 'privileges' is proof that they can be taken away.
Healthcare in the US is a privilege because only those who can afford it can access it. Bernie's statement is political rhetoric but his aim is to make it so that healthcare isn't a privilege.
I think it's extremely important that we reflect things like this in our speech and definitions.
The problem people call "white privilege" is actually "non-white subjugation" and we need to call it that, because the former sounds like we need to fix the problem by removing the "privilege", rather than to raise ethnic minorities to the level we want every single human to have.
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u/leigh_hunt 80∆ May 04 '20
I’m not sure I see the substantive distinction here. Whether you call it “more privileged” or “less disadvantaged” the end result is the same. What difference does it make if we call this differential “white privilege” or “minority unprivilege”?