Racism and White Privilege - Research Paper Example

? Racism White Privileges and Stereotypes School Racism white privileges and Stereotypes Introduction White privilege has been an integral part of the culture in the USA for a long time. It has cost the country a lot on the social, economic, and political grounds. White privilege in the USA is a root cause of a whole range of issues. Such issues include but are not limited to unequal literacy rate across races, unequal job opportunities for the minorities, and stigmatization. There is disparity in the fare charged to the people of fare and that to whites. The white privilege has conventionally played a big role in the success of white people in the USA in many walks of life. White privilege has provided people with opportunity to seek admission into the graduate schools in preference to the people of color. White privilege has helped the white students acquire national grants and scholarships for continuing higher studies while there have been more capable students of color that had also applied, but were not granted the scholarships. In the workplace, white privilege has been the cause of promotion for certain employees in presence of equally skilled and talented employees of color in the organization. History of White Privilege Around the early 1600s, 50 rich white people had got financial interests in the land in Virginia along with the Virginia Company of London. The Englishmen had been provided with the right of ruling the colony. Around the mid 1600s, there were as many as 100 servants for every single gentleman in the new American colonies. There have been numerous servant revolts in Virginia, at least ten of which have documented evidence. One of the most famous servant revolts that occurred around the mid 1600s was the Bacon’s Rebellion. In the year 1676, the free workers, farmers and servants of both the English and the African race stood up for their rights. They demanded salary and land. It was during the very revolution that Jamestown was burned. At the time of Bacon's Rebellion the English commission of investigation had shown more sympathy with the rebels than with the well-to-do planters who had engrossed Virginia's lands. To have attempted the enslavement of English-born laborers would have caused more disorder than it cured. But to keep as slaves black men who arrived in that condition was possible and apparently regarded as plain common sense. (Morgan, 1972, p. 25). In 1755, the Massachusetts Legislature assigned cost to the Indian scalp in the Bay Colony. The scalp of Indian men was sold for 40 pounds while that of Indian females and boys below 12 years of age for 20 pounds. The Neutralization Act was passed in 1790. In 1830, President Andrew Jackson had passed the Indian Removal Act. There were several more discriminatory acts that were passed in the years to follow. President Abraham Lincoln brought a revolutionary change by emphasizing upon a need for the Americans to eradicate racial differences among them and categorization of the society on the basis of color or race. “Let us discard all this quibbling about this man and the other man, this race and that race and the other race being inferior, and therefore they must be placed in an inferior position” (Lincoln cited in Davis and Wilson, 2008, p. 181). Despite his efforts and of many that followed, white privilege has continued to be an integral feature of the culture of the USA to this date. White privilege is frequently reflected in the television programs, both overtly and otherwise. While there are certain programs which overtly speak of white privilege, there are others which promote white privilege by under-representing it. One such program is the movie Crash that has won the Oscar award. Although apparently the story of Crash tends to reflect the issues and stereotypical images of people belonging to different races, white supremacy is not quite as much represented as it exists in the USA. The movie Crash has a very simple central theme; people belonging to all ethnicities including black, Asian, and white are exposed to racial oppression and discrimination. Everybody is subjected to unfair stereotyping and stigmatization, which inculcates fear and anger in them. While this is generally true for the other races, mention of white in the same list is a way of hiding white privilege and thus supporting the white race under the table. On this basis, Crash may be considered as a white supremacist movie. The movie tends to divert the audiences’ attention away from a system of white supremacy by emphasizing upon faux humanism. Accordingly, the accountability of whites for having developed and sustained such a system is waved off. A vast majority of the white Americans spend completely segregated life from other communities in the USA. They predominantly get educated in white schools which have employed white faculty members. The white people tend to go to the religious and social activities that are totally or at least, nearly all-white gatherings. Students from other races including Asians, African Americans, Latinos, and Pacific Islanders still use the textbooks originally used by the white Americans, and seek educated in schools that are more rundown and in buildings, which are not as well-equipped as the white schools. The same discrimination persists in all fields including education, media and entertainment. The only difference is that some are very overt in their expression of white privilege while others are not quite as overt. Issues of White Privilege Awareness of the white privilege and knowledge of the way racism works does not help eradicate the biases and stereotypes ingrained in the culture of the USA to a large extent. It does little to suppress the feelings of uncertainty and awkwardness that is experienced in both the work and the life on the daily basis. The people of color draw inferences from the actions and behavior of the white people in context of white privilege. White people frequently get into defensive mode as a result since such a behavior forms part of the system which safeguards and nurtures their self-esteem. Being defensive reflects the fear, insecurity, and curiosity of the white people for being called as racist or insensitive. The structural racism partly draws its success from the fact that it indoctrinates the white people about their societal responsibilities in a systematic way. The white people may refute and challenge these societal responsibilities frequently, though there always remains a need for them to be vigilant to form the lens through which their privilege can be observed rather than completely relying on the people of color to teach them. The Republican candidates emphasize a lot upon the need of creation of new jobs for the people, but they tend to remain silent upon racism and its effects upon the society. Although the topic of racism is embedded in their ideology, yet this is something they bookishly avoid. While the rhetoric of the Republicans is apparently meant for everyone, there are code words and hidden messages which are essentially the reinforcers of stereotypes for the poor and the minorities. The Republicans frequently refer to the miscreants, immigrants, and food stamps as factors of risk for the nation. “In actuality, the Republicans’ penchant for demonizing nonwhites and the poor is a calculated attempt to unify whites in a struggle to retain the power and privilege they have monopolized since the country was founded” (Kaplan, 2012). Such an ideology has many negative implications upon the society. Taking measures to eradicate the white privilege from the society is no less difficult for a white person as difficult it is for anybody else. In fact, a white person frequently has to go an extra mile in an attempt to make the same impact as made by any non-white person struggling for racial equity in the USA. When a white person speaks against white privilege, there are other white people who question him/her. This makes the first white person project an image of a “good white person” although the projection of such an image is never intended. This puts the white person in a defensive mode and the more defensive he/she gets, the more offended the interrogators feel. It sets an impression that they are the ones responsible for the spread of racism and discrimination against the people of color in the society. On the other hand, the white person struggling for the eradication of white privilege also gets frustrated by such a response from people of his/her own community as he/she thinks that he/she is on the right path. In order for a white person to deal with such matters prudently, wisely and effectively, it is imperative that the person follows a well-planned approach rather than getting defensive in his/her attempt to protect his/her personal opinions. “We need to take responsibility and avoid going into immediate defensive mode and focus on listening to another person’s reality of the situation. Our job is to be diligent in understanding the impact of our choices, our judgments and our behavior, and not assume just because we meant no harm that there was none” (Potapchuk, n.d., p. 122). Conclusion White privilege has been in the USA for centuries. There has existed a difference in the socio-economic status of the white Americans and the people of color, with the former assuming a superior position than the latter. The people of color have been enslaved by the white Americans. They have been given menial works to do for a long time. Over the years, there has occurred a change in the literacy rate of the people of color in the USA, yet a disparity in the wage rate and privileges given to the white Americans and the people of color can still be noticed in the American society. Although efforts have been made on numerous platforms to eradicate the racism and racial stereotyping from the USA, yet the white supremacy continues to prevail. People belonging to different races are stigmatized and numerous negative stereotypes are assigned to individual races. White supremacy reflects even in the very efforts to eradicate racism. Either the role of white Americans is underestimated in the spread of racism, or they are enlisted with the people who are victims of racial discrimination, which in turn supports white privilege. Although a change has started to occur, yet it will take a long time for objective results to show up. What is fundamentally required to bring a magnanimous change is the sincere efforts of the white people towards the spread of racial equity in the society, which is certainly not what all white people demand given their elevated status in the society. References: Davis, R. O., and Wilson, D. L. (eds.). (2008). The Lincoln-Douglas Debates. USA: The Knox College. Kaplan, H. R. (2012, Mar. 18). Race Still Matters (But Republicans Won’t Admit It) — Part One. Retrieved from http://www.racismreview.com/blog/category/white-privilege/. Morgan, E. S. (1972). Slavery and freedom: The American paradox. The Journal of American History. 59(1), 5-29. Potapchuk, M. (n.d.). Doing the Work: Unearthing Our Own White Privilege. Retrieved from http://www.mpassociates.us/pdf/DTW.pdf. Read More