Wednesday, July 7, 2010

White Privilege

White enters into usage as a legal term in laws, statutes, and court decisions in the United States all the time. Whether it’s in school or at work. Most of the time it’s whites that are considered to be discriminating against other people but that’s not always true. “White” was first used as a racial category many years ago, around the time slavery began. Everyone started to believe that African Americans were meant to be the white’s slaves. I don’t believe that there is any such thing called “white” culture but some people do. Some people believe that certain places are for whites only. Especially years ago, there were many places that had signs outside their door that said, “whites only” or on trains. African Americans were made to sit at the separate spot on the train that whites. Some whites believe that they are of higher standing that African Americans. I believe whites can be used as a group name without invoking connotations of white supremacy because not all whites have the same beliefs. Some whites may not believe that they are more superior to other racial groups. That being said, there is always going to be a racial thought that goes through your mind. For example, if a murder is committed and it’s by a different racial group you are going to think, most of the time, that that happened because of their race. I also believe that in some ways whiteness and white supremacy are fundamentally linked. Since there is such a large number of people that believe that they are superior, then it would be safe to say they whiteness and white supremacy are linked fundamentally.

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