I am white.
And I benefit from white privilege.
Before I wrote this, I spent a lot of time soul searching trying to decide how I felt about it. I know that some of you will have a knee jerk reaction to this — especially if you’re white. I know you aren’t used to being defined by your race or singled out because of it. I also know that you will probably bristle at the word privilege. Privilege makes it sound like we are part of high society, that we’ve never had struggles and misfortunes or that we’ve always been treated fairly. Privilege in this sense doesn’t mean any of those things.
Some in the media purposely confuse privilege to mean you haven’t worked hard or earned the accomplishments you’ve made. They use privilege to mean that everything’s come easy to you. I have struggled with my health – I get CT scans for cancer every several months. I have struggled economically – due to health reasons I lost my business, laid off my employees and had to declare bankruptcy. I have struggled socially with personal relationships – I am divorced. Many Whites in my boat would probably say, “Hell man, if there’s one thing my life ain’t – it’s privileged.” And they’d be right. But I still benefit from white privilege.
I don’t feel guilty for being White. I also don’t feel guilty for benefiting from white privilege and neither should you. I’m not here to race shame you. My goal is to help you understand, as I have understood, some ways that I have it easier because of the color of my skin.
For those of you who are still feeling defensive, how about instead of acting like we gain a privilege for being White, let’s frame the argument in a different way — Blacks lose privileges for being Black. In this way we avoid discussing it as a White gain and instead discuss it as a Black loss.
We also have to come to an agreement that at one point in our history as a nation, Whites owned Blacks as unwilling slaves. I’m not advocating that we should feel responsible in some way for the actions of our ancestors. What I am arguing is that drastic cultural policies that affected our nation back then can STILL be felt today. It’s going to take more than several generations for the attitudes of people to shift and understand that we are all one race — the human race — regardless of the amount of melanin in our skin. Below I’ve listed some ways that laws and attitudes from our past still have an impact on today’s society.
Benefitting from White privilege isn’t racist behavior in and of itself, white privilege is simply a product of racist laws, ideas and a history of bias.
REAL ESTATE
One way generational wealth is transferred is by real estate. At the end of 2016, Black home ownership was 41%. White home ownership for the same year was 72% and the national homeownership average is 64%. I know there are many factor that affect homeownership. I also know that many of these factors aren’t race specific. But policies put in place decades ago still affect our lives in dramatic ways. In fact, it was a concerted effort to deprive Blacks of societal privileges that still impact Black communities today.
The Federal Housing Administration Act was passed in 1934 and lasted until 1965. This act made home ownership more accessible. While the upside was helping white Americans purchase homes easier, the FHA explicitly refused to back loans to Blacks or even people who lived near them. This effectively created neighborhoods of rentals and neighborhoods of homeowners. The FHA did this by practicing a policy of “redlining” when determining which neighborhoods to approve mortgages in. The term “redlining” refers to the practice of drawing a red line on a map to delineate where financial institutions should not invest. These red lines were usually marked on Black neighborhoods. The practice was used to deny or limit financial services to certain neighborhoods based on racial or ethnic background. This didn’t take into consideration resident’s qualifications or credit.
This passing of this kind of generational wealth only happens if you’re able to get a loan and actually own the home. Giving loans to families in order for them to own a home was the reason the FHA went into effect. Blacks in the “redlined” neighborhoods were never able to secure a loan. This was based on the color of their skin. In this instance, Blacks didn’t receive the privilege of homeownership that their White counterparts did. Therefore, Whites received a privilege that Blacks were denied.
LAW ENFORCEMENT and THE LEGAL SYSTEM
While I have had many challenges in life, I have never been afraid for my life when confronted by a member of law enforcement. The reason I don’t fear law enforcement isn’t because I’m innocent. It’s because I’m White. This is a privilege Blacks do not have. On YouTube the other night I watched a special titled “8:46” by Dave Chappelle. During the special he said he was pulled over by a white cop, Sean Williams, on the way to a show. Even though Williams recognized Chappelle, he was still anxious as the officer made small talk. That same cop shot John Crawford III the next night in a Walmart in Beavercreek Ohio.
Deaths Due to Use of Lethal Force by Law Enforcement
Findings From the National Violent Death Reporting System, 17 U.S. States, 2009–2012. This report, written by Sarah DeGue, PhD, Katherine A. Fowler, PhD, and Cynthia Calkins, PhD, concluded that Blacks had a fatality rate 2.8 times higher than Whites. (And on a side note, 22% of the deaths by law enforcement were mental health related. This is a tragedy that I cover in my post “Defund the Police: Giving Law Enforcement the Right Tools).
Blacks in this study, have a fatality rate almost 3 times higher than that of Whites. In other words, a Black person is 3 times more likely to be killed in an encounter with law enforcement than a White person. What a privilege it is to not have to worry about a cop killing you. If there exists no other privilege that favors whites except that — you could makes a good case for white privilege or at the very least that Blacks don’t receive the same privilege.
And if that doesn’t convince you that Blacks and Whites receive disparate treatment by members of law enforcement, instances like these serve as poignant proof. Last week in Wilmington, North Carolina three police officers were fired when their dashcam inadvertently recorded them talking about Blacks, “We are just gonna go out and start slaughtering them fuc—- ni—–. I can’t wait. God, I can’t wait.” – USA Today. And another instance of a cop in Alabama posting a photo on social media of a Black protester in his crosshairs. Why would anyone glorify having a human in your crosshairs by posting it? There are literally too many examples to post.
Once a Black person gets arrested, it doesn’t get any better when they enter the legal system. While Blacks only represent 12% of the U.S. population but represent 34% of the total prison population. A recent study by researchers Samuel Gross, Maurice Possley, and Klara Stephens analyzed years of exoneration data, looking at how race may influence whether someone is wrongfully convicted — and later cleared — of a crime they didn’t commit. Below are some of their findings:
- “Judging from exonerations, innocent black people are about seven times more likely to be convicted of murder than innocent white people.”
- “African Americans imprisoned for murder are more likely to be innocent if they were convicted of killing white victims. Only about 15% of murders by African Americans have white victims, but 31% of innocent African-American murder exonerees were convicted of killing white people.”
- “The convictions that led to murder exonerations with black defendants were 22% more likely to include misconduct by police officers than those with white defendants.”
RELIGION
You’d think that religions that espouse the belief that we are all God’s children and thus brothers and sisters would be a place where Blacks would be treated the same as their white brethren. Unfortunately, segregation and discrimination were just as rampant in church. This irony wasn’t lost on Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. who said:
“It is appalling that the most segregated hour of Christian America is eleven o’clock on Sunday morning, the same hour when many are standing to sing, ‘In Christ there is no East or West.’ Equally appalling is the fact that the most segregated school of the week is Sunday School.”
In 1954, at a convention addressing teachers of religion in Provo, Utah, Elder Mark E. Petersen (an apostle in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) delivered a talk titled, “Race Problems – As They Affect The Church.” In his talk (excerpted below) he argues that God has practiced segregation and promotes the idea that Blacks are cursed and points to evidence of the mark of Cain (dark skin) that they bear. Petersen said,
“Who placed the Negroes originally in darkest Africa? Was it some man, or was it God? And when He placed them there, He segregated them. Who placed the Chinese in China? The Lord did. It was an act of segregation.
President Woodruff added, ‘The Lord said, ‘I will not kill Cain, but I will put a mark upon him, and that mark will be seen upon every face of every Negro upon the face of the earth,’ And it is the decree of God that that mark shall remain upon the seed of Cain, until the seed of Abel shall be redeemed, and Cain shall not receive his priesthood until the time of that redemption. Any man having one drop of the blood of Cain in him cannot receive the Priesthood. But the day will come when all that race will be redeemed and possess all the blessing which we now have.’
Why? If I were to marry a Negro woman and have children by her, my children would all be cursed as to the priesthood. Do I want my children cursed as to the priesthood? If there is one drop of Negro blood in my children, as I have read to you, they receive the curse. There isn’t any argument, therefore, as to intermarriage with the Negro, is there? There are 50 million Negroes in the United States. If they were to achieve complete absorption with the white race, think what that would do. With 50 million Negroes inter-married with us, where would the priesthood be? who could hold it, in all America? Think what that would do to the work of the Church!
I think I have read enough to give you an idea of what the Negro is after. He is not just seeking the oppor[t]unity of sitting down in a café where white people sit. He isn’t just trying to ride on the same streetcar or the same Pullman car with white people. From this and other interviews I have read, it appears that the Negro seeks absorption with the white race. He will not. be satisfied until he achieves it by intermarriage. That is his objective and we must face it. We must not allow our feelings to carry us away, nor must we feel so sorry for Negroes that, we will open our arms and embrace them with everything we have.
“What God hath separated, let not man bring together again.”
Elder Mark E. Petersen – speaking about God’s segregation
Now we are generous with the Negro. We are willing that the Negro have the highest kind of education. I would be willing to let every Negro drive a Cadillac if they could afford it. I would be willing that they have all the advantages they can get out of life in the world, but let them enjoy these things among themselves. I think the Lord segregated the Negro and who is man to change that segregation? It reminds me of the scripture on marriage, “what God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” Only here we have the reverse of he thing–what God hath separated, let not man bring together again.”
Many would excuse Elder Petersen as a product of a cultural period that didn’t believe Blacks were equal to Whites. Elder Mark E. Petersen was one of 12 apostles, a body of priesthood holders who govern the church. An apostle is a “special witness of the name of Jesus Christ who is sent to teach the principles of salvation to others.” The Bible Dictionary in the LDS Church defines apostle as “the title Jesus gave (Luke 6:13) to the twelve whom he chose and ordained (John 15:16) to be his closest disciples during his ministry on earth, and whom he sent forth to represent him after his ascension into heaven.” In other words, an apostle represents Jesus Christ.
Is is not surprising that minorities, particularly Blacks, choose not to live in Utah where The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is based. While the church decided to allow Blacks to have the priesthood in 1978, the Utah 2019 Census has numbers that might indicate Blacks haven’t forgotten the church’s initial doctrinal leanings: White 90.6%, Latino 14.4%, Asian 2.7%, American Indian 1.6%, Blacks 1.5%. And surprisingly, the modern day church leadership has never clarified Petersen’s and other church leaders’ remarks by renouncing such a doctrine. Indeed, some in the church still believe that being “white and American” is the highest reward for obedience in the spirit life before life on Earth. If this idea doesn’t constitute a privilege for being White, I don’t know what does.
But Petersen’s remarks aren’t just limited to the LDS Church. Contaminating the white blood line was a common fear of whites in that generation. The “one-drop rule” is a social and legal principle of racial classification that dates to a 1662 Virginia law on how to treat mixed race individuals. It asserted that any person with even one ancestor of black ancestry is considered Black. And while you might think there’s literally no way a law back then could influence society today, you’d be wrong.
According to Steve Bradt, in an article for the Harvard Gazette, “In 1985, a Louisiana court ruled that a woman with a black great-great-great-great-grandmother could not identify herself as “white” on her passport.” Apparently she had a drop of Black blood in her.
The pushback against allowing Blacks to enter White society came from religious leaders of all faiths. In 1964, the late Jerry Falwell Sr, the founder of the Moral Majority called the 1964 Civil Rights Act “a terrible violation of human and private property rights” and said it “should be considered civil wrongs rather than civil rights.”
As a white person, have you ever heard a pastor say that the color of your skin is an example of a sin? I would argue that Whites have never experienced this kind of treatment. And it’s a privilege that we receive exclusively because of the color of our skin.
POLITICAL REPRESENTATION
According to PEW Research, Blacks make up 12-13% of the U.S. population. I believe there are four African-Americans out of 100 members of the U.S. Senate: Tim Scott, R-SC; Cory Booker, D-NJ, and Kamala Harris, D-CA. This represents 4% of the Senate.
In the House that has 435 members, There are 313 non-Hispanic whites, 56 black, 44 Hispanic, 15 Asian, and 4 Native American. The percentage of Blacks in the House is 7.7%.
To make matters worse for Black representation, Will Hurd from Texas, the only Black House Republican, is not seeking reelection.
It looks like Tim Scott will be the ONLY Black Republican in Congress next year. This means that he will be the only person in the entire Congress in the Republican party that is Black. When both parties are tasked with the unenviable job of trying to craft policy to diminish police violence against Blacks, the Republican party will be able to offer the insights from their lone Black member. This results in a plan that is shaped by a bunch of old white guys and presented by their one outlier Black member.
On the Democratic side, there are 2 Blacks in the Senate and 56 Blacks in the House. So when a Bill comes out of the House or the Senate, do you think the old white guys have a clue of what it’s like to be Black in the U.S. and will craft policy based on that experience? The racial makeup of the Republican Senate itself suggests a lack of representation, so why would they be tasked with ensuring rights for people that they don’t even allow in their ranks? They are the stereotypical white guy acting like he knows all about race because he has one Black friend. If anything, a plan coming from the Democrats just might have the input of at least 56 Black members who might actually know what it’s like to be Black in America and what kinds of changes we need to make based on their experience and that of their constituents.
One white member of the House, whose party will have zero Blacks by 2021 when Will Hurd steps down, tweeted, “I reject the notion of ‘white privilege’ or ‘black privilege’ or any type of privilege. We are all unified in one American privilege that we should be proud of and fight for with everything we have.” – Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz June 23, 2020
The fact that there is only one Black member of Gaetz’ party in the House should be evidence enough that being white might afford some privileges when it comes to government. Indeed, for Republicans in the House and Senate, it appears that serving your constituents is a role best suited for Whites. Democrats in the Senate are just as guilty and thankfully there are 56 Blacks in the House.
What about the states that have the highest population of Blacks in the U.S.? The U.S. Virgin Islands are 76% Black. They have not a state and thus have no representation in Congress. The District of Columbia, an odd bit of America that is not a state and is 50% Black. They have no representation in Congress. Mississippi is 37% Black and in the Senate they have Roger Wicker a White Republican who’s been a senator since 2007 and Cindy Hyde-Smith a white woman Republican. For the House, Blacks have the following representatives; Steven Palazzo (white dude Republican), Trent Kelly (white dude Republican), Michael Guest (white dude Republican) and lastly Bennie Thompson (Black Democrat) and the sole voice of Black constituents since 1993.
It is safe to say, based on the numbers, that Blacks don’t have a lot of Blacks pulling for them in Congress. One might argue that this is no fault of the White dudes. And they’d be partially right. Gerrymandering has made it possible for White legislators to draw lines around the areas of their district where they’d be ensured the White vote — basically hand selecting their constituents. Where the majority of Blacks live there is no representation at all and where there is representation they have white Republicans advocating for them. These are the same guys that deny White privilege or worse, deny Blacks aren’t receiving the same privileges.
FINAL OBSERVATIONS
I saw a viral video last week of a little Black boy playing basketball in his front yard. The video was from his home security cameras. The boy put up shots until all of a sudden he stopped and ducks behind his family’s car. When his father viewed the video and asked him why he did it, he replied, “Because they killed George Floyd.”
The reason most White people don’t think they benefit from White privilege is that they’ve never been denied anything because of their skin color. A privilege is something that you have because you are White that a Black person wouldn’t necessarily have because they are Black.
A White person would never think twice about walking into a neighborhood that wasn’t their own. Because of their skin color, they would never be harassed. Blacks on the other hand would have the police called or would be confronted about being in the neighborhood. The privilege to walk wherever you want without having someone call the cops on you is not one that Blacks have.
A White person isn’t fearful of being shot when pulled over by law enforcement. Blacks are afraid of being killed when pulled over for a traffic violation.
And I’m telling you that there are things we all take for granted that we’d never consider a privilege that Blacks would love to share. I know I’m just one person but I feel that all Whites need to realize that some of the things we take for granted a Black person would consider a privilege.
I am white.
And it’s going to take white people like me and those of every ethnicity to change the way Black lives are valued. The government is not going to listen to Blacks. They’ve been protesting for years and not much has changed since Rodney King. We need to stand up in defense of them when they’re being harrassed. We need to protest in the streets. We need to support them however we can. And if we do this, maybe Gaetz’ premature and unaware tweet will finally become reality — There won’t be such a thing as White privilege or Black privilege but just an American privilege.