Aaargh. Wading into it: I'm grateful for my "white privilege". I wish everyone had it. [View all]

[cali]

Look, I could go on about this or that in my life, but none of that obviates the fact that I do have white privilege. I am not going to get stopped driving or followed suspiciously in stores or told I can't afford this or that at Barney's or wherever. I won't get a harsher sentence for a crime because of the color of my skin, etc. And yes, that's a big deal. Those things shouldn't be a privilege; that's the way it should be for everyone in this country, but it's not.

I think that's what people are saying when they assert that there is such a thing as white privilege, not that all white people have some wonderful background or life, not that they don't suffer injustice. There are, of course, other forms of privilege- class comes to mind. They're real too, but talking about white privilege is just another way of saying, there is still a lot of institutional racism in this country.


Editing Note: Because I agree with those who have pointed out, in this thread, that white privilege is not a useful turn of phrase, I've put it into quotes in the title. I believe that any phrase that can be so easily misconstrued by so many doesn't help in any way, shape or form, to foster a fruitful debate on institutional racism or to persuade people that it exists.