Second Week Blog Post

White Privilege

While “white privilege” is a term that was created years ago, it is a term that has only been meaningful to me in the past couple of years. With the protests that arose from the death of George Floyd, I found myself passionately involved in the Black Lives Matter movement: advocating in school, attending protests, and signing petitions. It was during this time that I truly started to look into the term white privilege. When I learned the concept of white privilege, I understood to an extent, however, it was a large concept to grasp. As a hispanic woman, the term made sense, but there is still so much to continue to learn. The journey of learning about racism in America has been, at times, uncomfortable, overwhelming, and oddly empowering. After reading the assigned article The Sugarcoated Language Of White Fragility (Kegler, 2017) I was presented with a perspective that explained how white privilege “is an extremely gentle way of easing White people into awareness” (subheading “White privilege”). This was a very interesting idea to contemplate, and it does make sense to me. I have had many uncomfortable conversations about privilege, and the choice of using the word “privilege” has positive connotations. It is an easier way to tell white people they do have an unfair amount of power in society. Over the years, I have learned that it is not enough to be “not racist.” Society requires that we are actively anti-racist. This is similar to the story that Kyle Korver (2019) shared discussing how privilege must be used to be actively anti-racist. I am very aware of my skin color and that I am a woman. Throughout the course of my life, I have faced subtle racism and sexism in the comments of others. I have been the only female in STEM classes and have been the only hispanic in the room, and that is a tremendously uncomfortable position to be in; however, it forced me to become comfortable in my racial identity. However, I do also know I have privileges as well; I grew up in a fairly wealthy, safe community with a good education system. This allowed me to focus heavily on studies without worrying about money or violence. While I may not have the same amount of privilege as a white male, I am doing my best to raise awareness concerning inequality and pushing for change.


References

Kegler, A. (2017, December 7). The sugarcoated language of White Fragility. HuffPost. Retrieved January 22, 2022, from https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-sugarcoated-language-of-white-fragility_b_10909350 

Korver, K. (2019, April 8). Privileged: By Kyle Korver. The Players' Tribune. Retrieved January 22, 2022, from https://www.theplayerstribune.com/articles/kyle-korver-utah-jazz-nba 

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