White privilege is a topic that has been in the media a lot recently, and for good reason.
It’s important to understand how white people benefit from a social stature that people of color don’t experience. Having awareness about this issue helps to encourage a more open-minded and understanding society for all.
Although this awareness is necessary, it is sometimes used as a way to silence people who have also gone through hardships.
These hardships may not be based on belonging to a disenfranchised racial minority, but that doesn’t mean that white people can’t struggle, as well. That’s why it’s important to understand ALL types of privilege – including financial privilege.
This issue recently came to light when a student received an acceptance letter from Yale Law School.
She was understandably excited about the acceptance and chose to share it on social media with her friends and followers.
Once this girl posted her status, she quickly received a comment from a follower: “Good job, might I add a shout out to your white privilege for you.”
The original poster was offended by this post, and she decided to share her feelings.
She said: “Melissa, I grew up in a foster home. Both my parents were alcoholics and gave me up when I was 5. I had to take care of my brother for 2 years until we got adopted, and then we both got abused by that family and had to go back to the orphanage for another 2 years.”
“I spent long nights studying, and working part time in high school just to support myself and my brother. I was lucky enough to have good grades to get into a decent undergrad. After 8 years of late nights, study groups, no dating, no partying, weekend studying, working, and applying to scholarships and loans I finally got accepted into my top choice. I understand the concept [of privilege] but it sounds more like you are trying to condescend me rather than be helpful.”
Pointing out that this girl benefitted from being white is obvious.
It’s a given. And the original poster seems to be aware of her privilege. But using the claim of white privilege to delegitimize this girl’s success is pointless and, frankly, rude. While whiteness does provide privilege, it doesn’t mean that white people don’t have to work hard, especially when they come from the type of family and financial situation that the original poster experienced during her childhood.
The purpose of intersectionality, the idea that oppressions are interconnected, is meant to show how different types of oppression work together to form a sort of social hierarchy.
And while race is an extremely important part of this hierarchy, so is wealth. And ignoring that aspect of intersectionality is missing the point of the concept entirely.
While everyone should do their part to raise awareness of how people benefit and are hurt from unfair social structures in society, this should be done with tact and respect. After all, while generalization can and should be used on a societal level, you never know what an individual has gone through.
If we all want a society in which we are valued for who we are and not what we look like or where we came from, we have to understand that there is often more nuance in every person’s situation than what meets the eye.
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