White Skin Privilege In America

The events that lead to the discriminatory practices involving race, ethnicity, religion, gender, socioeconomic and sexual orientation in the country has started since our nation’s founding. From the very being of the colonization of this land and to the declaration of independence, many of these practices started to take root from nearly early on. When it came to the formation of “classification by race” it started off early on when this country was being colonized. Early Europeans that came to this country worked as indentured servants. The idea of indentured servitude was born of a need for cheap labor. When early settlers came here they started to use the land, but early settlers soon realized that they had lots of land to care for, but …show more content…
White skin privilege serves several functions. It provides white people with “perks” that they do not earn and that people of color do not enjoy. It creates real advantages for white people and are immune to a lot of challenges. As Tim Wise stated “I ask law enforcement officers what 's the first thing you think when you see a young black and Latino male driving a nice car in your neighborhood and they all without fail and without exception will say drug dealer. I then ask them what 's the first thing you think of when you see a young white male same age and the same kind of car and in that same community they will say without exception and without hesitation and without fail spoiled little rich kid, daddy probably bought him a car.” (Wise) This is how most police officers think when they see someone like that. They view minorities vastly different then they do whites. If they see someone they look at their skin first subconsciously because of this white privilege. Minorities are judged far more negatively then whites are, even though doing so is bad. Being born white even though you are poor gives people certain unearned privileges in life that people of another skin color simple are not afforded. I agree that this privilege as Peggy McIntosh stated in White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack there are certain things poor whites get which …show more content…
One question asked, in general, do you think the criminal justice system in the United States is biased or in favor of blacks or does it generally give fair treatment? Seventy-four percent of the respondents thought that it was biased against African Americans, while only 15 percent thought the system was fair. “African Americans represent 12% of monthly drug users, but comprise 32% of persons arrested for drug possession. There is also this huge disparity in the prison system where 40% is African American while the U.S population for them is 13%. Whites on the other hand have 39% in the prison system while the total U.S. population for them is 64%.” (Sakala) This just shows how vastly disproportionately they are