The Pros And Cons Of Being White

To acknowledge a superior advantage is the first step to changing the world. Majority of white people seem surprised at the fact that there is still a divide between races in modern times. They’ve taken the pretentious viewpoint of claiming that they don’t ‘see race’ that they just ‘the person’ and while that might be what most activists are striving towards in modern times, all that really means is that they are benefiting from the privileges of being white. It is almost impossible to relate to someone who is struggling because of their skin color when the privileged have never had to face such unfair and unjust effects because of the way they look. I am white, I am female, and those are facts. I have one advantage, being white, and one disadvantage, …show more content…
Each group experiences injustice in different ways, while seeking the same overall goal. As a white woman, the police will never stop me because of my skin color, nor will I be accused of stealing because of my skin color, nor will I be shot because of my skin color. I am a female, who is under oppression by men, NOT by a race. That is the difference. I am still privilege because of my skin tone. Ruth Frankenberg said it in the easiest way possible, “whiteness is a location of structural advantage, of race privileged.” (Frankenberg 37.) Whereas black females, like bell hooks, are under constant duress. They will never have flesh colored Band-Aids, or enough makeup concealer shades to match the different skin tones. They will constantly be criticized for wearing their hair natural, or wearing their hair in weaves, or being too ghetto or ratchet or any other stereotype that comes alongside having dark skin. A perfect example of this is an event that just passed on social media. An actress named Zendaya, a black teen who stars on Disney channel, was given a Barbie doll that looked exactly like her. She posted the picture of the doll to several social media sites, ecstatic to finally have a black Barbie looking just like her. A few hours that passed before another actress, named Demi Lovato, replied to the picture of Zendaya and her Barbie, saying that it was time for Barbie to make a curvy doll and that she would gladly accept to be the model for it. A few things are wrong with this. Demi Lovato automatically used her white privilege to take away a historic moment in black history, especially for young black children, she made it all directly about herself instead of congratulating Zendaya for her achievement, and she trivialized the black community by underrating the triumph. And she is not the only white person in power to do something like this. The ‘higher’ class