Body Modification

So What If I'm White

We need to be clear that there is no such thing as giving up one's privilege to be "outside" the system. One is always in the system. The only question is whether one is part of the system in a way that challenges or strengthens the status quo. Privilege is not something I take and which I therefore have the option of not taking. It is something that society gives me, and unless I change the institutions which give it to me, they will continue to give it, and I will continue to have it, however noble and egalitarian my intentions.

Harry Brod, "Work Clothes and Leisure Suits: The Class Basis and Bias of the Men's Movement," in Men's Lives, ed. Michael S. Kimmel and Michael Messner (New York: Macmillan, 1989), 280. .

The system, what is the system? To some they would say it is a system of bureaucracy brought about by the very men who founded the very idea of white privilege. Others may believe that the "system" has been and always will be a presence in life. Furthermore, this thought is the idea that I am better than you. However, I believe that the "system" is a very real thing. It lives, breathes, and broods in the hearts of men. Furthermore, the "system" feeds. It feeds off of power. Moreover, the more it feeds the more it grows and becomes stronger, and then it needs to feed more and gain more power. The "system" lusts for power and as we have seen it will stop at nothing to get it.

Lets start out with privilege. What is it? Privilege is a special right or immunity granted to a restricted group, either by birth or on a conditional basis. A privilege can in some cases can be revoked. In modern democracies, a 'privilege' is conditional and granted only after birth. Furthermore, looking more closely at the definition you see that privilege is a special right, this incures that this right is not one that is an inherent right that all men have been granted it is a right that only you can be have and that you receive by no special will of your own or free choice to take or refuse. Moreover, privilege is described as an immunity, as if there is something that we are trying to keep away from. This immunity is a protective barrier to the outside world making it challenging for us to see our privileges because we were born with right of entry into power and assets. However, to those who do were not born with the immunity than the privilege or the lack there of is quite evident. Do not forget that privilege is only accessible

to a restricted group of people as well. In the past you might very well of been discriminated against for being Irish. However, today it doesn't matter if your family five generations back are as black as the night sky, if you can pass off as a white person than you are given the most elite of privileges. The very privilege that people are dieing for and this privilege is "White Privilege." Can your privilege be revoked though? My answer is with out a doubt yes it can be revoked. The very same was as your status as white can be removed once you move to a different place in the world. As you move white privilege moves to and it changes forms in every location, and can be taken and given back to you with out your control of wanting it or not wanting it. You will be given it with out even knowing. However, as soon as it is taken away you will be lost with out it. You will know that something is missing, something is not right and you might not be able to put your finger on it, but you know its there. None the less, the privilege of being white is of course conditional on you being white and it is placed with you at birth and nothing you do under your own power will allow you to shed this privilege.

What is white privilege. The very question if asked to many people gives you a raised eyebrow. If you ask my room mate he said it's the " privilege of being able to get a sun burn much easier," and as funny as he might be, he did touch on something and that is that we can reflect our color in a veriety of tones and shades and not worry about being discriminated against and even to the point that we celebrate young toned tanned young people in our culture today. However Dr. Derald Wing Sue in a presentation of his describes very well what I believe to be white privilege.

White privilege automatically confers dominance to one group, while subordinating groups of color in a descending relational hierarchy. White privilege owes its existence to the history and ideology of white supremacy, both as an idea and a set of legal and social practices. White privilege is premised on the mistaken notion of individual Meritocracyand deservingness (hard work, family values, etc.) rather than favoritism. It is deeply embedded in the structural, systemic and cultural workings of U.S. society and operates within an invisible veil of unspoken and protected secrecy.

Dr. Derald Wing Sue, "What Does It Mean To Be White," 2003

Peggy McIntosh describes white privilege as an invisible knapsack with many unknown, unrealized goodies inside of it. In her own words in White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, she says white privilege is "an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools, and blank checks." What an array of tools to have with you at all times. Because this knapsack is weightless, that means I can not feel it, it has no burden on me. I have carried it since the day I was born and it is just as much a part of me as my fingers are. Moreover, I can use them with out thinking about it. Just like my fingers my privileges respond on a moments notice. My maps tell me where to go and how to get there. They tell me where to stop along the way and they keep me from getting lost. Once I get to where I am going I have a passport to let me in. My skin automatically tells others that I belong here and that I should be let in, no questions asked. My codebook allows me to understand things that others will not. It provides me with the codes to unlock doors for myself. I carry visas with me to get me into unfamiliar places and still allow me to be welcome. My skin is my visa when I travel abroad to places where I am the minority, and yet I still fill welcome and I know I belong here because I am white. My clothes are my protection from the outside world. Moreover, because I am white I have a level of protection, and security that many others may never feel. Many times I feel like I am wearing a armor plated vest that nothing can get through. My clothes also make certain comments and other harsh actions bounce right off me