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Understanding White Privledges Understanding White Privileges Have you ever sat back and thought about how the color of your skin affects you and the people around
Submitted by bb129906 on September 9, 2007
Category: English
Words: 2122 | Pages: 9
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Understanding White Privileges
Have you ever sat back and thought about how the color of your skin affects you and the people around you? Personally, I haven't given this question much thought, that is until I read the essay "Understanding White Privileges" by Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D. She presses the reader to see real examples of how having a skin color other than white has caused them to be treated differently in comparison to white people. Though this essay did raise many good points, race will always be something that will causes controversy, being something that brings up so many different opinions. In the essay, there were some things I completely agreed with but at the same time, I thought that Kendall over analyzed some of the subjects she discussed.
Kendall begins her essay with a definition of privilege. She states, "Privilege, particularly white or male privilege, is hard to see for those of us who were born with access to power and resources. It is very visible for those to whom privilege was not granted" (1). She continues to say how white people just don't ever think about it because they think they are "normal" (1). The author then makes an intriguing and insightful comparison with birds and fish; saying that fish don't ever think about air and birds don't think about water because they never have to come in contact with it. (1) She continues to elaborate, by explaining how white people think of themselves as an individual whereas colored people don't have that privilege. According to her, they have to think of themselves as a race. She continues to give examples of how white privilege is largely represented in our everyday life. An example was that white children are, pretty much, guaranteed to learn about their history whereas American Indian's know that their children won't learn as much about their culture's background and history. Kendall continues by giving statistics of colored versus white people in the job field and...
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