WHITE PRIVILEGE

“Whites are taught to think of their lives as morally neutral, normative, average, and also ideal, so that when they work to benefit others, this is seen as work which will “allow them to be more like us.”

STATISTICSOf US Senators, 99% are WhiteOf airline pilots, 98.3% are WhiteOf geologists, 95.9% are WhiteOf dentists, 95.6% are WhiteOf lawyers, 93.8% are WhiteOf economists, 91.9% are WhiteOf architects, 90.6% are White

Life Expectancy

74 years of age for White men

64 years of age for Black men

INVISIBLE BACKPACK

1. I can, if I wish, arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time.

Invisible Backpack

2. If I should need to move, I can be pretty sure of renting or purchasing housing in an area which I can afford and in which I would want to live.

3. I can be pretty sure that my neighbors in such a location will be neutral or pleasant to me.

Invisible Backpack

4. When I am told about “civilization,” I am told that people of my color made it what it is.

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5. I can go into a hair salon and be confident of having someone there who can cut my hair.

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6. I can swear, dress in second-hand clothes, or not answer letters, without having people attribute these choices to bad morals, or the poverty or illiteracy of my race.

Invisible Backpack

7. I can do well in a challenging situation without being called a credit to my race.

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8. I am never asked to speak for all the people of my racial group.

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9. I can be pretty sure if I ask to talk to “the person in charge,” I will be facing a person of my own race.

Invisible Backpack

10. If a traffic cop pulls me over, I can be sure I haven’t been singled out because of my race.

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11. I can choose public accommodation without fearing that people of my race cannot get in or will be mistreated in the places I have chosen.

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12. I can be sure if I need legal or medical help, my race will not work against me.

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13. The word “criminal” does not conjure up the faces of people whose skin color is like that of my family.

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14. No one has ever suggested that I might have dealt drugs in order to afford a certain car or house.

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GUILT/RESPONSIBLITY

“For many years I saw racism as individual discriminatory acts by members of my racial group,

not as invisible systems conferring unsought racial dominance on my group from birth.”

Whites are not guilty of creating this system, but we are responsible for changing it.