White privilege, the notion that white people are afforded societal benefits that members of other races are not, has seeped into our lexicon to explain racial disparity in wealth, race and health. But are racial privileges responsible? Does white privilege exist? Can it adequately explain individual experiences? Or are other factors at play in creating racial inequality?
No, white privilege doesn't exist
White people can be just as disadvantaged as black people. There is no deliberate policy that seeks to afford white people additional privileges and by many measurements, white people are struggling as much, if not more, than their counterparts in other minorities.
White privilege conflates individual circumstance with structural inequality
To assert white privilege exists is to ignore the millions of white people who live in dire economic circumstances and to assume that every white individual is afforded privileges in some way.
Suicide is indicative of extreme depression, helplessness, alienation, and loneliness. A privileged demographic would not feel these emotions and commit suicide in numbers as high as white people do.
There are no policies that deliberately benefit white people
For white privilege to exist, there would have to be specific policies in place that explicitly benefit whites at the expense of other races. These policies do not exist.
The U.S. Justice System favors white people over people of color. This bias means that white people are less likely to be unfairly arrested and imprisoned.
