I want you to take a breath and picture a successful business man. What does he look like? Is he wearing a tie and perhaps holding a briefcase? Is he balding, maybe? What is the color of his skin? Most likely, it is white. If you pictured a white man, you are not the only one. Around 30 Mesa County students were asked to visualize their version of a typical businessman, and about 93% of them saw a white man. He was anywhere from his 30’s to late his 60’s and varied in build, eye color, and hair color, but he was nearly always white.

Envisioning a white man does not make you racist. It makes the white man privileged. It reveals a massive flaw in the system by which people become successful. The flaw of white privilege. 

White people have privileges that other races simply do not. It is not disputable. It is a plain fact. 8 in 10 black adults feel that the affects of slavery persist today and that the country has not done enough to fight it. The fact of the matter is that there is no way 80% of black people are “being dramatic” or fabricating stories. It is, of course, not just black people going through discrimination. A third of hispanics say that they have been affected by racial discrimination in the past thirty days, and most other minorities feel the same. 

Discrimination comes in many forms. It is being denied a job that you were qualified for or housing that you could have afforded. It is getting treated unfairly by those who should be serving you, protecting you, or providing you with basic necessities that every human deserves. It is even fearing for your life, or the life of those that you love because of your race and the skin you were born into. There are very few white people that are familiar with the situations above.  

Oftentimes, the prejudice created by white privilege hits very close to home. Carson Garcia is a student here at Fruita Monument High School of mixed white and Mexican descent. He has experienced the effects of white privilege in his life and had a story to tell about it. He was in the Natural Grocers essential oils aisle with his mother and brother, when a clerk approached them. Despite them doing nothing to warrant an attack, the woman rudely told them that if they touched anything, they would have to buy it. The three agreed not to touch anything that they were not planning on purchasing. A few minutes later, Garcia’s mother selected one specific oil that she had decided to buy, and picked it up. The clerk rounded on her instantly, accusing her of breaking the rules, before Garcia’s mother corrected her. Instead of moving on from the clearly peaceful family, the clerk proceeded to follow Garcia and his brother down every aisle until they left. Aside from the store incident, which speaks for itself, Garcia feels that he is treated differently for his race in certain places. He has been searched at every airport he has set foot in besides one, and even tested for explosives. Garcia understands the truth of white privilege on a very personal level. As he states it, “The people that say white privilege doesn’t exist have never truly experienced it. They are just turning their backs.”

Calling white people privileged is not something meant to degrade them. It is not meant to take away that privilege or to discriminate against them. It is only to acknowledge that the privilege exists. It is to point out the common goal of all races having the same privilege. Telling white people that they have privilege is not “labeling” them and it is in no way racist against them. It’s simply stating an irrefutable fact that must be changed. 

If you give someone a present after injuring them, the present does not heal their injury. Whether they have a present or not, you remain uninjured while they are in pain. The same philosophy goes for white privilege. Many argue against the idea in saying non-whites receive special perks that whites do not, such as ethnic requirements in colleges and jobs. These people are suggesting that because non-whites have a couple of extra perks to balance out the ones taken away, white people do not have privilege. No matter how much a government tries, it cannot make up for stereotypes on non-whites and the varying negative opinions of them that many have for no acceptable reason. In truth, there would be no need for these extra perks if it wasn’t clear to the intelligent people who govern us that white privilege does indeed exist.

It never fails to amaze me the amount of people that take what they have for granted. The amount of people that are able to confidently assume that everyone who walks into a store after them will be treated equally. The amount of people that can look into the eyes of someone who faces hardships that they themselves could not even begin to process, and tell them to be silent. Someday, I sincerely hope that that racial discrimination and white privilege will be driven away, but for a problem to be fixed, it must first be acknowledged.