Two so-called American values, Equality and Progress, written into the educational curriculum of all American schools, yet only to be experienced by white people. While white Americans continue to convince themselves that they are not racist and they radiate equality for all, they are in fact furthering the damage caused by their white privilege. Not to mention, the destructive blind eye they turn on structural racism. Even though, in the US, 1 in every 15 African American men are incarcerated in comparison to 1 in every 106 white men.
The recent events that took place at the Capitol Hill building, where white supremacists, in other words, terrorists, or as some of you may know them Trump supporters, committed several federal crimes. By storming the government building and walking around like they owned the place, with little to none resistance from the authorities. It is arguable that technically they do own the place, as white supremacists and most American government officials are cut from the same cloth. The terrorist attack accentuated the vast level of inequality that is taking American people on a joy ride.
Back in May when the Black Lives Matter protests started, peaceful protestors were met with the utmost resentment and force from the police, throughout the entirety of the protests. The events that took place were an abuse on human rights, yet here we are less than a year down the line allowing terrorists to seize the United States Capitol. The only difference? The colour of their skin.
The cruel reality is that the true American values for the average black person are, white privilege and structural racism. This is the case in terms of education, healthcare, employment, the justice system, law enforcement, the list goes on. For example, black women have a 37.1% chance of having a pregnancy-related death, in comparison to just 14.7% of white women. In the US, African Americans are killed by the police, the same police that fabricates a facade that they are there to serve and protect, at 3 times the rate of their white counterparts. Just to add that cherry on top, if you still think that structural racism is just people of colour trying to play victim, in 2018, the average black employee earned just 62% of what white employees were making.
While structural racism infects American institutions, it has slowly begun to infest the everyday lives of black people, and people of colour in general for that matter, in the disguised form of white privilege. White privilege simply put is the hidden advantages experienced by white people as a result of their skin colour, and as much as they hate to admit their colonial past. White privilege comes in many forms, such as, being able to maintain a positive relationship with law enforcement, or not feeling anxious whenever they are around, it is not having a security guard follow you around whenever you walk into a store, it is also the ability to learn about your race’s history in school and seeing accurate representations of yourself across all types of media. All things that black people in America and various other nations across the world do not have the privilege of.
As said by Harry Brod, “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 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 equalitarian my
Intentions.”
White fragility, aka the sheer discomfort racist white people, are overcome by when confronted by the topic of race, has meant that for decades white people deny the blatant privilege they possess. Although, they embrace owning their ancestral history when speaking of white people's accomplishments, such as, (just know I paused here for a very long time to find an example that did not stem from slavery or colonisation) the invention of the Olympics. Yet, they rebuke all of their ancestral links the moment you mention racism and claim they are not responsible for their predecessor's actions. Meanwhile, the whole time they are reaping the benefits of the inhumane actions of those very same ancestors they claim to disown. Quick to deny white privilege, but even quicker to accept it into their everyday lives.
The longer white privilege and structural racism are ignored by those who prosper as a result, white people, racism will continue to prosper at an alarming rate. White people must use the perhaps unwelcome benefits bestowed upon them to better the living standards for black people, by inciting change and demanding real equality. The current state of the United States is simply terrifying, with scenes of a young black woman being restrained by white supremacists and pepper-sprayed, right outside the Capitol Building. The US has declared it is a nation of change and the future, yet the recent scenes mirrored something you’d expect to see in the 1930s.
I must try harder !!