Videos of white people running in between a black person and a police officer, images of white people forming a human barricade during protests as a way to defend the black protestors, posts on social media entitled “What is white privilege?” “How to use your privilege?” and many more. All of these have been swarming the news and social media sites. So what is “white privilege”?
“White privilege means we’ll never be second guessed because of our race,” senior Bailey Filley said. “The things we do are not limited because of people’s internalized beliefs about us. We’re white, we’re the majority, we have always had the power in America.”
White privilege does not mean that everything in life is easy for a white person; there are many other types of privilege at play, such as gender or sexuality. However, due to the death of black man George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer, white privilege has been inspiring the nation’s activists to incite change in the past few weeks.
On May 25, Floyd was arrested for allegedly using a counterfeit $20 bill. When he wouldn’t return his merchandise, police were called. There was some difficulty, and one of four police officers ended up pinning Floyd to the ground, the officer’s knee putting pressure on Floyd’s neck. Even after telling the officers repeatedly that he could not breathe, the officer did not move.
Floyd was pronounced dead at 9:25 that night—after eight minutes and 45 seconds of an officer’s knee pinning his neck.
This arrest can be compared to that of Dylann Roof, a self proclaimed white supremicist who was given a bullet proof jacket and Burger King by police after getting arrested for killing nine unarmed black people in their church.
This is merely one out of countless cases of violent, white criminals being treated peacefully while a black person being arrested for a nonviolent crime is disrespected, abused, and oftentimes killed by the police who are sworn to protect them.
According to Statista, 370 white people were killed by police while only 235 black people were killed. If more white people are getting killed by police, why focus on black people?
Because black people only make up 13 percent of the US population, while white people make up 76 percent. This, according to Mapping Police Violence, makes black people three times more likely to be killed by police than white people. Compared to white people, black people are also 1.3 times more likely to be unarmed when they’re killed by the police.
“In some situations, we gain from P.O.C.’s [people of color’s] oppression, because the opportunities they don’t get are the ones given to us,” Filley explained, “whether or not we can properly understand how.”
“White people will never understand what it feels like to be racially discriminated against,” says Filley. “The best thing we can do is listen to, communicate with, understand the POV [point of view] of, and lift up P.O.C.’s voice.”
“Some people are completely against people of color having their voices heard,” Junior LJ Carmichael explains, “so when white people can support and amplify those voices of colored people it makes a big difference.”
“As a mixed kid with biracial married parents, I see a lot of how simply supporting not making colored people feel bad for having their voices heard can go a long way.” Continued Carmicheal, “It’s not hard to be supportive.”
Since protests have begun in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, there have been many posts circulating social media about how to support and be respectful during protests, and how to avoid violence or protect yourself. Videos of cops inciting violence have gone viral, and are unable to be ignored.
“I feel that [the protests] are necessary and should be encouraged,” explains junior Karlie Guilliot, “minorities have been trying to speak out for decades and George Floyd’s death was the last straw. This is how we get the government to see the problem and fix it.”
Even though these protests are often run by black people and are about justice and visibility for black people, they are not immune to white privilege.
“There are a significant amount of white people, especially our age, who are going to these protests as a trend or for Instagram pictures,” Guilliot says, “I cannot stress enough that this is something that will go down in history after years of racial oppression, it’s not your latest ‘Senior Sunday’ post.”
Occasionally, often due to white supremacists masquerading as supporters or police engaging in aggressive tactics to divide and split up the protesters, these protests will turn into riots.
“I don’t believe violence is the answer. I do understand why people are being violent, they’re angry, I get it, I’m angry, too,” Carmichael said. “But, protests will really make a difference when that energy is focused towards making a positive change rather than a negative impact.”
“Do what you can to help. Listen to black creators, shop at black owned businesses, go to protests if you can, sign petitions, donate,” advises Guilliot. “Listen to the news and make sure you’re staying up to date on what’s happening.”
“Just be genuine with how you support. Spread love and mean what you say.” Carmichael requests. “Just love everybody. My favorite saying is ‘Love is greater than hate’, and that’s all I ask of everybody.”
Overall, there are a number of ways to support people of color. All of them include taking the backseat, and listening. White people are used to being in charge, being able to speak about anything. We need to learn to take a step back, and let people of color tell us how to help, and then we need to do it.
“It’s never our place to assume how they feel,” according to Filley, “We have to reverse history, and let them speak.”
