If you're given breaks that others are not given because you are white, the cumulative effect of that is that you'll be in a better social and economic state than the people who aren't given similar breaks.
But you have to stop there "...given breaks that others are not given because you are white" and go no further. You can't get into the "...better social and economic state..." as part of the definition of white privilege.
If you go that far into the definition of white privilege, then there is the very valid objection from many whites of "I don't have all that, so I don't have white privilege."
"White privilege" is nothing more than the positive "benefit of the doubt" a person is given in certain situations based solely on his or her white skin. It doesn't mean he's going to be richer or actually get the job or the nice home or the nice car. It only means that in a given moment he got judgment points merely for being white.
I'm a military retiree, and that gives me a certain amount of "military privilege" that civilians don't have. Sometimes it even works as well as white privilege, for instance, when I've been stopped by police and they notice my "Retired Air Force" license plate and stickers.
There is also "pretty girl privilege" and "tall man privilege," as well as "celebrity privilege." Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie walking into an exclusive restaurant without a reservation...think they don't have the necessary collection of privileges to get in?
White privilege is simply the extent to which a white person is given a benefit of the doubt in a particular situation purely because he is white. Sometimes it might get you a job, sometimes it just means you're not followed around by security in a department store.
Upvote
0