Chapter Six: White Privilege and the Changing U.S. Racial Hierarchy By Tanya Maria Golash-Boza

White Privilege “It is important to think about white privilege for several reasons. First of all, if we want to understand racial oppression, it is crucial to understand how it looks from the other side. Second, white privilege often remains invisible, and by bringing it to light we can develop a better understanding of how racism works in our society. Nevertheless, it is important to keep in mind that all whites do not experience white privilege in the same way.” (p. 152) http://kirwaninstitute.osu.edu/research/understanding- implicit-bias/

Some Examples of White Privilege from “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” by Peggy McIntosh “I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed.” “Whether I use checks, credit cards, or cash, I can count on my skin color not to work against the appearance of financial reliability.” “I can swear, or dress in secondhand clothes, or not answer letters, without having people attribute these choices to the bad morals, the poverty, or the illiteracy of my race.” (p. 151)

Retailers often racially profile and treat white customers better than non-white customers. p. 151: Joos Mind/Getty Images

In White Like Me, Tim Wise offers a highly personal examination of the ways in which racial privilege shapes the lives of most white Americans, overtly racist or not, to the detriment of people of color, themselves, and society. The book shows the breadth and depth of the phenomenon within institutions such as education, employment, housing, criminal justice, and healthcare. By critically assessing the magnitude of racial privilege and its enormous costs, Wise provides a rich memoir that will inspire activists, educators, or anyone interested in understanding the way that race continues to shape the experiences of people in the U.S. Using stories instead of stale statistics, Wise weaves a narrative that is at once readable and scholarly, analytical and accessible. www.youtube.com/watch?v=NynTIaCM988 Contra Wise: http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/the-stream/the-stream-officialblog/2013/9/17/anti-racism-activistgetsbacklashoverrant.html/

White Privilege as Unearned Privilege An image that presents this idea has been developed by an artist who portrayed what looks like an American Express card, that includes a certain message: “White Privilege Rewards” and the name on the card is “B. E. Aware.”(The Wejr Board, 2011, April 4) The idea behind the card is that there is already a resource-loaded and pre-loaded card that a white person simply has to use.

Rewards are Not Equal Across the Board “Does white privilege benefit all whites equally? White privilege certainly benefits some whites, yet these benefits are not spread equally among them. When an employer gives a white applicant the benefit of the doubt because he is white, the applicant experiences white privilege, whether or not he is aware of it. However, whiteness is not experienced in the same ways by all whites. A poor lesbian white woman in rural South Carolina, for example, will experience her whiteness— her white privilege—in different ways than a wealthy white heterosexual male stockbroker in New York.” (pp. 152-153)

Differential Privilege Social class—Poverty versus Middle Class privilege Sexual Orientation—Lesbian or gay oppression versus straight privilege Gender—Women experience patriarchy and differential societal expectations exist for women classified in different racial groups Place of Residence—Segregated neighborhoods contain unequal resources.

Definitions of White U.S. Census categories may define who is white and have shifted over time as representative of “social constructions of difference.” (p. 167)

What comes to mind when you see these two images of neighborhoods? Who do you think is more likely to live in these neighborhoods? p. 154 (top): Thomas Northcut/Getty Images p. 154 (bottom): Denis Jr. Tangney/Getty Images

Whiteness in Contemporary Times “Some groups have moved closer to whiteness, whereas others have moved further away.” (p. 156) Racial hierarchies shift. Examples: Latinos Arab Americans, North Africans, Middle Easterners

Multiracial Identity Much variability in how different people identify themselves Does a child who has one white parent identify as white? Or biracial? Or Multiracial? Or favor the non-white parent? Does the identity shift with the situation and people one is around? Physical appearance, socioeconomic status, and social networks influence this self-identification. (p. 161)

Figure 6-1. Latino Racial Identifications in the 2010 U.S. Census Over half of all Latinos self-identified as “white” in the 2010 census. Source: U.S. Census (2010). Figure 6-1: U.S. Census

Figure 6-2. Racial Self- Identification Among Latinos by Skin Color, 1989 Skin color and racial self identification do not correlate for Latinos. Nevertheless, light skinned Latinos almost never self-identify as “black.” Source: 1989 Latino National Political Survey. Figure 6-2: LNPS 1989

According to the definitions used in U.S. census, both people in these pictures should check “white.” p. 158 (bottom): AP Photo/Detroit News, Max Ortiz p. 158 (top): Mark Daffey/Getty Images

Brandon Stanford identifies with his African American roots. p. 160: © 2014 BlackStar Creative. Photo by Noelle Théard.

Three Models Explaining Future of White Majority The White/Nonwhite Divide—Whiteness will continue to be an exclusive category in which Asians and Latinos will be excluded through socioeconomic exclusions. The Black/Nonblack Divide—Whites will expand to include everyone but Blacks. The Tri-racial Order: Latin-Americanization—This creates a system of whites at the pinnacle, those considered “honorary whites” in the middle, and blacks at the bottom.

Figure 6-3. Percentage of Multiracial Children Identified as White by Parents There is considerable variation in how children with parents of distinct racial backgrounds are identified racially by their parents. Source: Roth (2005). Figure 6-3: Roth (2005)

(a) Celia Cruz, Cuban salsa singer (b) Cameron Diaz, actress of Cuban descent (c) America Ferrera, actress of Honduran descent. How useful is it to identify these women as Latina? What do they share? How do they differ?

Figure 6-5. Racial Identification in 2002 National Survey of Latinos When given the option to identify racially as “Latino,” a plurality of Latinos identified as such. Source: Golash-Boza and Darity (2008). Figure 6-5: 2002 National Survey of Latinos

Ending Thought White privilege is an important dynamic to understand and identify Groups may change in racial identification or be simultaneously an ethnic and a racial group Multiracial identity helps both challenge and reinforce current racial hierarchies The racial hierarchy could flex in different ways with population change according to scholars.

Racial Categories: Is Latino a Racial or Ethnic Group? Latino can both be considered a race, as some Latinos answer with this label when asked what their race is. This is an example of racial assimilation. Latino can also be an ethnicity in that specific practices although with much in-group diversity characterize the groups included in the label.

Conclusion “…[I]t is far from obvious who is white and who is not. We have also seen there are benefits related to being classified as white, yet that these benefits are not spread evenly across the white population.” (p. 172)

Reference The Wejr Board. (2011, April 4). What is in YOUR invisible knapsack. Retrieved from http://chriswejr.com/2011/04/04/whats-in-your- invisible-knapsack/