White Privelage in America

White Privilege in America

Since the days of American colonization, the privilege that caucasian males and females receive in this country has been relevant, and under looked. From the first invasion into Native American lands, to stripping human beings of their basic rights, and selling them like property for our own personal gain, white privilege has been around for decades, and has never been frowned upon. People of caucasian descent are naturally born with a privilege above people of color, simply because of their skin tone. Although white privilege does give an unfair advantage over people of color, it does not mean that the privilege requires them to work any less or be able to slack and still end up on top. We as all equal people, need to put an end to this obvious advantage, before it consumes America entirely, and creates little to no opportunity for people of color to succeed.

Consider simple life activities, such as going to the store without the fear of being followed and harassed, or buying a home in a neighborhood you can finally afford, just to feel out of place because of your skin tone. These are problems people of color struggle with on a daily basis, while white people could never relate to these happenings. In an article written by Peter DiCaprio of the HuffPost, he explains that “People of color, report that, class and financial means being equal, people of color will be funneled to neighborhood where the economic class on average is lower than where white people are funneled.” In other words, he is saying that people of color, even if they have the financial stability to live in a predominantly white neighborhood, are still finding themselves living in lower class neighborhoods, despite their ability to live well off in upper class. DiCaprio also regards that “Many whites who are real estate agents, or property managers, hold earnest beliefs in equality, but don’t see the ways they are contributing to the process.” So, even though most white people try their best to shy away from providing an unequal opportunity for people of color, they still end up being a reason that people of color reside in a predominately lower class neighborhood. Most whites are blind to the ways they are treating colored people, because they are used to seeing them living in poverty, they don’t believe that when someone of color is looking to buy or rent a house in a high class and mostly white neighborhood, that they are able to afford it, or they just have the mentality that whites are superior, and therefore are better than people of color, pushing them to the lower levels of society. Colored people have every right to live in an upper class society, just as much as white people do. This racist and ignorant way that people of color are doubted upon in society and stereotyped needs to stop, to give everyone an equal opportunity to live in the best conditions.

There is also an enormous wage gap between white people and people of color, especially those that are female. White people tend to get the higher paying jobs, opposed to people of color, just because of their skin tone. In an article written by Paul F. Campos, of The New York Times, he calculated that “In 2015, black households at the 20th and 40th percentiles of household income earned an average of 55 percent as much as white households at those same percentiles.” This revealed that black people, who come from the same percentile rank as many white people, are still earning almost half as much as them, because white people are given more opportunities to succeed, while people of color are not. This gap is extreme. People coming from the same percentile range, means they have similar standards of living, which reveals they should