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EVERYDAY FEMINISM

White Privilege, Explained in One Simple Comic

by Jamie Kapp
White privilege can be a tricky thing for people to wrap their heads around. If you’ve ever called out white privilege before, chances are you’ve heard responses like “But I’m didn’t ask to be born white!” or “You’re being reverse racist.”
The next time that happens, just show the nay-sayer this succinct comic by Jamie Kapp explaining what white privilege is — and what it isn’t.
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Read more on white privilege and institutionalized racism at Jamie Kapp’s Tumblr page.
Jamie Kapp is a 19-year old artist. Her comic about white privilege has been featured on Buzzfeed, and has been used as an instructional tool in classrooms. Follow her at her Tumblr page!
Filed Under: Images, Posts Tagged With: Race & Ethnicity
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  • Caroline Jeffery · Saint Paul, Minnesota
    i recently read a great blog post on this same topic where the author used the metaphor of riding a bike on the road. the road is designed to accommodate cars; it's purpose to gives cars easy access to get to all the places they need to go. on the road, the cyclists are having to compete in an environment that is not designed around their needs. they have to worry about pot holes and drivers who aren't paying attention. you're either born with a car or born with a bike and you can't change that. neither car nor bike people are categorically bad or good people. really excellent people are born with cars and bikes, while really terrible people are born with cars and bikes. whether you deserve a car or a bike is irrelevant. you're born the hand you're dealt and you have to navigate the world either in a world that was built for you (cars = white people), or you have to swerve and dodge and constantly be on the look out for danger (bikes = POC). here's the link, it's a good read!: http://alittlemoresauce.com/2014/08/20/what-my-bike-has-taught-me-about-white-privilege/
    • Deuce Loosely · Top Commenter · Proprietor at Deuce Loosely Productions
      I'm "white" but also "born with a bike" (legally blind).
      I'm all too familiar with "drivers' privilege." :(
      Anyway, this "white privilege" is mainly an American phenomenon.
      Send the "privileged" whites to any other country and watch how the tables turn just because they're American.
      Reply · Like
      · 59 · Edited · September 21 at 11:16am
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    • Clarisse Figueiredo · Top Commenter · Volunteer at Orla Viva Maranhão
      Deuce Loosely Nope, it is a privilege in Latin America, also, where colonisation and slavery acted in a similar way. Although some statistics are really mostly US-based (specially the ones concerning education), the greater picture is still the same: by being born white, I am way much more benefited than a person with the exact same conditions as me, but born as a person of color.
      Reply · Like
      · 61 · September 21 at 11:44am
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    • April Bolling · Top Commenter · University of Alabama
      Deuce Loosely When a white person migrates to Africa, he is going from a position of power, to power. An African coming to Europe lands from power into powerlessness. We Africans cannot do much with our diplomas here. Once I had learned Dutch and went to the job centre, they offered me a position as a cleaning lady. And in the shop it happens regularly that someone follows me around to check that I am not stealing anything. In expensive boutiques I might not even get served. The sales personnel assume I cannot afford to buy anything anyway. Whereas a white person in Nigeria, even if he has no skills whatsoever, always gets opportunities. No Nigerian would dream of offering you a job as a cleaning lady.

      -“Strangers in Each Other’s Countries: A Discussion with Chika Unigwe”

      (Femke van Zeijl)
      and

      …Yet magically they think they a...re in the position to determine where racism is or is not. 2) Varying population densities where Whites are a numerical minority erases racism and White supremacy. This is also false. Whites do not have to have a numerical majority for White supremacy to exist. Because Whiteness impacts the entire globe—you know the globe where over 80% of it has been impacted by colonialism and White supremacy—yet of course actual White people are a numerical minority globally, clearly it can be seen that this is not a numbers issue. Power, platform, and money lie in the hands of small groups that are often White (and usually cis hetero male) lead. Governments, global corporations, and more are concentrated in power and regardless of the race of the person “in charge” reflect the whims of imperialist White supremacist capitalist cisheteropatriarchy.

      -White Supremacy is GLOBAL: Racism Isn’t Only American. White Supremacy Isn’t Only Western

      (Gradient lair)

      and

      "The media in black countries is white wtf are white people talking about. White supremacy rules the world. All these books and movies we have in gambia are from america and all of the characters are white why do you think so many black women in african countries bleach themselves to death. In asia tanned and dark skin is looked down upon and are treated as inferior and whites are treated like these pure trophies like white ppl stfu.”

      -Anonymous via We Love Black Girls
      and       See More
      Reply · Like
      · 86 · September 21 at 11:45am
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  • Elizabeth Dankanich Clarkson · Top Commenter · Methodist Hospital School of Nursing
    Excuse me, But I have lost TWO jobs (acme markets & K-Mart late 1970's) because I was WHITE and was told so outright that if I was a POC female I would have been snapped up in a heartbeat because "we are not allowed to publicize it, but twice a year we have "secret" hirings to maintain our minority quota" I have a 32 yr. old son who is a drug addict and has been in jail more times that I remember and has lost WAAY too many jobs to POC's with criminal records and was flat out told in a few of those cases that the company was afraid of backlash from the poc community, it's just less hassle for them that if they are going to give SOMEONE with a record a chance, it's easier to "give it to the black guy" In 1969, when I was 9 years old and needed heart surgery and my father who had a minimum wage job and no insurance went to a chari...ty called the heart fund for assistance he was told flat out "sorry, but you're WHITE and you're working, we can't help you- now, if you were BLACK we could help you right now" My 19 year old son is Bipolar & ADHD and unable to get a job and cannot get any assistance because he is WHITE, even tho he was in prison for petty offenses related to his mental illness, we were told at social services that if he were a POC he would move to the top of the list. I was born poor and with chronic medical issues and FOUGHT for everything I have and the fight I fought was against so called "minorities" who have more privilege as persons of color than they choose to admit. it's easier to "play the race card" than it is to work hard and do what it takes to overcome what is thrown at you. I am NOT saying that racism doesn't exist... oh it DOES, but it's door swings both ways, and POC are just as racist, some even more so, than the Whites they claim to be racist against them (poc) So please don't talk to me about "white privilege" I was jumped and stabbed at the age of 14 minding my own business walking home from school and all TEN of the youths, who were all POC, got off Scot free because their lawyer argued that I was racist and taunted them, even tho they outright admitted, when asked why they did it, that they were "bored and looking for a whitey to slice up" Is there such a thing as black privilege? YOU BETCHA! and I and my family are "MAJORITY" victims of it! See More
    • Captn Scorp'yo · Top Commenter · The City College of New York
      And yet, Elizabeth, the statistical figures above remain true. I'm sorry you've had a bad time. Bad things do, of course, happen to white people as well as others -- there are plenty of white people who are poor, or ill, or hassled by police (the last especially if the first two), but your personal experience alone does not invalidate white privilege any more than snowfall in your neighborhood invalidates climate change, or your neighbor getting a job invalidates high national unemployment figures.
      Reply · Like
      · 263 · Edited · September 21 at 10:36am
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    • Cecilia McClodden · FAU
      So you didn't get the job at that one time because that just happened to be the "twice a year" event where that company actually hired POC? Your son didn't get the job despite his "drug addiction" and you say because they thought that at that one time they would give the chance to a troubled POC?. You forget that "white" is the majority. POC get double the discrimination even though they make up much less of the general population. I could go on and on but if you do not realize the white privilege in all of the examples you just stated then there is nothing more to be said.
      Reply · Like
      · 72 · September 21 at 11:07am
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    • Elizabeth Dankanich Clarkson · Top Commenter · Methodist Hospital School of Nursing
      Captn Scorp'yo Oh, Cap'n I know that, but that was not the point of my comment. My point was simply to use MY experience to point out that guess what, like it or not POC privilege DOES exist and that POC claim that whites are ignorant of, blind to and deny the existence of WHITE privilege, well, POC are just as ignorant of, blind to and are just as denying of the existence of the privileges and all the things that POC, just being POC have access to that being Caucasian we do not. God created us all, he created all SOULS. and souls have NO color. and don't even get me started on that whole subset of people who think that because of slavery, they are somehow "owed" something. You are owed nothing, you DO, however owe God EVERYTHING.
      Reply · Like
      · 15 · September 21 at 11:36am
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  • Daniel York · Top Commenter
    I didn't think you received degrees I was under the impression they were earned
     
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  • Nate Scovill · Top Commenter · Works at Club DC - San José State University
    I agree with all of this but it has become a double edged sword. If i am so privileged, then explain why another person is getting $20,000 of scholarships per year and I am working two jobs to fend off crippling debt before I am the legal drinking age. My grades were higher, I did more extra curricular activities, and I am an Eagle scout who continues to perform public service projects in my limited spare time. Why am I not able to get these scholarships? I worked extremely hard, and continue to do so.
    • Cecilia McClodden · FAU
      Because your parents make enough money to not be declared "in poverty" by the state, simply put. I was one of those poverty kids and still lost out on scholarships despite my excellent grades and test scores. I worked 6 jobs during school, 2 part-times at a time, while in the Navy Sea Cadets, and other extra-curriculars. I don't like the fact that you make it seem like POC don't work hard. That is a negative stereotype "white privilege" seem to stick to. POC DO work hard but it doesn't get them ahead; they work hard for the things that others already have. Sorry some POC just do not have the "privilege" of being denied scholarships because they grew up without food and new clothes, their electricity is shut off because they had to make a choice with their limited funds, their safety is challenge daily because some POC choose to vent in a criminal matter instead of sucking it up and working twice as hard. They are denied better jobs because they aren't wearing that "nice suit" or their hair is "different".
      Reply · Like
      · 52 · September 21 at 11:52am
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    • Nate Scovill · Top Commenter · Works at Club DC - San José State University
      Cecilia McClodden I never said that POC don't work hard, and the fact that you assumed that I said that because of "white privilege" is called racism, and that is the exact point that I am trying to make. It should not matter what people's skin color is. It should not matter what people's parents make. It should not matter how much money you have. What should matter, is how hard you are willing to work. What should matter is how skilled you are. The idea that race affects us at all is the problem. I am saying that yes, POC are disadvantaged in some serious ways, and that is horrendously wrong. I am also saying that many white people are disadvantaged in other ways, and that too is equally wrong. I am trying to say that you can't fix the problem by equalizing the discrimination. In order to make a truly even playing field, we need to base what rewards we reap off of our actions; race or status should not be a factor.
      Reply · Like
      · 54 · September 21 at 12:28pm
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    • April Bolling · Top Commenter · University of Alabama
      Also even if this is a doubled edged sword white people did that too themselves. I read this quote once that reverse racism is white supremacy backfiring on white people. So it's true at time PoCs win over white people simply because we are PoC BUT if white people had never made color a thing we wouldn't be having this issue.
      Reply · Like
      · 22 · September 21 at 12:52pm
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  • Stephen Campbell Ford · Chairman of the Board of Supreme Chancellorship of Product Development and Marketing at Iuvenic Food Systems
    You reference "The World around us"...? You also reference "educate yourself"...? Huh - for someone who clearly hasn't studied this subject matter...a few questions you might answer below:

    Does 'white' privilege exists in China? Or do 'whites' receive privilege in Iran, over native Iranians? Could it be the reverse? What would you call this phenomenon in their native countries? Is it the same thing?

    Is skin-color really the only variable here? How about in Germany, would 'white' native Germans receive preferential treatment over a 'white' Russian-born German citizen with a slight Russian Accent? Things to think about...

    The 'why' or different set of 'why's' is important. I don't have all the answers myself.

    Could this a universal tendency, and if so - how do other cultures view or act upon it? Is it always hate? Is all... discrimination hate-related? Is some part of this phenomenon biohistorical, i.e. rooted in human nature? Or in cultural attitudes? To suggest that caucasian privilege can be ‘educated’ away (as implied in the comic strip) in a country with largely caucasian origins - might be an oversimplification?

    I am not saying you argue this - but it constitutes a pop-culture level of convenience to assume that ‘white' privilege is strictly a color based thing that exists in predominantly caucasian countries. It seems rather likely that it is also a cultural phenomenon in any country largely populated by any one 'original' set of loosely associated sub-cultures with more recent distinct immigrant activity - an ‘us vs. them’ thing…that in some countries you could call it ‘black’ privilege, or ‘brown’ privilege, or 'Sunni' or 'Alawite' privilege. So how complex is this issue? Maybe it’s not so simple as ‘white priv’...     See More
    • Brian Abrams · Coordinator of Music Therapy, John J. Cali School of Music at Montclair State University
      No, it's not a simple phenomenon--not at all. No, it's not necessarily hate--but it is based upon a tendency to preserve power of one group at the expense of another, for whatever motives may be driving that tendency. And yes, it is a phenomenon situated in history and culture, which is not the same for every nation, society, community, etc.. But the main issue here is that is, at least for sure in the US, REAL. The subtle, insidious way it hides within everyday realities is exactly the reason it becomes easy to deny and/or rationalize away. It's not about all white people being racist, or wrong, or evil. No one is asking for self-hatred or apologies on the part of whites--only a sincere resolve to be a part of engendering a more just and equitable life. And no number of individual instances in which whites feel "cheated" by exp...ressions of affirmative action make it any less real, nor to they "reverse" the problem (affirmative action is not designed to be "the cure" for privilege--only a temporary, compensatory mechanism). Directing anger and resentment for poor economic conditions at a particular racial group is a classic displacement of blame that is part of the very perpetuation and persistence of privilege. In fact, many of the more economically disenfranchised whites aren't even aware that they are being used as stooges of the larger benefactors of the system under the delusion that they are being personally wronged. Like any system of institutionalized inequality, white privilege is a collective, structural problem, deeply and persistently embedded in society. It requires awareness, and systematic deconstruction. But as long as whites deny the very existence of white privilege as a inconvenient, embarrassing, unacceptable truth, they remain a part of the problem, and are not poised to be a part of the solution. See More
      Reply · Like
      · 53 · September 21 at 12:39pm
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    • April Bolling · Top Commenter · University of Alabama
      Yes there is white privilege in China. It kind of might have to do with the fact that white people have pretty much COLONIZED the ENTIRE globe.

      http://cdn2.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/674328/Screen_Shot_2014-06-23_at_5.07.38_PM2.0.png

      Deuce Loosely When a white person migrates to Africa, he is going from a position of power, to power. An African coming to Europe lands from power into powerlessness. We Africans cannot do much with our diplomas here. Once I had learned Dutch and went to the job centre, they offered me a position as a cleaning lady. And in the shop it happens regularly that someone follows me around to check that I am not stealing anything. In expensive boutiques I might not even get served. The sales personnel assume I cannot afford to buy anything anyway. Whereas a white person in Nigeria, even if he... has no skills whatsoever, always gets opportunities. No Nigerian would dream of offering you a job as a cleaning lady.

      -“Strangers in Each Other’s Countries: A Discussion with Chika Unigwe”

      (Femke van Zeijl)
      and

      …Yet magically they think they are in the position to determine where racism is or is not. 2) Varying population densities where Whites are a numerical minority erases racism and White supremacy. This is also false. Whites do not have to have a numerical majority for White supremacy to exist. Because Whiteness impacts the entire globe—you know the globe where over 80% of it has been impacted by colonialism and White supremacy—yet of course actual White people are a numerical minority globally, clearly it can be seen that this is not a numbers issue. Power, platform, and money lie in the hands of small groups that are often White (and usually cis hetero male) lead. Governments, global corporations, and more are concentrated in power and regardless of the race of the person “in charge” reflect the whims of imperialist White supremacist capitalist cisheteropatriarchy.

      -White Supremacy is GLOBAL: Racism Isn’t Only American. White Supremacy Isn’t Only Western

      (Gradient lair)

      and

      "The media in black countries is white wtf are white people talking about. White supremacy rules the world. All these books and movies we have in gambia are from america and all of the characters are white why do you think so many black women in african countries bleach themselves to death. In asia tanned and dark skin is looked down upon and are treated as inferior and whites are treated like these pure trophies like white ppl stfu.”

      -Anonymous via We Love Black Girls
      and       See More
      Reply · Like
      · 5 · September 21 at 12:49pm
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  • Matthew Loomos · Lynden High School
    Every time I read something about white privilege I feel like I'm being asked to apologize. Should I go commit a crime and get arrested? Should I try not to earn a degree? Would that make you feel less discriminated against? Comics like this unwittingly exacerbate the problem by asking people to focus on what makes us different and not the things that make us the same.
    • Cassidy McGillicuddy · Top Commenter
      No, actually, it's not about you. You're making it about you--which is a mark of privilege, really, in itself; you're used to being the dominant voice and the person at the center of any conversation. Of course you're going to jack a conversation about race and privilege to whine about your own privilege distress. As the comic said, and as you would hear if you actually talked to anybody in a marginalized demographic, nobody's ever asked white people to apologize or cry or wring their poor little hands. You know why? Because your apology won't fix any problems for anybody else. We want to fix things, not stop and take someone's emotional temperature every five minutes. But you're over here stomping your feet and saying WON'T SOMEONE THINK OF THE WHITE PERSON? and trying to get people to stop and huddle around you and reassure yo...u. You're trying to put yourself back into the center again. See how that works?

      Your feelings do not actually impact your privilege levels any more than your apologies would. Privilege is that thing you benefit from even when you don't do a danged thing one way or the other. The reason you feel this way is because you have had the dominant voice for so long that you're feeling a little stung that your privilege has hurt others. Look, it's not your fault. Be as passive-aggressive and snide as you want. But don't be surprised if your behavior lumps you into the side of the equation marked "part of the problem."

      If you really are interested in moving humanity forward instead of being a dead weight holding us back, then just listen to people who have different voices from yours, and be aware of what marginalized groups go through, that's all. Listen, and trust that others' experiences are valid. Grow some basic human empathy. Quit spewing Fox News talking points. Question your privilege. Be a good person and not part of the problem. Listen to folks who are different. Quit trying to make everything about you and your oh-so-precious feelings.       See More
      Reply · Like
      · 83 · September 21 at 6:37pm
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    • Kenneth James Abbott · Top Commenter · Assistant Professor at Konyang University
      Look at every successful black person, and you'll find people like Cassidy and Ms. Kapp trying to tell them that they can't do it and the deck is stacked against them.
      Reply · Like
      · 8 · September 21 at 11:52pm
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    • Marcus Armstrong · Top Commenter · SFASU
      Cassidy McGillicuddy But why should he trust others' experience as valid, when you've just told him that his are invalid--because she is white? Basically, you've told him there is a class of people whose experiences are invalid--the class he belongs to (however that would be defined). Here's the problem: the person was genuinely asking what she should do. Perhaps you did not agree with the way she asked it, but the question was genuine. Now look at your response. Two paragraphs mocking him. And then, at the end, a nasty insinuation that he does not have "basic human empathy".

      Your response did not help.
      Reply · Like
      · 12 · September 22 at 11:10am
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  • Christopher Carter · Top Commenter · Magic Maker at Made by Carter · 281 followers
    So, when we educate ourselves, what are we supposed to do then? Ignore it? Change it? Bake it a cake.

    Making ourselves aware of it is kind of like mixing cake ingredients, and then letting the bowl sit there. How do we fix it?
    • Don Fisher · Top Commenter
      Now THAT is a beautiful question. I certainly can't answer for the Black readers. Or POC. But I do have a few little suggestions.

      Don't pretend you didn't see and hear that Black Boy getting rousted for Walking While Black. Take a picture. Or vid. keep it handy. He may need it.

      Ask store personnel why they are following the Old Black lady and her three grandkids and not you and your noisy brats around the store.

      Learn to get up; in the face of bigots.

      Remember that when you see a Black person get some favored treatment many many more did not. You got favored treatment for no effort at all. LIke cops are nice to old White men like me. Never once put me over the hood of a car, and patted me down.

      If you are Christian go to Black church a few times.

      Eat Black .. ribs out of a street cooker barbeque. Mmmmmmm.......mmm ... mmm ... mmm ... mmmmmmmmm

      Try shopping Black sometimes. Blacks have certainly handed over a lot of money to White owners.

      But best of all .. the hardest of all, do what you just did. ASK.

      We Whites do a lot of Tellin' and very little skin'.

      I got up my nerve one time and in a Toll House Coffee shop in a Greyhound station sat me down with my coffee across from an elderly Black gentleman, and asked. "What is it like?"

      He told me.

      Rather kindly considering.

      Now if I had the chance, being even older than him now, I'd sit down and ask again, "How in the hell did you survive this?"

      You and i rarely have to think about survival.

      Others do, often. Imagine what you might learn.

      There is one more thing but only when you are really ready for it. It's not a question, it's a statement.

      "I believe you."

      Can you do that?       See More
      Reply · Like
      · 30 · September 23 at 6:20pm
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    • Sasha Nicole · Top Commenter · Philadelphia Biblical
      Don Fisher This is the most beautiful thing I have ever read on the Internet.
      Reply · Like
      · 8 · September 23 at 9:58pm
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    • Jeanne Marie Posthumus · Top Commenter · Valdosta, Georgia
      Don Fisher You sound a bit like you are making fun of black people. As if they are some underdeveloped, underprivileged group of people. They most certainly are not. Pfft.
      Reply · Like
      · 2 · September 24 at 12:14am
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  • Dionysis Artemisio Boujoukos · Women's Health Officer - Diverse Sexualities Project at ACON
    this was really clear cut language the whole time, but then you just through in "POC" without explaining what that is... I'm sure a lot of people who don't get white privilege also don't get the concept "POC/WOC", just a thought
     
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