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especially telling when one considers that most corporate positions of power, despite token inroads, are still held by whites” (Delgado and Stefancic 78). White privilege is a form of everyday racism because the whole notion of privi‑ lege rests on the concept of disadvantage. That is, one can be privileged only in contrast with someone else who is not privileged. So if whites enjoy a system of everyday privileges because they are white, this means that blacks are deprived of these privileges because they are black. And this is, of course, a form of rac‑ ism. More often than not, white privilege is unconscious because it is taken for granted, seen as a natural part of daily life, by those who have it (Essed 205). The unconscious nature of white privilege is often what makes it so difficult for whites to spot, let alone to address. During group discussions of race and racism in my own classroom, for example, it is not uncommon for a good-hearted, well-intentioned white student to tell the class, “I don’t really notice people’s race; I don’t even think about race most of the time.” I have no doubt that such students are sincere in their feelings and are most certainly telling the truth. But they’re missing the point. So I always reply to them by asking, “Do you think you would notice people’s race and think about race a good deal of the time if you were black?” So far, this question has never failed to achieve its goal. Students invariably answer, “Yes.” Yes, if they were black they would notice people’s race, and race would often be on their mind. And I see a light bulb go on over their heads as they realize what a luxury it is for them to not have to notice or think about race. Not having to notice oth‑ ers’ race or think about race is a white privilege. Black people, unless they’re in an all-black environment, have to notice the race of others and think about the racial implications of their daily experiences because they’re always, “no matter [their] prestige or position . . . no more than a few steps away from a racially motivated exclusion, restriction, or affront” (Bell, “Racial Realism” 306). We might add that black Americans are, at any given moment, little more than one step away from a racially motivated insult that the white perpetrator may not even be conscious of communicating. The black youngster selling candy for his school for whom too many doors remain closed in the white neighborhood; the black teenager in her high school composition class whose white female discussion-group members suddenly become uncomfortably quiet because they realize that their animated talk about hairstyles does not apply to her “different” hair, which is assumed to be somehow less attractive; the black college student in his literature class whose white classmate is in the process of explaining how the story they’ve just read makes sense if you realize that black symbolizes evil and white symbolizes good; and the parents of these young people of color, who must try to help their children deal with hurtful racial experiences just as they must deal with their own hurtful racial experiences—these are just a few examples
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