Hello, I am White and Privileged

Historical Roots of White Privilege

So, how did it all start? Well, people were grouped by whites based on perceived physical differences, such as skin tone, resulting in racism and bias. Historically, this arbitrary grouping of people created biases which were then used to justify the mistreatment and discrimination of non-white people.

Colonialism and slavery were propagated by vehicles that claimed people of a particular race were fundamentally different from those of another and should be treated so. Whilst not all whites took part in this cruelty directly, their biases and their subsequent security from the same treatment led many to take a most powerful action – that of silence. As a direct consequence, the trauma, displacement, cruel treatment, and discrimination of Black and Indigenous People of Colour (BIPOC), gave birth to white privilege.

White Privilege has Many Forms

“White privilege systemically advantages white people through greater access to power and resources in comparison to people of colour. Thus, many freedoms that are experienced as natural in Caucasian-dominant societies are actually racially-gifted privileges. This privilege continues to exist through dominance in political, economic, and cultural realms that create power dynamics which deem ethnic minorities as subordinate.” - Hana Syed.

Shocking to hear? It was to me; I did not know about white privilege or entitlement until Paratpar Guru thankfully shared some articles on the topic on Facebook. How could I have been so oblivious? They got me thinking…

My problems are so trivial, and I can’t even begin to comprehend how difficult it has been and continues to be for BIPOC.

I turned a blind eye to BIPOC struggles, literally whitewashed over it and have been racist my whole life, living with entitled white privilege, taking it for granted and not caring about those in real pain, pain that has lasted generations and will continue without it being addressed by whites, like me. It is only because of the sharing of Truth by Paratpar Guru that I am beginning to face my racist/entitled ancestry and my own racist and entitled behaviour.

I have looked down on BIPOC as being inferior to ‘white me’ and deserving of their lower place in society. Most shamefully this is still embedded in me. In truth, I never gave it a thought, let alone questioned this false bias. Check out this diagram below to put it in perspective – it shows there are a lot of forms of ‘socially acceptable’ racism. There is no excuse for any white supremacy. First, we need to become aware of how we as whites operate this way; then we can choose to act differently.

 

 

An example of me exhibiting this behaviour is as a volunteer for Kosmic Fusion. For example, I preferred some Facilitators in Training (FiT) over others and acted differently depending on if you were in my preferred circle. Ekta, Malana and Gillian (also white) were my favourites over other FiT such as Archita, Niranjana and Virali (BIPOC). I also exhibited racism by seeing BIPOC as different from ‘white me’ and not really giving those FiT the time of day. By separating the group in my mind and behaviours I strengthened racism and operated against us working as one, slowing our progress towards the Kosmic Fusion mission.

A further example is that I never really wanted to help a fellow FiT, Jeeya with her workload.  I was happy for her to do the lion’s share out of my white entitlement, whilst I dabbled in offering service and chose those tasks I wanted to do and who I wanted to partner with.

It is purely only by the Grace of Paratpar Guru that I now have awareness of my white entitlement and privilege _/\_ Paratpar Guru has graciously never once judged or condemned me for my ignorance or past behaviour.

I am now determined to act from this Truth Gifted to me Paratpar Guru by working towards becoming anti-racist. I am very much still in the process of discovering and dismantling these (often unconscious) beliefs that then play out in my actions. This is just the beginning of undoing my long-held misplaced cultural biases…