Quotes About Privilege

African Americans, Asian Americans, and Latino Americans were second-class-status Americans. They were seldom welcomed and were told to stay in their place and not allowed into the mainstream culture of the privileged even when fully acculturated.

The myth of the melting pot is predicated on several false assumptions: (a) a receptive society, (b) an equal status relationship between culturally different groups, and (c) its morally and politically neutral character. In reality, the melting pot is used to mask White supremacy and White privilege (topics, as we have seen, that impede race talk).

most people seldom think about the air that surrounds them, and how it provides an essential life-giving ingredient, oxygen. We take it for granted because it is plentiful in our everyday lives; only when we are deprived of it, does it suddenly become frighteningly apparent. Whiteness is transparent precisely because of its everyday occurrence, its institutionalized normative features in U.S. culture, and because Whites are taught to think of their lives as morally neutral, average, and ideal.

if Whiteness, as unearned privilege and advantage, is predicated on White supremacy and the oppression of people of color and if Whites benefit from it, then a frightening conclusion must be drawn: Whites have a stake in racism and to be White is to benefit from racism (Wise, 2002). Little wonder then that race talk is threatening and that many Whites avoid it in order not to reach this conclusion.

Most Whites would entertain the notion that being a person of color in this society subjects them to second-class citizenship. Yet it is intriguing that most White Americans would actively deny that they are advantaged automatically by this state of affairs.

The irrational sense of entitlement is a dominant feature of White privilege (McIntosh, 2002).

the claim that Whites should not be blamed for the past injustices of their ancestors misses a vital point. They still benefit from the past injustices of their forebears!

If you accept the concept of White privilege, then you must entertain the more realistic notion that many Whites did not succeed because of superior ability, but due to favoritism.

There is a triple purpose to the existence of White privilege: (1) to advantage White Americans, (2) to disadvantage persons of color, and (3) to attribute causes to individual deficiencies, thereby relieving White society of responsibility for perpetuating inequality.

Many White Americans, however, have distorted and or conveniently used color blindness as a means of color denial or, more accurately, power denial (Neville, Awad, Brooks, Flores, & Bluemel, 2013). An understanding of White privilege ultimately unmasks a dirty secret kept hidden by White Americans: Much of what they have attained is unearned, and even if they are not overtly racist, Whites cannot choose to relinquish benefits from it.

four major fear categories experienced by White Americans when race talk occurs: (1) fear of appearing racist, (2) fear of realizing their racism, (3) fear of confronting White privilege, and (4) fear of taking personal responsibility to end racism.

Like most lazy upper-middle-class kids, American Studies seemed like a fun way to use your knowledge of TV to get an A.

Not all slaves are poor, and not all free men are rich.

The leader sees leadership as responsibility rather than as rank and privilege.

What men value in this world is not rights but privileges.

Dining is the privilege of civilization. . . . The nation which knows how to dine has learnt the leading lesson of progress.

Consistency may be the hobgoblin of little minds, but law, morality and leadership demand it. Without consistency, there is privilege.

Employee engagement is an investment we make for the privilege of staying in business.

If you're just mired in privilege, there's nothing to learn; learning appears to be over.

Laws are always useful to those who possess and vexatious to those who have nothing.

People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa. It is emphatically no sacrifice. Say rather it is a privilege.

Remember that you are an Englishman, and have consequently won first prize in the lottery of life.

Before you criticize others, remember, they may not have had the same opportunities in life as you have had

The greatest privilege of a human life is to become a midwife to the awakening of the Soul in another person.