HOW am I privileged to be WHITE? My ancestors NEVER had privilige?

Question

Considered white in America and went through lots of discrimination. I am talking about Southern Italians here. We even were lynched by some groups in Louisiana..... We never had privilege. We were not considered white until the mid 20th century... and now whites get discriminated against. My people have been discriminated for being white and not white. How exactly do I have privilige here? Whites are made fun of on tv and by media and rapped against and all these anti white groups allowed to surface/ Meanwhile my ancestors never had anything good.

Answer 1

I have always been white and my ancestors were mill workers and coal miners. We never had anything either. Also as a person of scots-irish descent we were very much oppressed with signs in store windows that read NINA(no Irish need apply)...and lets not forget prohibition...those were some rough years for my people.

Answer 2

Personally i think all races are privileged, evryone is worthy and lucky to here. But realistically, in todays time, having light colored skin, not neccisarily white is "privileged". Of course this depends on where you live. if you live in areas full of racist hispanics or blacks or what ever, then you might not be so lucky.

What some people mean by privileged is that you are not looked at and immediatly thogught to be ghetto, ignorant, or what ever. Also, i have actually heard ppl complain that white ppl have "good hair" naturally, so this makes them lucky.(ok.......) And it seems that white people have the highest paying jobs and have to work to prove themselves worthy, but i dont know.

But in any case, nowadays no race is safe from discrimination, I mean my freind from Peru said she didnt like Colombian people because they have lighter skin and speak spanish "funny." And i think i read something about how the irish were discriminated against in new york, and to me they look white.

so my point is i guess if you consider not being harassed by the police, and having better jobs a privileged, then i guess thats where some people get the "white people are privileged" from. Ok like for example, i used to live in a rough neiborhood and it seemed that only whites were doing well, not stuggling, and owed the nice cars/houses or whatever. And i always heard the "white people are so lucky..." And think about this, if you moved into a neiborhood mostly white people, i doubt people would not invite you to the block party because you were southern italian. But if my family moved into the same neiborhood, we might not be recieved in such a positive way. (might, ppl are different everywhere you go...)

so yeah, i hear you, and ppl just need to stop disciminating agaist ppl who are different (culture, religion, race, whatever).

peace and love-chai

Answer 3

okay everyone's ancestors were given a hard time. more so minorities like jews, blacks, and hispanics. so let's forget about that for a moment and think about the present.

the reason you are considered to have a white privilige is because you are given many opportunities that you obviously don't notice you even have. how many times are you as a white male, followed around a store, do people lock their doors when they see you, if you applied for a job are you discriminated against for your name or appearance, are you called racial slurs, or considered less because of your race? these are just some of the things minorities must endure. even though you may not do these things, many many people of the dominant race do. if you don't believe me that are plenty of books and other experiments where white people lived as a minority for a few weeks and saw their differences. just think about.

Answer 4

Oh my gosh stop being a baby and MAN UP! I don't mean to sound harsh but damn you are white and to try and say whites are getting discriminated against is ridiculous! White people still run things in this country... just about everything, and all the stuff that you mention has happend to black people way more and way worse than what you are crying about ... go start an all Italian group or something it sounds like something you need to do since you seem to think things are so bad for your people.

Answer 5

The Designation of White is arbitrary and erroneous. You are correct. Italian's in the USA were NOT accepted as so-called Whites, until the early to mid 1950's.

There are several alternatives some of which will only make more problems and with no solution. The best alternative is to Judge and be Judged by Content of Character. Be Human. Encourage Humanness.

As far as privlige and mistreatment goes, see these sites.

Answer 6

White are considered as privileged because they were the main persecutors in the 2 or 3 last centuries ...
They persecuted as well other white people.

"White are privileged" is a general statement that may not have any sense in your case but that makes for so many other people.

Think about the slavery, colonization, apartheid and so on...

but in USA we should say WASP were privileged

Don't know

Answer 7

I've never bought into the "privilege to be white" thing.
But, I do believe there is discrimination on many levels. Skin color, religion, sex, social class.....

My Irish grandfathers both had horrible stories to tell. Certainly were (and their families) discriminated against in their day. White as can be.

Answer 8

all people, white, black are the same level in this life they are the same thing according to the religion and law
Muslim girl
proud to be one

Answer 9

Ooh, man, I hear ya.