If you follow politics, listen to the news today or talk to anyone, you are likely to hear the phrase “White Privilege”. This is made out by the media to be a bad thing, but is it really?  Today, I want to really delve into what “white privilege” really is, because I really feel like this phrase is being thrown around, but not everyone really knows what it is actually being talked about.  Up until now, I’ve avoided getting into politics on here, but this idea of supposed “white privilege” is just crazy.  I know there are many readers who will disagree with me, and that’s fine, you have that right, just like I have the right to say what I’m going to say now.  It’s called freedom of speech.  However, agree or disagree with me, I ask that you read this to the end.  

Before jumping into “white privilege”, I want to look at what privilege really is.  Webster dictionary defines privilege as “a right or benefit that is given to some people and not to others, a special opportunity to do something that makes you proud and the advantage that wealthy and powerful people have over other people in a society.”  So lets break these definitions down to a level that everyone understands what it really means to be privileged.  

The first part was “a right or benefit that is given to some people and not to others”.  An example given by Webster dictionary is good health care.  What do we need in order to get good health care. Most people would say health insurance.  What do we need to get health insurance? The answer to that is, of course, money.  So how do we get money?  The majority of the world gets money by working.  Other than a select few who are born into money, the rest of us have to work to get money.  The belief today is that the government should give everyone health insurance.  Even if that were the case, which I don’t believe, it would still cost money.  People would still have to work so that everyone could have health insurance.  So is health insurance really a privilege?  If you have to work for it, it’s not really being given to you, nor does everyone who works have access to good health insurance.  I’ve had it thrown at me that I have an easier time getting health insurance because I’m white.  Is that really true?  No, my family still has to work for what we have.  I’ve also been told that I have an easier time getting a job because I’m white.  Is that true?  NO!  Because I had very little experience, and spent 16 years raising 4 kids, even with a college degree, I had a very hard time finding a job and had to take what I could get.  Unless you are truly privileged, everyone has to start out at the bottom.  Most people don’t just step into any high paying job.  You work your way from the bottom of the ladder to the top.  The exception? Kids of CEOs, celebrities and politicians.  So, who are privileged when it comes to jobs? Those who have money.  Who are those who have money, the working people?  No.  Does it matter that I’m a white person, or a female?  No.  Does it matter that I went to college?  No.  I still have to start at the bottom and work my way up.  

Okay, so what about my husband, a white male.  Does he have some special privilege given to him because he’s a white male?  Let’s look at this.  First of all, he wasn’t born into money, but was born into poverty.  His dad had to work for everything they had, which was very little.  They didn’t once turn to the government for money, but insisted on making do with what they worked for.  He has 5 siblings.  Their family struggled to have enough to feed and clothe everyone.  Once my husband was old enough, he worked with his dad to earn money to help out, then later got a job to support himself and moved out.  So is this considered privilege?  He never went to college.  He left high school and went straight to work.  When we got married, there was a time when he was working 3 jobs just to make enough for us to be able to have a roof over our heads and to feed and clothe our kids and we had to sometimes go without just to make sure that our kids had what they needed.  For years, neither my husband or I had health insurance and our kids were on medicaid, because there was no way we could afford health insurance at that time, but we worked, paid taxes and in that way we were contributing to the system that we were using to give our kids the necessary health insurance.  

I know you are asking yourself why I didn’t go to work to help out.  There are a few times that I tried to work, but with a special needs child, I was always having to take time off to take her to appointments and for hospital stays and so I couldn’t hold a job for more than a few weeks at a time.  No one wanted to employ someone who would need that much time off.  It made more sense for me to stay home with the kids.  I was contributing to our family by taking care of the kids, making sure they were safe, healthy and loved.  It wasn’t until all 4 of my kids were in school, my middle daughter’s seizures were better controlled and that my oldest was old enough to help out that I finally felt it was time to try going to work.  For the first time in 16 years, I started looking for jobs, thinking about a career and being able to help out our family financially.  I thought I wanted a part time job, however, quickly realized that I would be better off working full time, because it would be much cheaper for me to have separate health insurance than for my husband to put me on his health insurance when he switched jobs, which he was looking to do after working one job for 12 years.  I didn’t want to go backwards financially just because I only worked part time, which would have happened.  In the same time frame that I went to work, my husband was able to find a new, better job, as well.  After all the years of hard, physical work that he has done in the 50 years of his life, his body was breaking down and he couldn’t handle the physical labor he had been doing. 

He had been looking for a new job for a few years before finding the job that he now has. It wasn’t an easy time for him because he didn’t want to have to take a major pay cut, except for warehouse work and moving furniture, he didn’t have any marketable skills and wasn’t good at interviewing.  These things all make it difficult to find something that he could do that wouldn’t cause his body even more stress.  However, he did finally find something where he didn’t have to take a major paycut, that his age wasn’t an issue and that he would be able to learn and gain some new skills.  It was also a more laid back job, less stress and more stable hours.  Does this sound to you like “privilege”?  Having to work for everything you have, doing back breaking work just to make ends meet, never having more than just enough to meet your bills monthly? Through all this we never once said “oh look we can have a ‘easier’ life by living off the government”.  Everything we have, we have worked hard for.  We have never asked or begged for extra government handouts.  We have had the kids on medicaid, but we work and pay our taxes which pays for that program.  There are people on government “assistance” that have more than we ever have.  They don’t have to worry about paying for rent or food because the government “gives” them money (our tax money by the way) and if they aren’t working even receive extra cash assistance from the government.  There are now government programs that give them “free” cell phones, “free” internet access, ect., BUT where is that money coming from?  Taxes paid by the “working” class.  In reality, there are 3 classes of people, the “poverty” class or those who depend on (and expect) the government to give them everything, the “working” class, or those who pay taxes for those who choose not to work and the “privileged” class, or those who are “born” into money, professional athletes, celebrities and politicians.

Those in the “privileged” class are mostly people who could live the rest of their lives without doing any real work and never run out of money. Most of these people have never worked a real 9-5 job, never done back breaking work and never will.  These are the people who that third definition from Webster are talking about, “the advantage that wealthy and powerful people have over other people in a society.”  These are the people who the “poverty” class look up to.  Not those of us who have to work for everything we have, who have never asked for or been given anything, but the rich and powerful. It’s the “privileged” class, however, that want everyone to believe that the “working” class are the ones who are privileged.  It’s the “privileged” class that wants everyone to believe that it’s skin color alone that determines success, because if you feel like you can be successful, you really don’t “need” the government.  

These are also the people who want to maintain that “hold” on everyone else.  The only reason that they have money is because the “poverty” class allows them to have money.  They give “privilege” class the power they have by choosing to depend on the handouts that the government offers.  They aren’t willing to work for what they have.  They want to “earn” money doing mediocre work or no work at all.  They don’t have the desire to work towards a better future because it’s “easier” to be given things.  Yes it’s much easier to sit at home asking for government handouts, but it’s much more satisfying to be able to say “I worked to pay for this.” Hard work gets you much further in life and makes you feel better about yourself and like you are actually successful than asking and accepting handouts, even if you have less that you would have living off the government.  And it doesn’t matter what color your skin is.  It’s not skin color that makes you successful, it’s not skin color that makes you privileged.  In today’s society, anyone, can be successful and privileged.  It only takes hard work and determination.

If you want to see what privilege is, start by looking at the top. Those with the most “privilege” are the career politicians. Look at how much they have, just given to them. What are they really doing to help others? It’s not those of us who work day in and day out to make sure our families needs are met. Yet society would have you believe that I am privileged because I was raised by my grandparents who made sure that I never went without, yet now I feel its my job and it gives me great satisfaction to help my grandmother out in her last years of life because of all she has done for me and given me. Society would have you believe that I am privileged because I have kids that I’m raising to be the best they can be and when they are ready, will be able to contribute to society. Society would have you believe I am privileged because I was taught work ethics and that you shouldn’t wait for, depend on or ask for government handouts. The government will ALWAYS demand something in return. If you are calling money, privilege, then you need to stop and look around. Those who work for what they have are considered privileged and those who depend on the government are not. But every person who is considered privileged is actually privileged, not because of color or money, but they are privileged because of what they are willing to give, because they were taught to work for what they have, and because they were raised to be responsible.

So perhaps I am privileged, but it’s not because of the color of my skin, because there are many others of all skin colors who have much more than I do, but because I was raised to believe in hard work to get what you need and want.  I was raised to believe that success was because of that hard work, not because it’s given to you.  I was raised to respect myself and others, no matter what their skin color is because it’s not the color of your skin that makes you successful, but the work you are willing to put into being successful.  It’s not money or power that really makes you successful, but what you are willing to put into yourself and your family.