White privilege ‘shapes the world,’ says dorm display
Another “white privilege” board discovered at Indiana University declares that privilege “shapes the world in which we live.”
According to a photo of the board obtained by Campus Reform, white privilege is not necessarily defined as something that white people “do, create, or enjoy on purpose,” but rather as a “transparent preference for whiteness that saturates our society.”
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“First, it provides white people with ‘perks’ that we do not earn and that people of color do not enjoy,” the board contends, then providing examples of several such “perks,” including being able to “assume” that “the school’s bandaids will be the same tone as your skin.”
In fact, most of the examples provided are cosmetically-themed, like being able to find “travel-size bottles of your hair care products at most grocery or drug stores” or knowing “hotels will have shampoo that will generally work with the texture of your hair.”
The board goes on to state that white privilege “creates real advantages for us,” asserting that “white people are immune to a lot of challenges.”
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“Finally, white privilege shapes the world in which we live—the way we navigate and interact with one another and with the world,” the boards definition of privilege concludes, assuring its readers that such rhetoric is “not shaming,” but rather a form of education.
“Privilege exists as a result of racism, sexism, ableism, and classism engrained [sic] in society,” it clarifies, affirming that “privilege is when you think something is not a problem because it’s not a problem to you personally.”
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Such “privilege” boards are commonly found in college dorms, with Campus Reform reporting Wednesday that a display in a University of Minnesota residence hall had provided students with an 11-point “checklist” to help them identify their “white privilege.”
Campus Reform reached out to Indiana University for comment on its white privilege board, but did not receive a response in time for publication.
Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @AGockowski
