Being born White in the United States of America provides its own advantages that many other races do not get. There have been clashes between races in America since the beginning it was founded. Whites colonized and took America away from the natives which made them superior to all other races. There are many advantages that Whites gain by their skin color that many colored people would wish having the same privileges. Whiteness is not just the color of the skin, but the construction of the race. There are many different types of whites out there that got segregated because of their country origins.
There are always going to be advantages and disadvantages of being any race. Everyone gets categorized into sections that helps them or does not help them with their journey of life. Whatever the skin of your color is you get judged off of that and your sexuality like homosexual or heterosexual. In the textbook for example, “If you are White and left handed, then, while your racial identity likely followed majority identity development, your physical ability identity likely followed minority development.
We are all judged by the differences that society portrays as not being acceptable. People critic everything that we do like me for example I am Hispanic and left handed. This shows that I am similar to the example provided above but just a different race. Our physical ability identity is our first impressions that people get from us. This can make a person like us or hate us because of the differences we all see in one another. There is an economic advantage that Whites have when working for a living. They receive more in the long run than my ethnic background does and many others.
The income depends on your education because when I inputted that I went to ollege I received around 33,000 dollars, but when you changed the race Whites received more just because of their race. When I inputted the data that are my circumstances now I found that I received around 200 dollars more than anyone else including whites. This is a great example which shows us that sometimes being white does not have its advantages. It also depends what city the ethnic person is born in because Porterville has a lot of Latino people which requires another language.
Most whites do not know the language which excludes them from the benefits. According to The New York Times, “What Is Whiteness? ” written by Nell Irvin Painter there was a divide between several white races in the mid to late 19th century. They were categorized by the superior Saxons and the inferior Celts. This shows us that even the whites distinguished amongst themselves because they did not like the different origins they came from. America had a timeline of the different whites that came other countries such as the Irish. All foreign whites that came from distant countries where considered lower class and savages.
This comes to show how in the beginning there were ometimes no advantages in the beginning for all the whites. The Italians, Jews, and Greeks were classified as inferior white races. By the 1940s anthropologists announced that they had a new classification: white, Asian and black were the only real races. This is an example of just three races that are not segregated amongst themselves because of the country of origin they came from. Soon after the news came out the whites were considered all the same so there were no Irish savages, Italians, Greeks or Jews separated into different categories.
According to the Encyclopedia, whiteness can be viewed as property” in that it has historically embodied social and economic benefits for whites. In the mid twentieth century programs widened the economic gap between white Americans and peoples of color. Whites have the advantage in America because of what the government did with the housing, and fiscal policies. The government played a major role in helping the white race gain control of most things in America. During those time the politicians were mainly white men that decided the fate of all the races that had no say on the matter.
This comes to show the influences that whites had since the eginning of America. Other races were considered the minority but in recent years there have been an increase of Latino ethnic backgrounds. They say Latinos are going to be the next majority race that beats the white population. Things are going to change in the near future because of the diverse ethnic backgrounds and races that are found in America. We are starting to become homogenized and sooner or later everyone will be considered one race because we are all mixed. Another advantage of being white in the United States is not being prosecuted by the police.
In the article, “The Privilege of Whiteness” by Paul Waldman he says that many black parents make sure to give the talk their children, one filled with detailed instructions about how to handle a situation when a police officer is pulling them over. Also, a white man is unnoticed when he is in public unlike a black man that is portrayed as being a criminal. There are many negative stereotypes that blacks have but fewer negative stereotypes on whites. “I can dress in a suit or in torn jeans and a hoodie, and no one will react to me with fear or suspicion, because if they don’t know me they will ssume they know nothing.
This is an example that explains how many people would not react to a white man dressed in these clothes. This is one reason why whites have an advantage in America with not being assumed they are criminals. This can also go for Hispanics because there are many gangs that people think we all affiliate with just because of how some of us may dress. According to Critical Whiteness Studies, “whiteness is difficult to pin down, there is widespread agreement that whiteness is a socially constructed category that is normalized within a system f privilege.
This means that whiteness has a lot of small things included that make in complicating. Overall, it is not about the skin color, but related to the construction of race. It does not matter that your skin is white but it matters where the origins of your skin color came from that is important to them. “Whiteness involves a culturally, socially, politically, and institutionally produced and reproduced system of institutional processes and individual practices that benefit white people while simultaneously marginalizing others. People that are white ave the upper hand in the benefits that they received because of marginalizing. This makes them grow in power and have a say in politics as to what is acceptable for them. Whiteness goes on just the advantages that they receive but the setup of the race.
In the article “Making America White Again” by Toni Morrison he states “In ‘Absalom, Absalom,’ incest is less of a taboo for an upper-class Southern family that acknowledging the one drop of black blood that would clearly soil the family line. They are not will to let other races keep them from being pure. This is nonsense because not everyone is pure white because we all are mixed from many different country origins. He also goes on to say that white men are sacrificing themselves for the cause of restoring to the things used to be. They do not like the change that society is making because now other races are being a part of the political decision making. This ties back to how whites are advantageous in America because they were the first ones to be part of the political scheme.
In conclusion, Whiteness is advantageous in America today but the times are changing in which they are not going to the ajority. Their economic advantage is substantial compared to my race if I were to have a bachelor’s degree. I will get paid less just because of the color on my skin. This is unfair because it segregates people for being themselves and categorizes them for being different. If you are part of a minority you are considered to have a disadvantage among people that have the same ethnic background. Many whites do not have to fear the police because not many people feel threatened by what they wear.
This is a different case when there is a black person ecause they are judged by what they wear to be criminals. They were in the political ball game from the beginning so they have the upper hand when it comes to protecting and making law to help themselves. Whiteness is about the purity of your blood line because if there is black blood then it is considered soiled. Every racial group is going to have its negative and positive advantages. It also depends on where they were raised too because in the central valley there are more Hispanics. This creates a demand to be bilingual and communicate with them.
