in 2days screech, they call it "marginalization" .. some shit, different toilet - Peter Dawson

While I agree with most of the items listed in the article, I have to respectfully disagree with one point: as a white person, I have not always been the beneficiary of "white privilege". I can recount many times growing up where I was harassed, spat upon, and otherwise excluded from various get-togethers, because of my Eastern European parentage. It even got in the way of my post-collegiate job search, at times. I've even been cased by security, since I've been told I also look like "a Latina". - Helen Sventitsky

Good work, Mr. and Mrs. Smith. - Louis Gray

Shey, I'm glad you chose to share this. Though some of those statements aren't universal truths. I usually don't self identify as white on any forms. I typically choose other for race. As for being uncomfortable because of my race, that's happened to me many times in my travels around the US. It happens in my own city in the Midwest, even at the grocery store. That said, many of those statements ring true. But what's the fix? The fix is teaching our children and families not to see race as real. - Todd Jordan

Nicely written! While regionally and temporally narrow in scope (a white person living in, say, Japan might be on the receiving end of this sort of thing, for example ... random country choice), this is an excellent post. - idnan

It is just so depressing to think that all those 50 things are true in my experience -- and that others encounter the exact opposite. @Jasmin: Despite depressing me, thanks for the post! - David Muir

Dispels the notion, propounded into our heads through nursery rhymes, that words can never hurt people. Words do hurt. We just don't want to admit that for some reason. Language influences our perceptions of things in such subtle ways that entire civilizations can be torn apart by them. Those 50 items illustrate just what a powerful sorcerer language can be over the conduct of our thinking. If we are to get past the lie-illusion of race, then we are going to need a fresh way of speaking. Where to begin? - phil baumann

begin with teaching the masses to question the status quo - mjc

The majority of those bullet points are due to statistics, not privilege. "I can turn on TV and see that most of the things appearing are human, therefore I have a human privilege over the under-represented platypus population. That's platypus racism." I don't mean to discount the issue, it does exist, but the list is not solid. - xero

@xero: You can be statistically privileged. Stick to the human population in your arguments and you'll see that there are quantifiable ways that the things on the list are experienced. - David Muir

@Helen thank you for sharing your experience. I actually think your experience highlights the point I was trying to make in the post about race being a lie. Although you self-identify as white your body is read as Latina, and therefore when you are racialized, you become at risk of facing racism. In situations where your body is read as white, you have access to white privilege. Living in the most multicultural city in the world (Toronto) many of my friends face your same situation! - Jasmin Smith

@xero I don't know if you read the entire post because you're missing the point. The list highlights many of the subtle (and not-so subtle) ways racism operates within society, and it's important to recognize that the list was personal to the writer. She wasn't suggesting that every White person experiences White Privilege in the same way - although I'm sure if you take an objective look at your own life you'll find that you can relate to many if not most of the items in the list. - Jasmin Smith

One thing I neglected to flush out in the post was that White Privilege is an unearned, undeserved privilege granted simply by looking "White" -- some would go to say not just white but ANGLO-White (as Helen can attest to). And if we want to get statistical about it, great! That only highlights the fact of White Privilege even more.... - Jasmin Smith

Thanks Louis! - Shey

Really nice piece! But I disagree on few points. Concept of race did not come to us, forming stereotypes, from thin air. The article referred to in the post agreed with that, but concluded that in the modern world its a social phenomena. This is true, but not universally. We should not forget that groups, which were/are relatively isolated, such as (historically) Jews or, till 1920s, PN Guinea populace, represent REAL races, with much genetic and cultural diffs. Flatter world flattens those diffs though. - Hayk H.

+5 Gregory for "being stupid is the problem, racism is just one of its expressions." :)- - Peter Dawson

while on this subject its also good to read up the 'caste system" in India. IF you take of segregation /race etc. Then the Indian System trumps ALL, and has been in existence for like 5000 yrs ..:)- - Peter Dawson

@Peter and it's government endorsed! - Yuvi

"white privileges" Do you buy these at Walmart? Racism is Racism across all shades and gradients! Ask a Jew, Nick, Hick! Do I need to go on? - Igor The Troll

@Hayk What you are describing are cultures -- not races. - Shey

That's actually not entirely true, Shey. Jewish DNA is different and we have diseases unique to us. It's one of the genetic qualifiers of race. - Akiva Moskovitz

LOL. "Jewish DNA is different". @Akiva: How does religion affect DNA? Please link to something credible. - Mohamed J

white privilege hasn't always just been about the colour of our skin, that's the CURRENT manifestation of the issue. 100 years ago (and even more recently) in Canada and the US the Irish, Italians, and Jewish people were all considered BLACK--they were racialized... yes, I did say Irish and as such they faced every bit of racism as people of colour. Today Jewish people particularly religious Jews are still racialized and face their unique from of racism: anti-Semitism. - Jasmin Smith

Mo, oh please. Religion doesn't play into it; the people predate the religion. Do your own research. Start with Tay-Sachs: although not unique, it is probably the most well-known. - Akiva Moskovitz

@Jasmin: Irish and Italian cannot be compared with Jewish. Nationality is not the same as religion. - Mohamed J

Jasmin, this is true. Although I wouldn't dare equate the American Jewish experience with the American Black experience. - Akiva Moskovitz

@gregory and Peter it was implied but I guess not explicitly stated in the post that this particular issue of White Privilege/racism discussed applies mostly to the North American context, and I suppose also Britain, Australia, South Africa, and other "White" nations. The caste system in India while not a "racial" segregation parallels the effects of racialization in many ways. I've heard ppl equate racism in America to an informal, yet institutionalized caste system -- very provocative idea. - Jasmin Smith

Oh, are we going to start with all that "Judaism isn't a race, it's a religion" thing? As a historian, I can tell you: it's a little bit of both. Historically speaking, not every "religion" conforms to the modern, Protestant, voluntary-association pattern, even though it's become common -- even dominant -- all over the world by now. Some traditions have typically been much more culture- or nation-centered. - Nathan Rein

@Mo Jawhari Jewish people who are dark-haired, dark-eyed, and dress in the traditional religious garb have been racialized (you can read the post for a proper def'n of what I mean by that). However, non-religious Jews and the blond, blue-eyes Jews don't "wear" their "Jewishness" and as such escape the risk of Anti-Semitism unless the self-identify -- these Jews are read by most as "White" and have the same access to White Privilege today as "non-ethnicized" White ppl (i.e. most Anglos). - Jasmin Smith

@Akiva: How did you label the DNA as Jewish if "the people predate the religion"? Think geography. - Mohamed J

Mo, long ago people of the same race tended to be geographically bound as well. Also, don't get caught up in semantics. If you want to argue labels, that's a completely different discussion. - Akiva Moskovitz

@Shey: Race differences are perceived from apparent differences in skin color, facial features, shape of skulls. Culture is uniquely a soft part and what i talked about was soft + hard. Genetic and environmental diffs, before 18th century, kept populations of the world quite diverse in terms of genetic pool, due to isolation and preferences of kin. This is why European incursion into America in 15th killed more indigenous by means of epidemics than guns. It all boils down to genes+env. - Hayk H.

Nathan, Agreed the national ethnicity is Israelite, the language/culture is Hebrew, practice of the faith/religion is Judaism. You were born into the nation and the nation was a "special possession of God". The male was circumcised on the 8th day as part of that national heritage & in obedience to the mosaic law given to that nation. Thus binding him on both levels: the heart and the law. The act was not to be separated so that later God could draw the comparison: "I will write my law upon their heart" - Melanie Reed

Your race as in the color of your skin is sacred. - Melanie Reed

Races back then had a relatively clear frontiers. With industrial age, our ability to travel and globalization, these frontiers are brought down. Also, the modern tendency of equality in everything including human rights and gender makes it look like hate-mongering or backwardness to speak of races as separate entities due t negative acceptance of any such discussion. - Hayk H.

Historically, all races have suffered at the hands of others. Historically, all races have oppressed and warred against another not of their race. No one is innocent of these things, whether within their own country of origin or outside of it. Given the staggered time line of these events, it encourages and incites a chronological outrage for one oppression after another. We have one place to look for lasting peace and it is not to ourselves. History has shown us that. The problem is in our own hearts. - Melanie Reed

@Melanie Agreed, furthermore -- anyone, regardless of skin colour, nationality, etc. could become an Israelite by accepting the culture and religion. - Shey

I'm not so caught up in my Sociological perspective that I'm blind to the fact that there are genetic differences that make me have dark brown skin and my husband a "golden" complexion. The point is (like mentioned in the post) there is far more genetic variation within what we call a race than between so-called races. Which explains the tonal variation between me and Shey even though we both self-identify as "Black." - Jasmin Smith

The point about race theory today is that it’s not about biology (we’ve moved past that pseudo-science—I hope). It comes down to what you look like—and if you don’t look “White-enough” you face the risk of being racialized and the potential racism that more-often-than-not goes along with it. - Jasmin Smith

Interestingly, while we all want and need to be unique (and were made that way for a purpose), we resist it and act out how we don't like to be different from one another. It is ironic. We want to be better, brighter, darker, whiter...but at the same time we want to be like everybody else in the group, ie, the same language (esotorica) the same clothes, gesticulations, etc. Yet if ever a contest, we must be number one, which means a loser. - Melanie Reed

Shey, I'm not certain on your usage of the word 'Israelite' here. One can become a religious Jew by conversion and one can become an Israeli by immigration. What exactly is an Israelite to you? - Akiva Moskovitz

@Akiva I meant in the historical sense Melanie was discussing. - Shey

Jasmin , "The caste system in India while not a "racial" segregation parallels the effects of racialization in many ways." , I think you missed the point. The British actually learned about it from India and then used it back home .Then it slowly become the 'colonization' effect across the globe. The stem of Racist behavior comes from Indian Culture. Else from days of old it was simple, Royalty blood line and commoners, going back to the days of Pharaoh too !! - Peter Dawson

@Peter. I agree with parts of what you're saying.. particularly about the British adopting ideas from India's caste system, but the point I'm making is that here in the West, it's not even about bloodline it's about what you look like. - Jasmin Smith

@Jasmin , FYI only.. I once read up about the "black irish" and it really interesting Intersection within this convo.. not directly related, never the less related .:)- - Peter Dawson

Shey, I see and, as I wrote, anyone can assume certain aspects of Jewish life and Israeli nationality but it's still intrinsically different. As Jasmin so rightly points out, it isn't necessarily the Jewish race that causes discrimination but is the look of the race. Join a synagogue and get an Israeli passport but if you look like the next Anglo bloke on the train, no one's going to think twice. Show up wearing a black hat, payas, and tzitzit and you'll have a different experience, I guarantee it. - Akiva Moskovitz

@Akiva Exactly. - Shey

Peter, on more than one occasion I've been mistaken for Black Irish. Didn't get kicked out of Woolworth's over it, though. - Akiva Moskovitz

+1 Akiva that's exactly the point! "...Show up wearing a black hat, payas, and tzitzit and you'll have a different experience..." - Jasmin Smith

@Jasmin, Correct- I cant disagree with you on that ."about what you look like" fact !! @Akiva, its the same for every1 else here too, (Toronto) wear a hijab, a turban and I have noticed in the malls, people are walking , actually make a path to avoid passing by such individuals who wear the Turban, Hijab etc. I have seen it myself and have often wondered what causes the human species to behave n this manner. That is, considering that both parties are generally and genuinely don't believe in Racism !! - Peter Dawson

Peter, fear of the unknown perhaps? A dislike of exclusivity? I've always thought that people may hate having religion proselytized to them but they hate it even worse when they're told that they can't (or shouldn't) join the club. - Akiva Moskovitz

in Toronto my experience has been that the turban/hijab fear spiked since 9-11. Sikhs were persecuted as much as Muslims because of general ignorance. and the fear of the unknown fuels racism in general because instead of looking at behaviour on an individual basis we apply stereotypes. - Jasmin Smith