The Origin of White
Privilege
By
Scott Smiley
The
topic of “white privilege” has troubled me for some time. At first I denied it could exist in today’s
society. Federal Laws should be
preventing this type of thing from happening.
The magnified loud speaker of social media would bring anyone who
attempted to assert any type of privilege over another would be tarred and
feathered. But upon reflection I feel I
was wrong.
Before
some of you start shouting either way I offer up some things to consider. Firstly the power that allows privilege must
be identified. Per (Merriam-Webster) “2a. possession of control, authority,
or influence over others.” I am focusing
on the United States of America primarily.
That said, it began even earlier than the finding of North America by
the Europeans (The Chinese also claim the found America but that is still in
debate). Leif Erikson a Norse Viking, found
North America in approximately c. 1000 CE (Groeneveld).
In 1492 Christopher Columbus an Italian,
found the Bahamas (Robert Roy Britt).
Amerigo Vespucci another Italian, found America in 1502 (Robert Roy Britt). America is named after Vespucci (Robert Roy Britt). The first settlement was Jamestown founded by
the English under a grant to the Virginia Company by Queen Elizabeth in 1602 (americaslibrary.gov) . Then Christopher Jones an Englishman Captained
the Mayflower to what is now called Massachusetts carrying the Pilgrims in 1620
(Brooks). Other than the Native American’s all of the
“explorer’s” were of European decent.
The next question is who held power in that time? Well with the exception of a few Queens it
was mostly held by men. In particular
Christian white men if history is to be trusted. Women were considered more property than
anything else and had few, if any Rights.
Most of these men were of European or British decent making them
Caucasian thus “white”. When this is
combined you find only Christian Caucasian Males (referenced as CCM going
forward) held the majority of power.
Power being defined as the wealth and authority to create and enforce
societal rules. Just as a note, south of
the equator men still held power they were just not Christian or Caucasian.
They were just men and that is another story for another time.
So, now
let’s focus on North America. The
American Indian was quickly run over by these colonists. The definition of an invader is “to encroach
upon” and “to spread over or into as if invading” (Merriam-Webster).
These colonists were ruled by CCM’s for the most part. Women could not own land. Only land owners could vote. The land was “granted” by royals from Europe. This was the culture. This was their way of life. This trend continues through slavery,
emancipation and the Civil Rights movements.
1492 through 1962 470 years of momentum of Power pushing its way forward
originating from traditions and culture originating from Christian Caucasian
Men, White Men. Some statistics from the
US Census Bureau:
2017
Population:
Ethnic Group % People Economic
Inertia % % Over $35k
White Non-Latino: 58.5% 186,809,170 $5,770,586,745.00 73% 73.9%
Latino: 18.1%
55,704,217 $874,316,548.00 11% 18.1%
Black or
African: 13.4%
41,239,586 $684,265,226.00 9%
13.4%
Asian: 5.8% 17,849,970 $547,764,285.00 7%
78.7%
Two or More
Races: 2.7% 8,309,469 Not
broken out in data from published census
American
Indian: 1.3% 4,000,855 Not
broken out in data from published census
Native
Hawaiian/
Pacific
Islander: 0.2% 615,516 Not
broken out in data from published census
Household
Income:
|
|
|
Percent distribution
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Median income (dollars)
|
|
Race and Hispanic origin of
householder
and year
|
Number
(thousands)
|
Under $15,000
|
$15,000 to $24,999
|
$25,000 to $34,999
|
$35,000 to $49,999
|
$50,000 to $74,999
|
$75,000 to $99,999
|
$100,000 to $149,999
|
$150,000 to $199,999
|
$200,000 and over
|
Estimate
|
|
WHITE ALONE, NOT
HISPANIC
|
84,681
|
8.5
|
8.9
|
8.6
|
11.6
|
16.4
|
13.0
|
16.0
|
8.0
|
8.9
|
68,145
|
|
BLACK ALONE
|
16,997
|
19.9
|
12.7
|
11.6
|
14.1
|
15.7
|
9.8
|
9.5
|
3.5
|
3.1
|
40,258
|
|
ASIAN ALONE
|
6,735
|
9.0
|
6.6
|
5.8
|
9.6
|
14.5
|
12.9
|
16.3
|
10.8
|
14.6
|
81,331
|
|
HISPANIC (ANY RACE)
|
17,318
|
12.0
|
11.1
|
11.3
|
15.0
|
18.1
|
12.6
|
11.5
|
4.5
|
3.8
|
50,486
|
From this
data it is easy to see that there are more “White” people and households than
other ethnicities. The income economic
data is interesting. 78.7% of the Asian makes
more than $35k while only 73.9% of White are in the same range. The remaining two are as follows at $35k and
above: Hispanic at 18.1% and Black 13.4%.
So, this disproves that the larger group will automatically suppress the
smaller ones. This does prove the Ethnic
culture can affect its economic performance.
This begs the question is why does the one Ethnic group Black have such
a disparity? The CCM’s have treated
Asian and Latino just a poorly as Black with the exception of slavery. Does this one issue and how it has been
handled cause this level of disparity?
“Yes” is the only answer I can come up with. It is not the one I was looking for.
While I have
a strong feeling that the Native American Indian (NAI) data will be similar to
Black, I don’t have the data to substantiate the claim. I also have the feeling that ever since the
NAI’s have fought and won fights about casino’s and banking this growing
economic inertia will change the NAI’s future statistics to be similar to
Hispanic and Asian. Time and more data
will tell if my feelings are correct.
If the
reaction and treatment of slavery is the causation is the initial trend then is
it still the cause? Since CCW’s still
control 73% of the economic inertia which I believe also transfers to political
power then again I believe the answer is “yes”.
This begs to ask what have CCW’s done that is consistent since the early
1900’s and what is different? This also
asks a bunch of social questions I have no idea of what they are or the answers. Also, I ask why after 100 years the Black
ethnic group has not begun to change.
Lot’s more questions I don’t have answers to. Lastly, since the Hispanic, Asian and (I
believe) the NAI groups are creating economic inertia that is opposite the
Black group; at what point do we stop blaming the past cause of slavery and
CCW’s actions and start looking at the Black social culture’s own
responsibility for their future? At some
point there must be a tipping point in my mind.
I question if that point has already past or has yet to come. Again more questions I don’t have answers to.
The original
intent of this paper is to determine the existence of and origin of White
Privilege. My conclusion is “yes” it
exists. It began hundreds ago in Europe
and was transferred here by the CCW’s.
It has been perpetuated through time via the economic engine created by
the CCW’s who through this engine controlled the political and religious power
in North America. I also believe that
this same economic inertia that enables power will be found in every other
ethnic region on the planet. The ethnic
group that holds economic power controls political power and in most cases
religious as well. Now let the arguing,
name calling and outrage begin.
