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Tyra Imbico

Ms. Oberg

Language Arts 11

25 January 2018

Why do People Deny Their White Privilege?

In many situations, when people are told to check their white privilege, they almost

immediately put themselves into defense mode and completely deny they have this privilege. But

why do some white people do this; why do people deny their white privilege? This was the

question I chose because I’ve experienced this kind of backlash when faced with this topic,

almost 90% of the time. With the help of ignorance, people stay with their very wrong opinion. I

wanted to know what was the thinking process of those who deny and what made them want to

debunk white privilege, when there is unconscious bias and racism happening at every turn

(which is basically what white privilege is). Knowing how white people thought would give me

the opportunity to use a counterclaim in my future arguments, thus leading to possibly future

uneducated white people to accept their wrongs. Overall I didn’t want to know what white

privilege, I wanted to know people deny their white privilege.

I, personally, know a lot about the topic of white privilege in the United States. White

privilege in the United States is a term that refers to societal privileges for those who are

American born and white, it came from racist hierarchies created at the root of human history. I

know that many white people deny their privilege because I’ve experienced it first hand many

times (in arguments on many platforms, on the internet and in person). They also get offended

when privilege is brought up and find it ridiculous that I would even suggest it; white people
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tend to make themselves the victim of every argument when white privilege is brought up. The

topic of white privilege is not taken seriously by those who do not believe in it, they don’t

respect the ideal and are angered by the thought of it.

I went about my research through video/article interviews and journalism pieces, coming

from both my side of the argument and the opposing side, but all opinions came from white

people. I decided this was the only way to get an effective answer as to why white people deny

their privilege because it would be coming from the group of people white privilege directly

involves. I decided to get opinions from white people who argue that white privilege is

nonexistent and those who have checked their privilege and acknowledge it (then proceed to get

on a platform and educate). What each person said was different, interesting, and sometimes

aggravating to read/listen to. “Explaining White Privilege to a Broke White Person”, “Why

Some White People Don’t See White Privilege”, and “Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” were

written by white people that believe white privilege is real and are attempting to educate others

on their privileges. “​White Privilege Isn't Really A Thing​”, “Why White Privilege Is As Racist

As It Sounds”, and “​It's time to talk about 'black privilege'​” all come from the point of view of

someone who assumes they are familiar with the topic of white privilege, but isn’t.

The answer to my question is under a large umbrella of lack of education and

misconceptions, and is split up into two divisions: “black privilege” and thinking that white

privilege means that white people do not experience struggles due to class privilege. But overall,

many uneducated white people tend to reverse roles when white privilege is brought up and

claim that white privilege is reverse racism and isn’t a problem in our society. Some examples of

evidence that Blake provided from black-privilege believers: most of the National Basketball
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Association players are black, Obama’s presidency, black scholarships, Black History Month,

and black people can call white people “crackers and honkies” but white people cannot call black

people n-words. The only purpose of these “privileges” are to get African American people

caught up to the same level as white people do in our society. Many white people don’t realize

that they’ve been ahead of all people of color since the beginning of U.S. history; and continue to

believe that their “spot” is earned although it was earned a lot easier than others.

White people who deny their privilege also believe that white privilege means that white

people do not struggle and that everything is handed to them, but that’s not that white privilege

is. “Poverty doesn't look at someone who's white and say, "I can't bother you,"” (Sundheimer),

Sundheimer (who is a white woman) believes that because class privilege exists this means that

white privilege does not. White people do not a full understanding of the concept of white

privilege, but have their image of what it might mean. When white people deny their white

privilege because they are still discriminated against they don’t know what intersectionality

(various aspects of humanity do not exist separately from each other, but are complexly

interwoven, and that their relationships are essential to an understanding of the human condition)

is, and do not know that depending on your race, sexuality, class, religion, ableness, and gender,

you are being discriminated against on a different level on a large spectrum. This means that a

homosexual, African American, poor, disabled, muslim woman is going to get far more

discriminated against compared to a heterosexual, white, rich, abled, christian man. White

privilege is denied because people do not understand intersectionality and believe black people

benefit from their race more than white people.

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Overall, the I-Search process was a interesting and compelling experience. I liked the

feeling of independence within my writing and choosing a topic I knew would captivate me. I

felt I was successful because now I know various reasons as to why white privilege is denied in

the white community, and I will now be able to hold a nice place in future issues regarding an

uneducated person and white privilege. The best and worst part of my experience were the same

thing, which was that I had to research idiotic claims as to why people debunk white privilege as

a whole. It was the worst because it infuriated me with every sentence I read, I could not believe

some of those articles were published and cleared by editors and other journalists. But, it was the

best because it let me have the experience of getting to know what is going on in my “enemy’s”

head and to finally figure out why. But, if I were given the opportunity to start over and do

something differently, it would be to get started right away; because with the more research you

find, the more persuasive you will be presenting to your future audience as well as it makes the

I-Search experience a lot more enjoyable.

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Works Cited

Crosley-Corcoran, Gina. “Explaining White Privilege to a Broke White Person.” The Good Men

Project, public domain. Web.

Morse, Brandon. “White Privilege Isn't Really A Thing | That's Not Racist.” TheBlaze, public

domain. Web.

Sundheimer, Anika. ​“Why White Privilege Is As Racist As It Sounds.” The Odyssey, public

domain. Web.

DiCaprio, Peter. “Why Some White People Don’t See White Privilege.” Huffington Post, public

domain. Web.

Blake, John. “I​t's time to talk about 'black privilege'​.” CNN, public domain. Web.

McIntosh, Peggy. “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.” Wellesley College

Center for Research on Women, public domain. Web.