From “An Exchange on White Guilt” (part of Gregory Jay’s Whiteness Studies site):
Antiracism is not about guilt or blame. You don’t have to be guilty or blameful to receive privileged treatment at the bank, at the store, in the courts, in legislative policy, etc. just because you are “white.” This is not about individuals; this is about structures of privilege.
For two centuries laws and customs in the United States gave “white” people (a word that appeared in countless legal decisions and legislative acts) an unfair advantage over others. “Hard working immigrants” of European descent faced a hard lot, but their relative lot was made easier by the fact that they did not have to compete on a level playing field with nonwhites. The job market and access to education were thus skewed in their favor, just as men did not have to face much competition since women were denied the right to compete for most jobs or for admission to the best schools and colleges.
Again, these are structures of privilege, and they benefit people no matter whether those individuals want this to be the case or not. It doesn’t matter how fair and antiracist you may be, you are not the one they follow in the department store, but you are the one that gets her loan approved at the bank. It’s this structure and legacy of white privilege that’s appalling.
I welcome any conscious effort by European Americans to celebrate their heritage as long as this includes loudly denouncing white supremacy and the myth of the existence of “white” people.
