What is white privilege?
There are several answers to this question - my own being white privilege is a lie.
However when critiquing an author’s concept it’s best to use their definition.
Layla Saad states that white privilege is; “the reward that white and white-passing people receive in exchange for participating in the system of white supremacy - whether that participation is voluntary or involuntary.” (me and white supremacy, p. 38)
So, I have to be held accountable for allegedly participating in a system even if I’m involuntarily participating in it.
And what would that system be? White supremacy according to Layla Saad is defined as: “racist ideology that is based upon the belief that white people are superior in many ways to people of other races and that therefore, white people should be dominant over other races.” (ibid, p. 12) She goes on to say that white supremacy also; “extends to how systems and institution are structured to uphold white dominance. For the purposes of this book, we are only going to be exploring and unpacking what white supremacy looks like at the personal and individual level.” (Ibid)
Do I believe that white people are superior to people of other races and should be dominant over other races? No I do not. But that’s not good enough for Layla Saad. I’m white and therefore I’m guilty! Who is the real racist here?!
Yet, she points out that white privilege can only exist where white supremacy exists; “in the absence of white supremacy, white privilege is meaningless.” (Ibid p. 34) So at the individual level, if I don’t hold any white supremacist ideology and would resist any governance promoting such ideology, any alleged ‘unearned privileges’ I may enjoy cannot reasonably be held against me on an individual level.
During the Second World War, many Germans resisted the racist ideology of Nazism. The Holocaust Encyclopedia states:
Despite the high risk of being caught by police with the help of their many informers, some individuals and groups attempted to resist Nazism even in Germany. Socialists, Communists, trade unionists, and others clandestinely wrote, printed, and distributed anti-Nazi literature. Many of these rebels were arrested and imprisoned in concentration camps.
There were many plots to assassinate Hitler during the war. After the important Soviet victory at Stalingrad in early 1943, when it looked as though the tide was turning against the German army, a serious assassination attempt was planned by a group of German military officers and carried out in 1944. Hitler escaped the bomb blast with minor injuries. The four leaders of the conspiracy were immediately shot. Later, 200 other individuals convicted of involvement in the plot were executed.
Most if not all of these Nazi resisters were white Germans. If we apply Layla Saad’s poisonous jurisprudence then even though these brave people gave up their lives resisting a regime dedicated to racist supremacist ideology, because of their skin colour they were guilty of of the very thing the fought against. What kind of un-critical gullibility would accept Layla Saad’s race-based condemnation of all whites?
Does white supremacy and privilege exist in the society that Layla Saad grew up in, was educated in, and provided all the amenities she enjoyed? She writes; “As a young Black girl growing up in the UK, I was made aware of white privilege at a very early age. . . . when my mother sat me down to talk to me about white privilege, or rather my lack of it. She said to me, ‘Because you are Black, because you are Muslim, and because you are a girl, you are going to have to work three times as hard as every one else around you to get ahead.’” (Ibid, p.36) Layla Saad’s mother told her that the UK was based on white supremacy and handed out white privilege only to whites. This was a lie. Layla Saad went to the UK and benefited from a lot of ‘white privilege.’
Some Muslim countries do not allow girls to go to school to get a good education to get ahead? Yet what opportunity did the UK provide young Layla Saad (a Muslim Black girl)? As pointed out in an earlier article, she went to a British private school. She also got a university education at a British university. The UK provided first class opportunities to this ‘Black, Muslim, girl.’
Layla Saad benefited from a lot of other ‘white privilege.’ She states; “every time we left the house, every time when we went to school, every time we watched TV, every time we connected with the rest of the world, we were interacting with white supremacy.” (Ibid p. 8) Layla Saad enjoyed the privilege of unrestricted movement, going to school, getting a good education, watching TV and connecting with the rest of the world. These are privileges that a lot of other Black, Muslim, girls didn’t enjoy (and still don’t) in other countries of the world. Yet she says these freedoms, that she participated in, were products of a country based on ‘white supremacy.’
What does Layla Saad base her charge of ‘white supremacy’ on? Her feelings; “Every day, in little and not so little ways, we were reminded that we were the ‘other.’ That we were less than those who held white privilege. I can count on on hand the number of times I experienced overt racism. But in countless subtle ways, everyday, it was felt indirectly.’” (Ibid) According to Layla Saad’s own words, the white privilege and racism she encountered in the UK wasn’t based on what she actually experienced but rather on her own personal feelings. And her mother was the one to sow the seeds of the bitter roots of her feelings.
The university that I got my education at taught me to base my conclusions on real facts and always examine my reasoning to see if personal feelings and biases might have influenced them. Perhaps Layla Saad, skipped those classes at her university or she doesn’t get the idea of intellectual(critical) discipline. What ever the case may be, I do NOT accept her arguments about white supremacy and white privilege. My epistemology isn’t based on feelings and personal grievances.
I’ll need another day on ‘day 1- you and white privilege.’