Where White Privilege Came From Alan Johnson

 Where White Privilege Came From

By: Alan Johnson

    All of us know about slavery, but few of us know the real story behind it. The start of slavery is also when the start of white privilege happened. At first the British wanted to enslave the Irish. The Irish were looked at as savage people who were inferior. The attempt to enslave them ultimately failed because some of them were from England and did not allow this to happen. They also could not enslave Native Americans because they could just go off to other tribes. So, the British decided to enslave black people. The Declaration of Independence went against the slavery that was happening, so Americans turned to race to justify their actions. This is when the racism against Native Americans started to occur. Whites believed that they were doing blacks a favor as they were so inferior to them that serving the whites was an honor for black people. The concept of race never existed until countries were setting themselves up and wanted to have structure. One of the first instances we see race come up is when whites had terrible jobs, and they would tell themselves "at least I'm white." The belief system that whites are superior could have started as an unconscious decision. The way that history has played out has led some people to believe things, as nature has decided some ways to be the way of the world. Whites today definitely have a sense of power that has always been there, unearned. As humans we go through life and socialize, but we must realize the systems that have led us to be in the place we are today.