Poppy Jennings

White privilege is sending out your CV when applying for jobs and not having to worry about whether your name sounds foreign. ItÔÇÖs not being sent home on your first day of school because your dreadlocks, cornrows, braids, or afro are disrupting other kidsÔÇÖ learning. ItÔÇÖs being able to drive down the street in a nice car without people suspecting you stole it. White privilege is being able to go through the day or the week without at least one person asking you what you think of racism. ItÔÇÖs not being that person that is apologised to after every racist joke. ItÔÇÖs being able to use shampoo at hotels or B&Bs without considering how it could possibly be an issue.

A lot of people seem to struggle with the acceptance that they benefit from a massive privilege in this country. People still try to preach that racism isnÔÇÖt a thing anymore, that weÔÇÖre not still affected by it because we donÔÇÖt have slaves or separate toilets. People donÔÇÖt deny it because they donÔÇÖt believe itÔÇÖs there; people deny it because they feel guilty. They feel guilty about liking the beneficial place theyÔÇÖre in. They like that they donÔÇÖt have to worry about how their whiteness might affect their job chances, their career aspirations, their safety.

Brexit (donÔÇÖt worry, itÔÇÖs just to open story time) hit a while ago now, and something that really struck me was how quick people jumped on the chance to become aggressors and turn their internalised racism into physical and verbally abusive outlets. My brother was sat at a bus stop one night after work and he was approached by someone who told him to go back to his own country. My brother is English. This happened in England. My brother is mixed-raced, and for some reason the colour of his skin screams foreigner. White privilege is being able to walk down the street and never be threatened or told to leave the invisible borders of a country where you were born.

ThereÔÇÖs a blindness to reality that is perpetuated by the media and the fashion industry that we are force-fed every day. Magazines, television, books, radio talk shows. The majority of people we see are white. ThereÔÇÖs an overwhelming whiteness to our beauty campaigns and our movies. ThereÔÇÖs an absence of ethnic diversity that is so overwhelming that it takes a film particularly recreating the massive achievements or stories of black people to make people stop and think, ÔÇÿactually, there must have been black people in the 50ÔÇÖs, why arenÔÇÖt there any black actors in this movie set in New York with thousands of extras walking up and down the street?ÔÇÖ White privilege is being able to look through fashion magazines with your daughter or little sister without silently hoping they arenÔÇÖt internally damaged by the white beauty standards that are impossible to attain. ItÔÇÖs being able to buy Barbies or action men without a second thought to how lacking in ethnicities the dolls are

Nappily Ever After, an incredibly gripping, heart-breaking, and touching story about one womanÔÇÖs relationship with her hair dropped on Netflix a few weeks ago. It wasnÔÇÖt advertised much. If you werenÔÇÖt keyed into the right conversations on Twitter, youÔÇÖve probably still gone on without knowing what it is. I cried like a little bitch watching this film. So many people will struggle to grasp the heart-wrenching truths of this movie, and thatÔÇÖs a privilege in itself. I donÔÇÖt have my sisterÔÇÖs afro, but IÔÇÖve spent hours sat there brushing it, IÔÇÖve had countless emotional conversations with her about how much she hates her hair and wishes it was straight like everyone elseÔÇÖs. IÔÇÖve seen her cut all her hair off in frustration. I know how much she spends on it to keep it anything but natural. White privilege is dismissing white aestheticism and cultural appropriation. ItÔÇÖs saying that thereÔÇÖs nothing wrong with Kim Kardashian claiming cornrows as her latest fashion item and refusing to acknowledge what they really are.

White privilege is being able to read a book without having the ethnicity of the main character described to you in the first few pages. If there are any black, Asian, or other ethnic minorities in the book youre reading at all, you can guarantee theyre described by their skin colour. White people arent. Do you know why? Because whiteness is the norm. If a character isnt described by colour, theyre most probably white. And its for the same reason that your friend is telling you a funny story and they describe every non-white person by their ethnicity or their (assumed) nationality: that Chinese guy did that, this black girl did this, that Asian girl was doing that

White privilege is not recognising white privilege.