JAMES KELLY
Staff Reporter
I never understood what “white privilege” was when I was growing up. Was I supposed to have been directly impacted by it? I didn’t think the fact that I was a particular color made me any more likely to receive something over my friends who might not have looked like me. Once I learned what it really was, I felt completely different.
I didn’t see that privilege when my more affluent friends went on vacations or had parents who drove expensive cars. I thought that if “white privilege” was a thing, then I would’ve received some tangible benefits because I happen to fall into that category. Of course, I didn’t know about any sort of racial disparity as a kid nor had I felt prejudice against classmates because that just wasn’t the environment I was raised in.
While the term “white privilege” is attention-grabbing and does the job of calling out racial and gender inequities in institutions, it doesn’t necessarily encompass the depth of what it represents. The same goes for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
It might not always be about who got what opportunities and how they got it. Rather, it’s often about how they are perceived after the fact. Don’t believe me? In 2020, New York University (NYU) conducted a study as part of the Stanford Open Policing Project where researchers found that Black people were 20% more likely to be pulled over than white people relative to the population where the traffic stops occur. Plus, as of 2020, only 10% of law enforcement officers were Black, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
What the NYU study doesn’t talk about, which I guarantee is a factor, is police officers’ perception of drivers. Another term for your vocab sheet is “Driving While Black,” a statement attributed to instances of racial profiling. Black people are pulled over overwhelmingly more often than white people because it apparently seems odd to officers when someone who looks different than themselves drives a nicer car than them. If I drove past a cop in a Mercedes-Benz, it’s more likely that I’ll not be given a second thought because it’s assumed I earned that car, not that I stole it. This is how I began to learn about what advantages white people had over other races.
So much racial and gender disparity has caused mass pushes for DEI policies that ensure a level playing field for all Americans. These efforts enrich the college admissions process and create fair hiring practices, despite having a confusing name. What’s so wrong with creating a baseline to ensure that the future is full of creative ideas and decisions thought up and made by people who are representative of their backgrounds? All of us have voices that need to be heard, and DEI doesn’t just stop at race – it incorporates equality for women, veterans, disabled people and more.
The people who keep barking about how much they think DEI initiatives are a waste of time and resources don’t want to admit that racial inequities necessitate rules and laws to fix them.
Imagine a marathon where runners of all different backgrounds are racing down the street. After the race starts, a golf cart comes along but the driver only offers rides to people who look like them. There’s people passing out water further down the course, but they are handing out larger cups of water to the runners who look like themselves. And way down at the finish line, the timers are shaving off a few seconds of only the runners who look like them.
If there were rules that made sure these kinds of people were not allowed to work at the race, or there were opportunities to explain to them why what they’re doing is wrong, wouldn’t you want to utilize them? If not, then you would be first to call out the winner of the race for cheating if that person didn’t look like the driver, the timers or the people passing out the water – because how else could they have overcome those disparities?
The only thing that needs to be changed about DEI is the name. It doesn’t express the nuance of what it represents and it has been weaponized by the far right to make accusations about how the “woke mob” is brainwashing people. In the meantime, don’t just take these terms at face value. Then again, you might already be doing that with your neighbors.
James Kelly is a staff reporter at The Review. His opinions are his own and do not represent the majority opinion of The Review staff. He may be reached at jwkelly@udel.edu.
