White privilege is ALIVE!

Growing up white, even with hardships, is not the same as growing up as a minority in America. This theme of white privilege is explored  in both Tom Jacobs’ article “Sure, Whites Are Privileged—but Not Me Personally!”, written for the Pacific Standard, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s short story, “The Thing Around your Neck.” They both look at the same topic of white perceptions of racial discrimination, the authors use different approaches to make their point. Jacobs uses scientific evidence based on cumulative survey data while Adichie delves into expressions of white privilege denial through the unfolding of a personal relationship. Both pieces arrive at the same conclusion in different ways, that white people’s reaction to their advantages is either to deny them, adopt a victimhood mindset, or exaggerate personal effort to account for any differences in success.

The article written by Tom Jacobs (The Pacific Standard article), uses scientific evidence and statistics to show how white people tend to deny that they are privileged, or if they do accept it, believe that they are an exception. To support his argument, Jacobs explains the conclusions of recent psychological studies conducted by Stanford University Professors L. Taylor Phillips and Brian S. Lowery. Half of the participants were introduced to evidence of white privilege. Those who were exposed to the realities reported having more difficulties in life than those who did not see the evidence. The conclusion to these studies is that “...people claim more life hardships in response to evidence of ingroup privilege because such information is threatening to their sense of self”. In response to facing the fact that they are privileged, white people feel the need to exaggerate the obstacles they have faced. These studies show evidence that white people deny the reality of their privilege and exaggerate their personal efforts. Not only does Jacob’s article provide an example of this, but so does Adichie’s short story.

Adichie in her short story “The Thing Around your Neck” uses a different tactic to examine white privilege and white people excusing their privilege. The narrative follows an African woman, named Akunna, who wins the lottery and gets to immigrate to America. Akunna faces hardships in America life due to her race and gender. She initially stays with her uncle when she arrives in America, and is raped by him. She works as a waitress and most of the money she earns is sent back to her family in Nigeria. Eventually, she enters into a relationship with a rich white male. Akunna’s boyfriend is more privileged than Akunna is, and he constantly excuses his privilege by creating difficulties he has had to overcome and magnifying his personal endeavours. For instance, the boyfriend describes his upbring as being manipulated by unloving and controlling parents:

“Afterwards, he told you about his issues with his parents, how they portioned out love like a birthday cake, how they would give him a bigger slice if only he’d agreed to go to law school. You wanted to sympathize. But instead you were angry.” (Adichie 92)

Instead of recognizing how privileged he was to be able to attend law school, Akunna’s boyfriend exaggerates how abusive his childhood was and emphasizes how he overcame the many adversities that he faced. Since Akunna has gone through so much in her life, her boyfriend’s “struggles” make her angry. He points out that he had to do everything by himself and that his privilege did not help him get where he is today. White people tend to exaggerate their tribulations when faced with those, Akunna in this case, who do have less privilege. This is the same point that was made in Jacobs’ article.  

The two pieces show in different ways another mechanism white people use to disregard their privilege. Once again Jacobs takes the scientific stance, “Evidence that their race was an advantage prompted white people to move toward a victimhood mindset”. When shown verification of their advantages and privilege, white people tend to become defensive and acquire a victimhood mindset. A victimhood mindset in when a person excuses what they have by blaming everything else except themselves. The understanding of a victimhood mindset among white people is once again seen in “The Thing Around Your Neck”. At first, the boyfriend used his privilege to show how cultured he was, since he had the opportunity to travel around the world. As Akunna and her boyfriend get closer she let him know her thoughts about gender and racial privilege:

“....that you rooted for the following in this order: women of color, black men, and white women, before, finally, white men- which meant you never rooted for white men. He laughed and told you he was used to not being rooted for, his mother taught women’s studies” (Adichie 89).

Akunna’s boyfriend taps into a victimhood mindset when he gives her that response with he was not used to being rooted for”. The boyfriend realizes that he is very privileged and, as a coping mechanism, victimizes himself without even realizing he is doing it.

Both pieces approach the problem of white victimhood when exposed to their privilege in two different ways. Adichie writes about how those who are privileged often exaggerate their life experiences. Jacobs writes the same thing, but uses experiments and evidence. White people’s reaction to their societal advantages is either to deny them or to adopt a victimhood mindset and exaggerate personal effort to account for any differences in success. White people have to own up to their white privilege. As Jacobs states, "these denials of personal privilege were in turn associated with diminished support for affirmative action policies—policies that could help alleviate racial inequity." White people need to accept their privilege in order to fully abate racial inequality.