Racial prejudice in any way is always wrong

In light of debate over illegal immigration, I'd like to highlight an idea that has, unfortunately, skewed the rhetoric. This notion originally conceived by social scholars is known as white privilege and suggests that only whites enjoy certain societal advantages for no reason but their skin color. It is used as a sword of demagoguery that, when wielded in debate, causes the pros and cons of various topics to perish in a quagmire of collectivism.

Proponents use it to castigate whites for oppressing others, even without overt acts of prejudice. Essentially, it changes the nature of racism from a conscious phenomenon to a subconscious one. And since the theory suggests that whites are taught to ignore their privileges, those who challenge the association with race are quickly berated and dismissed. Those who do choose to accept it must do so indeterminately.

The stigma will persist, proponents say, until society achieves justice for all. Ultimately, white privilege is an overtly racist idea: it attempts to link socially-constructed generalizations with physical characteristics. It assumes, without demonstrating a shred of causality, that individual advantages can be accurately viewed through racial lenses. And it disparages or completely rejects the effect of personality traits like work ethic, motivation and commitment.

Racial prejudice of any kind has no rightful place in our societies or institutions. The notion of white privilege is not exempt. To condone it today would legitimize the same type of collectivist mindset albeit, opposite in effect that generations of Americans struggled to overcome. Racism today is simply not a one-way street. And society should not remain silent while some perpetuate it by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred behind a shroud of virtue.

Adam Burkhart

Arlington Heights