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When a Minneapolis police officer murdered George Floyd last year, the video of his killing immediately ricocheted around the web. The massive social movement that followed may have been the largest in U.S. history. Millions took to the streets and the internet to express a desire for racial justice in the United States, in a movement that has become encapsulated by the viral hashtag #BlackLivesMatter.

But a year after Floyds killing many observers have begun to ask whatif anythinghas fundamentally changed? These questions are in part about the possibility of racial equality and real police reform in America, but also address the extent to which a political and social movement with online origins can break into the U.S. mainstream and effect real change. In the year since Floyds murder, online interest in Black Lives Matter has steadily grown. An analysis of more than 50 million Twitter posts between Jan. 28, 2013 and April 30, 2021 finds that the outpouring of online support for #BlackLivesMatter following Floyds killing resulted in a lasting shift and a more vocal and engaged online public, with no evidence of hashtag cooptation by more conservative users over the past year. While the Black Lives Matter movements impact on the policy landscape remains uncertain, its online presence is undoubtedly stronger.

The growth of a hashtag movement

On July 13, 2013, George Zimmerman was acquitted of all charges in the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin. Immediately, several Twitter users aired their disappointment and reminded the world of a simple truth: Black Lives Matter. Their tweets marked some of the first uses of a hashtag that would enter the mainstream a year later, on November 25, 2014, when a grand jury declined to indict Darren Wilson in the fatal shooting of Michael Brownand protesters online and off turned to the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag to express their anger and grief. As police violence has persisted and the movement for racial justice continues, the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag has emerged as an enduring feature of online discourse. As of April 30, 2021, it has been used in more than 25 million original Twitter posts, which collectively have garnered approximately 444 billion likes, retweets, comments, or quotesroughly 17,000 engagements per post.[1]

Since Floyds murder, this online activism has only accelerated. In the seven days between his death on May 25, 2020, and the police attack on protesters in Lafayette Square on June 1, the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag generated approximately 3.4 million original posts with 69 billion engagementsor roughly 13% of all posts and 15.5% of all engagements on Twitter in that period. #BlackLivesMatter content peaked on June 8, with some 1.2 million original posts mentioning the hashtag.This marked an astonishing increase in use of the hashtag: Prior to the June protests, the record for posts had been July 8, 2016, following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, when original content reached 145,631 posts with an average of 7.4 engagements per post.

Figure 1 plots this dramatic increase in use of the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag, alongside markers of milestones in the movement. Following Floyds murder, posts increased exponentially and previous spikes in content barely register in comparison. The figure also plots use of #BlueLivesMatter, a hashtag movement expressing support for the police and that, here, illustrates the disparity in interest between the two hashtags. Between 2013 and 2021, #BlueLivesMatter has registered 1.6 million original posts and 1.7 billion engagements (about 1,000 per post), which while smaller in scope than #BlackLivesMatter, is not insignificant. Use of the two hashtag movements appear to rise and fall together.

Figure 1: Total Original #BlackLivesMatter and #BlueLivesMatter Posts

The basic time series detailed above highlights how atypical last summers social media discourse was surrounding #BlackLivesMatter. But the skewed nature of the data masks underlying patterns. Though it may not be immediately apparent, Floyds murder marked a turning point in Twitter conversations around #BlackLivesMatter. By transforming the data to a log-scale, the steady growth of a movement (and separation from a countermovement) becomes clear (Figure 2). This type of transformation is particularly useful on highly skewed data. Visually, the log transformation represents data as a percentage change, such that going from 1 to 2 will appear the same on a graph as going from 100 to 200, even though the absolute change in value (1 vs. 100) differs.

Figure 2: Total Original #BlackLivesMatter and #BlueLivesMatter Posts (Logged)

In the run-up to Floyds murder, #BlackLivesMatter and #BlueLivesMatter content tracked together, rising and falling in response to instances of police violence. But Floyds murder breaks this pattern: Both #BlackLivesMatter and #BlueLivesMatter content surge, but the former does not return to its pre-Floyd normal. #BlueLivesMatter content declines steadily in the subsequent months after the initial spike, but #BlackLivesMatter content rises relative to the time prior to Floyds murder. Between January 1 and March 31, 2020, the average daily number of original posts for #BlackLivesMatter and #BlueLivesMatter content was 1,829 and 836 respectively. During this same period in 2021, these numbers stand at 4,368 and 394 respectively. This represents a nearly 250% increase in #BlackLivesMatter content on the year, a sizableand seemingly durableshift.

Over the years, the overlapping spikes in #BlackLivesMatter and #BlueLivesMatter content have sparked intense rhetorical competition online among Twitter users. As a result, the sustained growth in #BlackLivesMatter content might be dismissed as a case of hashtag cooptation, in which the movements opponents ironically or negatively post using the hashtag. But by examining the expanded network of users sharing content, it is evident that this is not the case. Figures 3 and 4 plot the average political ideology of Twitter accounts using the #BlackLivesMatter and #BlueLivesMatter hashtags at two contentious political moments over the past yearthe January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol and the Derek Chauvin trial.[2]

Until early January, the political ideology of these users was as we would expect itusers sharing the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag more liberal, users sharing the #BlueLivesMatter hashtag more conservative. Then, the ideology of users sharing the #BlueLivesMatter hashtag becomes dramatically more liberal for a brief period of time. This is likely due to an ironic appropriation of the hashtag in response to the Capitol assault, which resulted in one police officer dying and many more being injured. By contrast, the steady ideological score associated with posts that used the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag suggests that content during this period was driven by users supportive of the hashtags message.

Figure 3: Average Political Ideology of #BlackLivesMatter and #BlueLivesMatter Hashtag Users

The political ideology of users posting #BlackLivesMatter and #BlueLivesMatter has held steady during other periods of upheaval, indicating that it is unlikely that hashtag cooptation is causing a significant portion of the growth in use of the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag. Over the course of April, a police officer shot and killed Daunte Wright during a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, while former police officer Derek Chauvin stood trial nearby for Floyds murder. Figure 4 shows that, as in January, the average ideology of users posting content with the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag barely fluctuated. Unlike in January, however, the average ideology of #BlueLivesMatter hashtag users did not change. Instead, what registers is an online battle for control of the #AllLivesMatter hashtag, which fluctuates wildly over the course of the month in ways that coincide with Wrights killing and Chauvins conviction.

Figure 4: Average Political Ideology of #BlackLivesMatter, #BlueLivesMatter, and #AllLivesMatter Hashtag Users

While support for the Black Lives Matter movement has declined in recent months, particularly in conservative America, there remains a steady interest in this online conversation. A growing number of users are actively engaged both during and outside the times of intense interest associated with moments of upheaval. For a social and political movement bolstered by a hashtag, this growth may serve as a silver lining to a challenging year. The difficulty, of course, is translating online activismcommonly critiqued as slacktivisminto offline political change. Yet some research has found that online support can translate to meaningful offline action. And this may be particularly true of young people, who unsurprisingly are disproportionately represented in online political conversations. This may be somewhat less difficult for #BlackLivesMatter, which began, in part, as a social media conversation and has now firmly entered the political mainstream.

Valerie Wirtschafter is a senior data analyst in the Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies Initiative at the Brookings Institution and a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of California, Los Angeles.

[1] In this analysis, I exclude retweets, which are counted as observations in some analyses. Instead, retweets are included in engagements, which also includes likes, comments, and quote tweets. Data for this analysis from January 2013 to June 2020 comes from Giorgi, et al. (2020), which due to Twitters terms of service, provides only posts ids for approximately 41 million tweets that reference #BlackLivesMatter, #BlueLivesMatter or #AllLivesMatter. I use the rehydratoR package in R to pull the Twitter content from the post ids provided. Finally, I use the Twitter API to pull the remaining posts from July 2020 through April 2021. Twitter post IDs for this expanded dataset can be made available on request.

[2] In his 2015 Political Analysis paper, Pablo Barber develops a strategy for calculating the partisan ideology of Twitter users, based on the network of Twitter users they chose to follow. The idea is that the decision to follow certain elites is a signal of political interest, which can then be used as an input to determine the partisan preferences of a given Twitter user. This estimation strategy aligns well with other common measures of ideology, including party registration records and DW-NOMINATE scores. Given that these calculations are data intensive and Twitter API rate limits for this content are fairly restrictive, I utilize this strategy but restrict my analysis to users who shared relevant content over a given time period that received at least fifty likes, retweets, comments or quotes. In order to ensure the precision of ideology estimates, I also exclude users who follow fewer than five elites. Elites include politicians, media outlets, think tanks, political commentators, and other influential Twitter users. Positive scores are more conservative and negative scores are more liberal. More details on the methodology and implementation can be found here.

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How George Floyd changed the online conversation around BLM - Brookings Institution

Patrick Washington is the CEO and publisher of The Dallas Weekly

The Texas-birthed holiday ofJuneteenthis a very interesting holiday, to say the least. See, I, a native-born Texan, have two Yankee parents. As such, Ive been able to hear both sides of the idea of Juneteenth, and now am at a final resting place for my attitude about this NEW celebration of what used to be a regional observance.

Im ok with it.

Let me explain; I love the idea of Juneteenth. Its simple to me. Civil War ended, white folks were trippin, army had to come in, let everybody know whats up. Easy right? I thought so toobut then the other side came in.

Now, for the sake of fairness, Idoget some of the opposition that was very prevalent in my younger days. Its kind of strange to celebrate the late arrival of emancipation, however, I also didnt understand why others cared so much when this wasnt a national thing. It was for us Texans. Then an elder of mine stated plainly, They dont like that we celebrate our freedom, because they dont celebrate theirs. And never have. But will celebrate the fourth of July like it meant something. And there it was: clarity. The line had been drawn in the sand and I now stood firmly on the side of Juneteenth.

I admit I never understood why other Black communities had no observance of their freedom. I figured someone heard about the Emancipation Proclamation and said thats a good day to light up a barbecue and shoot up some fireworks, but no. Even a simple observance of Black liberation would be cool, right? Butno.

So, I carried on quietly eating my ribs and finding some strawberries to munch on (Im not a watermelon fan, so I kept it 19thwith another red fruit). Then something happened. I met someone who would eventually become a close friend from upstate New York; Syracuse to be exact. At some point, we were talking, and I mentioned Juneteenth and she said, yeah, I havent celebrated that since I left home.

You know I the native-born Texan was confused. How couldwhy would a New Yorker know anything about Juneteenth? As curious as a cat, I probed for everything she knew about MY holiday, and to my surprise she got it all right! She told me that there were observances in small places all the time, and they were often met with the same disdain as I was familiar with when it came to outsiderslearning aboutJuneteenth.

Still, at that point, I couldnt care less. I was far too excited to have a friend to silence the haters who didnt have a country accent. It was glorious. And we both were soldiers in the army of Juneteenth laying tongue thrashings to haters at the drop of a dime.

Then, in late February 2012, George Zimmerman killedTrayvon Martinand the world changed. For years, the Black community had endured a seemingly unending display of Black bodies murdered by police with no accountability or consequence. Now, here was this civilian, with a far more extensive criminal background than the child hed literally stalked against police orders before instigating contact with and killing him, being given the same hand-waving latitude as police officers, while social media exploded with concentrated efforts to dehumanize the victim.

Call it the first moments of the resurgence of the Civil Rights Movement, and the global awareness campaign that would become Black Lives Matter. Everything had changed, but not really. It was still business as usual but something else was there. An underlying tone was getting louder. A fervor that was just under the surface ready to explode, and we all knew it was coming.

The next few years, things just grew more and more tense. During that whole time, we still celebrated Juneteenth. More Black celebrities were talking about it; I sawUsherwear a shirt on stage X-ing out the Fourth of July and underlining Juneteenth. Cool. I look up and folks in California are explaining to the internet the importance of Juneteenth.

What the hell is happening? I called my friend; she already knew. We lamented, asked whats the deal with this, laughed, and casually dismissed the fair weather freedom lovers for what we thought was, at best, a momentary interest.

Thankfully, we were wrong, but I still had a few lingering reservations. After all, my mother told me about growing up in the 1960s and watching all her peers rock afros and Afrocentric garments, but by the mid-70s to early-80s she said, Most of them negroes went back to perms and tight fades to appease white folks to get jobs in the corporate sector.

I couldnt deny that, nor could I separate how humans use trends in horrible situations to feel better about what we feel we cant control. Id be lying if I said that didnt sit at the top of my thought process when bringing up Juneteenth with certain people.

And then there was George Floyd. The chillingly silent explosion we had all been waiting for. That tragic, horrific, damn near 9-minute bomb that blew up in our faces as we just watched. Say what you want, but we all watched. For whatever reason, we watched. We saw that clock ticking, and we watched. We heard that fear, and we watched. BOOM. The whole world heard that explosion, but this time, the world was not turning away.

For a while, the planet was engulfed in conversation about Black lives. Not only through marches, but also via dialogue, history lessons, context, perspectives, think pieces, andwait for it, Juneteenth. Yep, right there in the middle of all this turmoil, were groups of people talking about Juneteenth.

To be fair, Juneteenth occurred that year as usual, however, at that time, I was feeling like, oh, it just takes slavery, Jim Crow, civil right movement, black power movement, hip hop, countless black people killed by the police and a global protest to get Black people to recognize thisgreat. Looking back, I think I was just upset that thats the norm for things like this.

My mother-in-law blames it on socialization. According to her, Americans are not wired to learn lessons easily. It takes a lot, but once we move the needle, it tends to stay moved. Today there are national talks about Juneteenth, as well as different states recognizing the date as important in the history and context of the USAs racial past.

I was still having reservations about supporting this, but like most things in my life, an elder spoke to me. Saying mostly better late than never, but also re-affirming what I already knew to be true.This isnt about white folks not letting us go free. It aint about Black folks not knowing about the end of the war, nor not being given anything.

Juneteenth is about us.

Its about us recognizing our inherit liberty and freedom. The thing is, when did any enslaved person truly know they were free? Hell, Malcolm X was talking about the mentally enslaved DURING the Civil Rights Movement. When were the shackles truly taken off? And did they stay off? What reminds you of not slipping back into a place of subjugation? No need to guess, Ill tell you; Its a ritual. A ceremony that takes all that and puts it in its place. I took for granted that I was born in a place where that was the norm, and others were just now waking up to the idea that we deserve a day of recognition that are NOT slaves. Who celebrates that? We do.

In the words of the illustrious Charles ONeil, Chairman, Board of Directors at U.S. Black Chambers, Inc, Apparently there was NO party before Juneteenthwhat emancipation date is commemorated in SC, AL, GA, TN, KY, MS, LA, AR, VA, NC? Juneteenth mighta been late, but wutno party til Texas got there! Its a point of pride really. Through all this weve been telling yall we free! Late sure, messed up, yes, but were here EVERY YEAR, doing our most to enjoy us, to celebrate us.

So, welcome all you colored people time-having freedom lovers. Pull up a seat, pour some fresh prepared strawberry soda, slice a watermelon, and inhale the sweet smells from the grill, cuz we are all free. Free to be who we want and who we are now and forever.

We now understand our foundational influence on this place. Our ownership of its history and our roles in making sure that it never reverts.Were in it now, like yesterday never left. Voter suppression efforts like its still the Jim Crow era, law enforcement still acting like slave catchers, and racists in power doing their best to keep it.

But we have Juneteenth. Not just the day, but also the attitude, the philosophy, the ideal. Its ours.

I do not know what the future holds, clich as that is, but I can be sure of a one thing this year. On the 19thof June, the United States of Americas African population will be as unified as ever, and I cant see that going away. Im thankful for that. I appreciate that, and I will allow that to melt away the younger sentiments I had towards my fellow Black folks whom I welcome with open arms into this new head space.

Just dont forget where it comes from: TEXAS BABY!

Patrick Washington is the second-generation CEO and publisher ofThe Dallas Weeklywhich has been serving the Black community of the 4thlargest metroplex in the nation since 1954.

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Texas Native Son talks Juneteenth: Better late than never - St. Louis American

A smattering of boos was drowned out by applause in Londons Wembley Stadium on Sunday, as Englands best soccer players were both jeered and celebrated by their fans for taking a knee to protest racism before the national teams match against Croatia in the European Championship tournament.

While the Croatian players chose not to make the gesture, the Italian referee and his assistants joined the English team and their coaching staff in kneeling for a few seconds before kickoff.

One day earlier, there had been much louder boos when Belgiums multiracial national team, joined by Spanish match officials, had taken a knee before playing Russia in St. Petersburg in the same tournament.

Last week in Budapest, which is one of the host cities for the tournament, Hungarian fans booed Irelands national team for the same gesture before a warm-up match against Hungary.

The dissent from a section of the crowd in London on Sunday was noticeably less intense than it had been before two pre-tournament matches in Middlesbrough last week, when the English players were jeered along with the national teams of Austria and Romania which joined them in kneeling.

That pitiful display, from fans unable to separate racism from patriotism, had prompted an articulate plea for tolerance from the England manager, Gareth Southgate, who said that the squad was united in its determination to keep taking a knee throughout the tournament.

The English Football Association, the sports governing body, then explicitly connected the booing to racist abuse directed at Black players on social media in a video message that urged fans to unite behind a team representing a multiethnic, multiracial England.

While the jeering racists were largely drowned out on Sunday and England won the match,thanks to a goal created by a player of Jamaican and Irish descentand scored by a Londoner who was born in Jamaica it was hard not to notice, as Daniel Taylor of The Athletic observed, that the bar is set particularly low these days if English football feels this pathetically grateful that this weeks booing of anti-racism was not as loud as last weeks.

It is also hard to miss the extent to which this entire scenario, now repeating itself in nation after nation across Europe, is an offshoot of Americas culture war.

Turning Point UK, an offshoot of the American pro-Trump youth organization, gleefully shared video of fans booing on social media, although the right-wing activists had to cut away abruptly from the original BBC video just three seconds into the protest, to conceal from viewers that the boos were quickly overwhelmed by cheers.

The gesture, inspired by the blacklisted NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernicks defiant protest, has been part of the pre-match ritual at soccer matches in England since last June. As racial justice protests spread worldwide following the murder of George Floyd, David McGoldrick, a Black British player with Irish roots, suggested that players should take a knee before kickoff.

The idea quickly spread across the country, and for months, players knelt in somber silence, in stadiums kept empty during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, many of which added signs displaying the slogan Black Lives Matter. But since the return of fans to English stadiums, loud boos and angry shouts have frequently been heard as players took the knee.

In heated debates online and across the airwaves, far-right figures in England, like the pro-Brexit campaigners Nigel Farage and Darren Grimes, have refused to draw the obvious conclusion that people who are incensed by an anti-racist protest might just be racist.

To defend the English fans jeering their own players, Farage and Grimes have drawn attention to the fact that Patrisse Cullors, the American activist who turned the phrase Black Lives Matter into a Facebook hashtag in 2013 following the acquittal of Trayvon Martins killer, George Zimmerman once described herself as a Marxist.

Although the English, Belgian and Irish players have made it clear that they are kneeling to show support for anti-racist protesters united by the slogan Black Lives Matter, rather than the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation co-created by Cullors, Farage and Grimes argue that the booing fans are not racists, just staunch opponents of Marxism.

The idea that ultranationalist soccer fans, who have aimed racist jeers at nonwhite players for years, are really engaged in ideological debate has been widely ridiculed, but conspiratorial fears about the supposedly hidden influence of cultural Marxism have been deeply embedded in far-right thinking for decades and were cited repeatedly in the manifesto of the far-right Norwegian gunman Anders Breivik, who killed 77 people in 2011.

Still, far-right activists, including the actor-turned-politician Laurence Fox, continue to invoke Marxism as a specter haunting Europe a decade after Breiviks killing spree.

A handful of fans even gathered outside the stadium on Sunday beside a version of the national flag with the slogan Dont Kneel for Marxism scrawled on it. One man standing near the flag wore a Trump-style red cap, complete with the phrase Make Britain Great Again.

Unfortunately for Farage and Grimes, an explicitly white supremacist, anti-immigrant group with rhetoric that closely echoes Breivik also turned up at the stadium to urge players to Stop kneeling for migrants & their descendants!

The reaction from Belgian and Hungarian politicians has also echoed the rhetoric of the American far-right. Filip Dewinter, the former leader of Vlaams Belang, a xenophobic Flemish party with thinly veiled white supremacist beliefs, exulted over video of fans of the English club side Millwall booing their own players as soon as they were allowed back into their stadium in December.

Tom Vandendriessche, a member of the European parliament for Dewinters party, shared a meme on Twitter last week that showed the Hungarian crowd booing the Irish team over the words All Lives Matter, and added the comment: BLM = racism.

The fact it was booed was incomprehensible, Irelands manager, Stephen Kenny, said after that match. It doesnt reflect well on Hungary and the Hungarian support, he added. The Irish striker Adam Idah, whose father is Nigerian, was also shocked. Obviously, its disappointing to see the fans and the whole stadium booing us taking the knee, he told reporters. Its for a good cause, trying to stop racism. Its a sign to kick racism out of society and just the reaction was very disappointing for us. We werent expecting that.

Viktor Orbn, Hungarys xenophobic prime minister, responded by attacking the Irish team that traveled to Budapest to help the Hungarians prepare for the tournament. If you are a guest in a country, then understand its culture, dont provoke the locals, dont provoke the host if you visit as a guest, Orbn said. We cant interpret this gesture in any other way, Orbn added, than as a provocation.

The Hungarian prime minister then suggested that since Hungary never had slaves, its citizens have no responsibility to combat racism.

After the Belgian national team took the knee in Russia on Saturday, before a 3-0 win, Vandendriessche tweeted that the Russian players, who remained standing during the protest, had lost the game but at least not their dignity. Kneeling is submission. BLM is pure racism. ALL lives matter!

Originally posted here:
European Soccer Stars Refuse to Yield to Racist Fans Who Jeer Them for Taking a Knee - The Intercept

Play helps Broadway return earlier than expected

The play 'Pass Over' will be the first show to start the return of Broadway when it holds its first preview in August.

NEW YORK - In the play "Pass Over," written by Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu, two friends grapple with the emotional impact of fatal encounters between Black men and law enforcement as they pass time on a street corner.

It's an urban take on the legendary French play "Waiting for Godot" but Chinonye Nwandu said the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the death of Trayvon Martin was her primary inspiration.

"I do not believe justice was served, and out of that moment and out of that cauldron of just real frustration, I wrote this play," Chinonye Nwandu said.

Among the challenges facing the creative team was getting a production underway to meet COVID safety guidelines in just two months.

'Pass Over' to be first live Broadway show with an audience since pandemic

"We hope that we can create an experience that is healing for people both as they return to live theater, as they return to sitting next to somebody and to having a stranger sitting next to them," said Danya Taymor, the director.

The play is sure to provoke post-performance discussions about the ongoing fight for civil rights unlike anything seen as of late on Broadway.

"I see this production as part of the paradigm shift that is happening globally," Chinonye Nwandu said.

Musical performances in Brooklyn cemetery seek to mourn loss while celebrating life

"Hopefully, we are going to have an audience that spans generations, that spans race, that spans class," Taymor said. "And so I want each of those people to be able to meet the material as it hits them."

"Pass Over" is at the August Wilson Theatre. Previews begin Wednesday, Aug. 4. Opening night is Sunday, Sept. 12 and the run ends Sunday, Oct. 10. Tickets go on sale Friday, June 4, at 10 a.m.

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Creators of the play 'Pass Over' eager to hit Broadway - FOX 5 NY

In the world we live in, there are certain people who will always have a leg up on you, they will always have an advantage. Those people who we consider to have more of an advantage in society, are what we call privileged people. Is it fair no, but is it true yes?

So what is privilege?

Privilege is when ones social class, age, size, race and ethnicity, religion, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation give a person a special advantage or entitlement in life, where they are benefited over others based on these factors.

But there is a specific type of privilege that Im sure we all have heard before, white privilege.

In the wake of recent racial injustices, such as the murder of George Floyd, that occurred in the year 2020, white privilege became a discussion that some people were willing to talk about and address, while others not so much.

But white privilege existed well before the year 2020, it has always been around for generations and will continue to stay if the people who benefit from white privilege refuse to admit that it's a real thing.

Research conducted in 2015 by L. Taylor Phillips, a Ph.D. student at Stanford Graduate School of Business, and Brian Lowry, a Ph.D. senior associate dean at Stanford Universitys School of Business, found that many white Americans deny they have benefited from white privilege when shown evidence of racial privilege.

From my personal experiences as a black woman in my 20 years of living, I can say that despite what anyone tries to deny, white privilege is most definitely real. I have witnessed it with my own eyes. Some of the people I know have confessed that they realized some of the things they have in life are due to their privilege. While many on the other hand that I know and have seen, still do not attribute any of their successes in life to white privilege.

Oftentimes I hear statements such as my life wasnt easy or I worked hard for everything I got from some white people. This is very true, by no means does being white mean you havent faced a fair share of hardships or that life is easy for you, it just means that those hardships werent met because of race and racism.

For those who dont believe in white privilege and try to downplay the seriousness of it, here is a breakdown of some of the things white people benefit from, that people of color do not.

1. Privilege of knowing you will be represented

When turning on the television, say to watch a movie, show, or cartoon, nine times out of ten, white people will see individuals who look like them on the screen. They dont have to worry about not being represented. This is not the case for black people. A 2020 study by the National Research Group found that two in three African Americans say they dont see themselves or their culture represented in movies or television. But this lack of representation goes for all aspects of life.

When my father would take me to the store to pick out a new Barbie doll when I was younger, I struggled to find a doll that looked like me because the aisle was filled with white Barbies. In my 6th-grade art class, we were assigned to do a self-portrait. While my white classmates found paint and crayons that matched their skin color, I did not.

Another example of white privilege is not having to put black girl behind a statement you google online. When I google wavy hairstyles immediately hundreds of images of white women show up. In order for me to find a hairstyle that represents my hair texture and style online, I always have to put black girl because online systems cater to white people rather than blacks. White people have the privilege of knowing and are reminded that they are the beauty standard in society.

White privilege is as simple as knowing you dont have to worry about not finding something, somewhere that represents you.

2. Privilege in the classroom

White students do not have to worry that their history will or wont be taught in the classroom, because it is not an elective. A majority of the curriculum throughout the school year is white history and teachers sometimes touch on black history during Black History Month, while others choose not to. White students have the option of choosing not to learn about black history.

In February, at Maria Montessori Academy, a predominantly white school in North Ogden, Utah, parents of students asked if their children could opt-out of the Black History Month curriculum and the school allowed it. After facing backlash, the school went back on its statement and required all students to participate in the Black History Month curriculum. This is a prime example of privilege, and even blatant ignorance and racism. Black parents will never get the opportunity to ask if their children can opt-out of white history.

Not only is curriculum a problem, but so are stereotypes in a classroom. White students walk into a classroom knowing their teachers or professors wont think less of them because of their skin color. Black students walk into a classroom knowing they have to prove themselves to their peers and their instructors that they are intelligent despite what stereotypes say about them.

Many times teachers, administrators, and principals look at black students as troublemakers, disproportionately more than white students due to their own bias. Researchers say that black students are more likely to be disciplined than their white counterparts for the same behavior. According to data from the U.S. Department of Educations Office For Civil Rights, in the 2015-2016 school year black students were more likely to be suspended from school compared to white students.

Ahmed Mohammed, Sudanese, was arrested in 2013 for bringing a homemade clock to school that was mistaken for a bomb. Kiera Wilmont, black, was also arrested in 2013, for bringing a volcano-like science project to school that was mistaken as a bomb. It is no doubt that race played a factor into the two arrests.

Lastly, white children are more likely to receive a better education than students of color. A study in 2020 by the Economic Policy Institute, found that black children are more than twice as likely as white children to attend high-poverty schools. In high poverty schools, there is less funding and allocation of necessary resources, resulting in black children falling behind compared to white students, who attend predominantly white schools with better resources.

3. Privilege of knowing race wont stop you from landing a job

White people have the privilege of knowing their race will not be a reason they dont get a job offer from employees. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor, white people have the lowest unemployment rate at 5.1%. Asian Americans rate is at 5.5%, Hispanics' rate is at 7.3%, and African Americans, being the highest unemployment rate, is at 9.1% in 2021. This is because black people are denied jobs due to their race more than their white counterparts.

A Northwestern University study found that white applicants are 2.5 times more likely to get hired. Applicants from a majority group were 53% more likely to get a call for an interview than minority applicants.

The study found that hiring managers are likely to reject people of color who are qualified applicants, simply because how they dress or come across is different from white candidates.

White people also dont have to worry about trying to accommodate their resumes when applying for a job. Many studies throughout the years have shown that resumes with names that come across as ethnic are less likely to get called for an interview. Because of this many people of color try to make their race appear less on an application in hopes of trying to get a job. In a 2016 study, it was found that African Americans and Asian Americans who whiten'' their resumes, were more likely to get a callback from employers than if they did not whiten the resume.

This is just something that white people probably dont even think about when applying for jobs, and thats a privilege.

4. Privilege of knowing you will get approved for housing

Being able to own a home is one of the biggest successes in life. Being a homeowner is a major way Americans build upon their wealth. However, in 2020 a report by Redfin found that 73.7% of white households own their home, while only 44% of black households own their home. This is because it is statistically proven black people are denied loans for housing solely because of their skin color.

According to data from the 2020 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, lenders deny mortgages for African American applicants at a rate 80% higher than white applicants. White people have the privilege of knowing they most likely will get approved for a loan to buy a house. They have the privilege of knowing their race will not set them back financially.

5. Privilege of not fearing the police

White privilege is not having to worry about run-ins with the police turning deadly. Yes, it is normal for anyone of any race to be scared of getting in trouble with the police, but white people know they can get in trouble or have a run-in without losing their life.

People of color, specifically black people grow up watching people who look just like them get murdered and receive no justice, over and over. Watching Tamir Rice, Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland, Eric Garner, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and so many others murdered at the hands of police, doesnt make me or any black American comfortable around police officers, who appear to have no regard for black life.

White people, on the other hand, have the privilege of knowing police officers have their back. In 2015, Dylann Roof walked into a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina, and shot and killed nine African Americans. After a 16 hour manhunt, police arrested Roof and took him to Burger King to get something to eat.

On January 6, police once again showed how white people are able to trust them more than black people. On the day many of us will never forget, hundreds of Trump Loyalists stormed the Capitol. On that day it was shown that many cops let the insurrectionists into the building and were even seen taking selfies with the rioters.

But, Tuesday marked a year since peaceful protesters, demanding justice for George Floyd in Philadelphia, were tear-gassed by police. The simple difference is, white people have the privilege of knowing police really will protect and serve them, black people do not.

6. Privilege of not having to be associated with negative stereotypes or be negatively portrayed

White people have the privilege of not worrying about negative stereotypes that are associated with race. Black and Hispanic Americans for example are stereotyped to be criminals, unintelligent, or lazy. With those stereotypes, people of color constantly being looked at as that. While white people can walk in a room knowing no one thinks less of them or that they are a danger to society.

When black people, like myself, enter a store just to shop, we are followed around by employees because they assume we will steal. White people are not. In 2019, R&B singer SZA, went into Sephora hoping to buy some of R&B singer Rihannas Fenty Beauty products. While shopping, an employee assumed she was stealing and called security on her.

This happens too many times, as you can see to celebrities and regular day people. Reasoning behind why some people look at us this way could be because of the media. The media portrays and highlights black people and other people of color in such a negative light compared to white people.

In a study by Color of Change, it was found that 37% of black family members were represented as criminals in the media, but only 26% of family members were actually arrested for criminal activity. White family members represented 28% of criminals in the media but made up 77% of those arrested for criminal activity.

Privilege is also demonstrated when white criminals get more sympathy from the media than black victims do. Whenever there is a mass shooter and the shooter is white the media will portray him as a kind human being who suffered from mental illness. However, when a black man is killed by the police, the media will have a field day digging up their criminal history.

Eric Bellucci, white, who murdered his parents, was described in a headline as Son in Staten Island murders was brilliant, athleticbut his demons were the death of his parents in the media. Trayvon Martin, black, who was killed by security officer George Zimmerman was described in a headline as Trayvon Martin was suspended from school three times in the media as if that had anything to do with his murder. Another example is when Georgias Sheriff Captain Jay Baker described shooter Robert Aaron Long, who killed eight people, including six Asian American women at a spa, as having a bad day back in March.

White privilege is knowing that because of your skin color, you will almost always be given the benefit of the doubt when it comes to how you are portrayed.

White people have the privilege of not dealing with any aspect of racism, and they benefit from that. They have the privilege of seeing how racism works, but never actually experiencing it. The privilege of ignoring all racial issues presented because it doesnt affect them.

There are even more privileges that white people benefit from such as the entire notion of racial inequality and the racial wealth gap. This is just a shortlist of privileges, the list could go on and on. These factors are something my grandparents, my parents, and I have had to deal with. That's three generations of no change. Change is only made with recognition.

Every white person shouldnt be to blame for how white privilege works. It is just an element of how racism continues to function so well in this society. The goal now is for everyone to recognize their privilege and own up to it because ignoring it only does more damage and gaslights those who are underprivileged. The goal is to stop racist systems from allowing this privilege for some, to prevail.

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White Privilege: What You Benefit From, That Others Do Not - The Pavlovic Today