Simply put, white privilege is the package of benefits granted to people in our society who have white skin; a parcel of privileges that white people have been granted, which allows them certain free passes to certain things in our society that are not easily available to people of color.

Things like, but certainly not limited to:

* Being able to turn on the television and see people of their race widely represented.
* Never being asked to speak on behalf of their entire race.
* Being able to buy "flesh" colored band-aids which closely match their skin.
* Being able to succeed without being called a credit to their race.
* Being able to have a bad day without wondering what their race had to do with specific negative incidents.

Peggy McIntosh describes several of these privileges as she attempts to unravel the conundrum of white privilege. She aptly describes white privilege as "an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, code books, visas, clothes, tools and blank checks." Another widely-read author on the topic of white privilege is Robert Jensen.

Jensen describes white privilege as follows:

When I seek admission to a university, apply for a job, or hunt for an apartment, I don't look threatening. Almost all of the people evaluating me for those things look like me--they are white. They see in me a reflection of themselves, and in a racist world that is an advantage. I smile. I am white. I am one of them. I am not dangerous. Even when I voice critical opinions, I am cut some slack. After all, I'm white.

McIntosh and Jensen point out in their writings that white privilege is not something that is taught and is not necessarily the result of overt white supremacist attitudes. White privilege is, rather, a result of a society that has been trained, as a whole, to be more accepting, understanding and forgiving of people with white skin. The questions remain, why and what do we do about it?