The argument for the universalisation of white privilege is
weak enough. However, when white privilege actually has a direct correlation
with institutional injustices it is time to ask questions about why we still operate
an archaic manner.
Universalisation suggests that the favouritism given to
white people over other ethnic groups is normal and just “something that
happens.” The cashier at the supermarket feeling more comfortable, and
therefore firstly serving white people is an example of what has, over time,
become considered universalised.
Your average white person, and in some cases those from non-white
groups, will brush this off as ‘not a big deal.’ Extremely weak argument as
this is, ultimately this sort of discrimination is not what brings about calls
for serious change.
What does, however, bring about calls for serious change is
when white privilege unapologetically applies itself to structures within our
society that have serious repercussions for those not included in that group of
privalge.
Last month (May 2016) Matthew
McKenzie, 19, Dylan Christie, 19, Ethan Daniel Poole, 19, and Robert Samuel
Hales, 18 were sentenced to home detention of a maximum 10 months each and
ordered to pay back up to $5000 each after robbing $80,000 worth of outdoor equipment over the course of
2015.
Home detention. For stealing $80,000 worth
of stuff.
This is where white privilege defeats the
argument of universalisation. This is not casual discrimination without serious
impact on those effected. This is the difference between freedom and incarceration.
Readers of the original article publishing the piece on the case in the NZ
Herald did not help, with the top comment being: “To
claim they received more lenient sentences due to being white is laughable. I'd
be betting there was strong family support pledged by parents and others.
People without criminal records!”
If all Maori in New Zealand live in homes not fit to house
criminals maybe that should be discussed rather than seen as an argument in
favour of not putting white offenders in jail, Mr informed Herald reader?
If we are going to claim to live in a bicultural society
then our justice system would be a good place to start presenting that. Equal
sentences, equal conditions for offenders of any nature. There would be no
illusions about discrimination if stealing of a value over $50,000 meant two
years in jail. The cells would definitely begin to reflect the more
multicultural society that New Zealand is.
*NZ Herald, taken from The Northern Advocate,
16 May 2016
2. This is a very good point, and I have discovered many examples of institutionalized racism such as this; regarding the justice system and the privileged white folk. However, all my examples have been in America. It is easy to look at others and depict the flaws of their structures and systems, but to bring it into your own backyard is a different feeling. Thinking of your country's own corruption is definitely not a welcoming thought. I feel in New Zealand we get hyped about irrelevant issues, such as overseas foreign investments and flag concepts - when what really is needed is to pull focus on our own people, our own sense of equality in within the political and racial sphere, and create closer ties between wealth and poverty, and Pakeha and Maori.
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