Racism White Privileges and Stereotypes Research Paper

Racism White Privileges and Stereotypes - Research Paper Example The white privilege has conventionally played a big role in the success of white people in the USA in many walks of life. White privilege has provided people with opportunity to seek admission into the graduate schools in preference to the people of color. White privilege has helped the white students acquire national grants and scholarships for continuing higher studies while there have been more capable students of color that had also applied, but were not granted the scholarships. In the workplace, white privilege has been the cause of promotion for certain employees in presence of equally skilled and talented employees of color in the organization. History of White Privilege Around the early 1600s, 50 rich white people had got financial interests in the land in Virginia along with the Virginia Company of London. The Englishmen had been provided with the right of ruling the colony. Around the mid 1600s, there were as many as 100 servants for every single gentleman in the new Ameri can colonies. There have been numerous servant revolts in Virginia, at least ten of which have documented evidence. One of the most famous servant revolts that occurred around the mid 1600s was the Bacon’s Rebellion. In the year 1676, the free workers, farmers and servants of both the English and the African race stood up for their rights. They demanded salary and land. It was during the very revolution that Jamestown was burned. At the time of Bacon's Rebellion the English commission of investigation had shown more sympathy with the rebels than with the well-to-do planters who had engrossed Virginia's lands. To have attempted the enslavement of English-born laborers would have caused more disorder than it cured. But to keep as slaves black men who arrived in that condition was possible and apparently regarded as plain common sense. (Morgan, 1972, p. 25). In 1755, the Massachusetts Legislature assigned cost to the Indian scalp in the Bay Colony. The scalp of Indian men was so ld for 40 pounds while that of Indian females and boys below 12 years of age for 20 pounds. The Neutralization Act was passed in 1790. In 1830, President Andrew Jackson had passed the Indian Removal Act. There were several more discriminatory acts that were passed in the years to follow. President Abraham Lincoln brought a revolutionary change by emphasizing upon a need for the Americans to eradicate racial differences among them and categorization of the society on the basis of color or race. â€Å"Let us discard all this quibbling about this man and the other man, this race and that race and the other race being inferior, and therefore they must be placed in an inferior position† (Lincoln cited in Davis and Wilson, 2008, p. 181). Despite his efforts and of many that followed, white privilege has continued to be an integral feature of the culture of the USA to this date. White privilege is frequently reflected in the television programs, both overtly and otherwise. While the re are certain programs which overtly speak of white privilege, there are others which promote white privilege by under-representing it. One such program is the movie Crash that has won the Oscar award. Although apparently the story of Crash tends to reflect the issues and stereotypical images of people belonging to different races, white supremacy is not quite as much represented as it exists in the USA. The movie Crash has a very simple central theme; people belonging