White Privilege Quotes

“Race doesn't really exist for you because it has never been a barrier. Black folks don't have that choice.”
― Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Americanah

“White privilege is an absence of the consequences of racism. An absence of structural discrimination, an absence of your race being viewed as a problem first and foremost.”
― Reni Eddo-Lodge, Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race

“To be white, or straight, or male, or middle class is to be simultaneously ubiquitious and invisible. You’re everywhere you look, you’re the standard against which everyone else is measured. You’re like water, like air. People will tell you they went to see a “woman doctor” or they will say they went to see “the doctor.” People will tell you they have a “gay colleague” or they’ll tell you about a colleague. A white person will be happy to tell you about a “Black friend,” but when that same person simply mentions a “friend,” everyone will assume the person is white. Any college course that doesn’t have the word “woman” or “gay” or “minority” in its title is a course about men, heterosexuals, and white people. But we call those courses “literature,” “history” or “political science.”

This invisibility is political.”
― Michael S. Kimmel, Privilege: A Reader

“You have to get over the fear of facing the worst in yourself. You should instead fear unexamined racism. Fear the thought that right now, you could be contributing to the oppression of others and you don't know it. But do not fear those who bring that oppression to light. Do not fear the opportunity to do better.”
― Ijeoma Oluo, So You Want to Talk About Race

“Our police force was not created to serve black Americans; it was created to police black Americans and serve white Americans.”
― Ijeoma Oluo, So You Want to Talk About Race

“The world does not need white people to civilize others. The real White People's Burden is to civilize ourselves.”
― Robert Jensen, The Heart of Whiteness: Confronting Race, Racism, and White Privilege

“When you have only ever experienced privilege, equality feels like oppression.”
― Adam Rutherford, How to Argue With a Racist: History, Science, Race and Reality

“What if, ladies and gentlemen, today I told you that anyone here who was born on a Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday was free to leave right now? Also, they'd be given the most central parking spots in the city, and the biggest houses. They would get job interviews before others who were born later in the week, and they'd be taken first at the doctor's office, no matter how many patients were waiting in line. If you were born from Thursday to Sunday, you might try to catch up – but because you were straggling behind, the press would always point to how inefficient you are. And if you complained, you'd be dismissed for playing the birth-day card.” I shrug. “Seems silly, right? But what if on top of these arbitrary systems that inhibited your chances for success, everyone kept telling you that things were actually pretty equal?”
― Jodi Picoult, Small Great Things

“Take a little thought experiment. Imagine all the rampage school shooters in Littleton, Colorado; Pearl, Mississippi; Paducah, Kentucky; Springfield, Oregon; and Jonesboro, Arkansas; now imagine they were black girls from poor families who lived instead in Chicago, New Haven, Newark, Philadelphia, or Providence. Can you picture the national debate, the headlines, the hand-wringing? There is no doubt we’d be having a national debate about inner-city poor black girls. The entire focus would be on race, class, and gender. The media would doubtless invent a new term for their behavior, as with wilding two decades ago. We’d hear about the culture of poverty, about how living in the city breeds crime and violence. We’d hear some pundits proclaim some putative natural tendency among blacks toward violence. Someone would likely even blame feminism for causing girls to become violent in a vain imitation of boys.

Yet the obvious fact that virtually all the rampage school shooters were middle-class white boys barely broke a ripple in the torrent of public discussion. This uniformity cut across all other differences among the shooters: some came from intact families, others from single-parent homes; some boys had acted violently in the past, and others were quiet and unassuming; some boys also expressed rage at their parents (two killed their parents the same morning), and others seemed to live in happy families.”
― Michael S. Kimmel, Angry White Men: American Masculinity at the End of an Era

“You're a Black educated fool, son. These white folk have newspapers, magazines, radios, spokesmen to get their ideas across. If they want to tell the world a lie, they can tell it so well that it becomes the truth; and if I tell them you're lying, they'll tell the world even if you prove you're telling the truth. Because it's the kind of lie they want to hear.”
― Ralph Ellison

“Paul jumped, unable to hide his surprise. Then he grinned and said, "Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. For a Chinese woman, your English is extraordinary. There is not a trace of an accent to be found."
"I have an American accent," she replied dully.
Paul waved her off. "You know what I mean."
Do I? she wanted to say. Would I be less if I sounded like my mother, my father, and all those in this city who were forced to learn more than one language, unlike you?”
― Chloe Gong, These Violent Delights

“Heterosexual choice is allowed to be the background of a writer’s life; its wallpaper. So is maleness. And whiteness. Step out of that and you will be called a feminist writer, a lesbian writer, a gay writer, a woman writer. A black writer. You will never be called a heterosexual writer or a male writer or a white writer. Those signifiers are absorbed into the single word ‘writer’.”
― Jeanette Winterson, Love

“In June 2020 they post a black square and from then on, they post frolicky Black women in the company's cottage core aesthetic and say they acknowledge they have to do better.”
― Sheena Patel, I'm a Fan

“This part of the city used to be cool because it wasn't but then it was forced to be a different of cool. A pricey. I think they call that gentrification.”
― Priya Guns, Your Driver Is Waiting

“It’s not about feeling guilty, it’s about feeling human.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Visvavatan: 100 Demilitarization Sonnets

“By hiding behind the overarching term “white privilege,” the small percentage of privileged whites have ensured the following: first, they remain disguised behind the veil of whiteness and thus maintain the status quo. Second, they ensure that most marginalized white people remain defensive—and come to their defense—whenever their wealth and power are threatened. Third, through the structure of “whiteness,” privileged whites ensure that a large percentage of disadvantaged white people see other groups fighting against similar socio-economic ills as enemies, not allies to unite with in their battle. As such, the first bold proposal I make, if we are serious about social change, is to replace “white privilege” with “privileged whites” to account for the many whites who are not privileged and distinguish them from those who are. The huge number of disadvantaged white people are allies in this battle against the privileged, wealthy ruling class who utilize countless “isms” and “phobias” as sorting devices, while using the term “white privilege” as a tool to prevent any potential allyship between many white people who are not part of their club, yet are misled to think that the problem is everyone else in society except the privileged whites…Precision in language makes a huge difference to ensure all social groups who need to unite and work together have clarity on what kind of changes are needed, and who exactly is blocking change and transformation.
[From "Understanding the DEI Dismantlement” published on Counterpunch on January 31, 2025]”
― Louis Yako

“Whitepeople believed that whatever the manners, under every dark skin was a jungle. Swift unnavigable waters, swinging screaming baboons, sleeping snakes, red gums ready for their sweet white blood. In a way, he thought, they were right. The more coloredpeople spent their strength trying to convince them how gentle they were, how clever and loving, how human, the more they used themselves up to persuade whites of something N****** believed could not be questioned, the deeper and more tangled the jungle grew inside. But it wasn't the jungle blacks brought with them to this place from the other (livable) place. It was the jungle whitefolks planted in them. And it grew. It spread. In, through and after life, it spread, until it invaded the whites who had made it. Touched them every one. Changed and altered them. Made them bloody, silly, worse than even they wanted to be, so scared were they of the jungle they had made. The screaming baboon lived under their own white skin; the red gums were their own.”
― Toni Morrison, Beloved

“White supremacy means that the further away one is from whiteness, the less privileges they have.”
― Hannah Summerhill, Real Friends Talk About Race: Bridging the Gaps Through Uncomfortable Conversations

“Churchill and Columbus belong in the jungle, loudmouth karens belong in mental institution.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Iftar-e Insaniyat: The First Supper

“Letter from The Mountaintop (Sonnet 2252)

Cosmos is colored,
all color is kin.
Scarlight makes the mind,
sunlight makes the skin.

Life is nonbinary,
existence is nonbiblical.
When 'sacred' is anagram for 'scared',
to sin is our Earth Gospel.

Churchill and Columbus belong in the jungle,
loudmouth karens belong in mental institution.
Those who've been to the mountaintop,
grow too human for the dunghills of dogma.

Here at the mountaintop, we're just humans -
no black, no white, no believer, nonbeliever -
here at the mountaintop, we're each other's keeper.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Iftar-e Insaniyat: The First Supper

“What is the refundable option on Expedia?
Expedia’s refundable option gives you flexibility in case your travel plans change. If your booking is marked “Fully Refundable” or has free cancellation, you can cancel within the allowed time—often within 24 hours of booking or up to 48 hours before check‑in—and get your money back. Refunds go to the original payment method. If you're unsure whether your booking qualifies, or need help canceling, just call Expedia at +1‑877‑254‑9014 or 52 800‑953‑0857 and they’ll guide you through it.

How do I make a claim with Expedia?
If you need to make a claim with Expedia, just call their customer service at +1 877‑254‑9014 (in the U.S.) or +52 800‑953‑0857 (in Mexico), or go through their website or app “Help” or “Contact Us” section. Explain what went wrong and share your booking details. If the representative can’t fix it, ask to speak with a supervisor or escalate the issue (via social media or filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau). Easy, straightforward, and clear.”
― SDH Publishing

“Educating White People (Sonnet 2272)

The average colored person is ten times
smarter, wiser, braver, and stronger,
than most white people, not because
we are genetically superior,

but because, when an entire planet
is rigged in favor of white colonials
over the black, the brown, the latino,
arab, indian, chinese, turk, and what not,
we have to be exceptional to survive.

White people can be mediocre,
and still respected, glorified even,
but rest of us have to be Ramanujans,
Rumis, Naskars, just to be regarded as human.

Most of the world's geniuses are non-whites,
not because it's genetic, but because, like
white people inherit blonde hair and blue eyes,
or daddy's emeralds, we inherit generational
persecution, and any brain forced to endure
persecution as daily chore, becomes a powerhouse
of apparently supernatural mental faculties.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Iftar-e Insaniyat: The First Supper

“The average colored person is ten times smarter, wiser, braver, and stronger, than most white people, not because we are genetically superior, but because, when an entire planet is rigged in favor of white colonials over the black, the brown, the latino, arab, indian, chinese, turk, and what not, we have to be exceptional to survive.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Iftar-e Insaniyat: The First Supper

“White people can be mediocre, and still respected, glorified even, but rest of us have to be Ramanujans, Rumis, Naskars, just to be regarded as human.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Iftar-e Insaniyat: The First Supper

“Most of the world's geniuses are non-whites, not because it's genetic, but because, like white people inherit blonde hair and blue eyes, or daddy's emeralds, we inherit generational persecution, and any brain forced to endure persecution as daily chore, becomes a powerhouse of apparently supernatural mental faculties.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Iftar-e Insaniyat: The First Supper

“When I use the term colonizer, I refer only to those who take pride in colonial exploits, and not to those accountable human beings who happen to descend from colonial ancestors. Colonialism is the enemy, it has nothing to do with skin or ancestry. As long as you stand true on ethics of equality and mettle of character, rather than boasting pedigree and archaic tradition, you are a champion of humanity, no matter your ethnicity, ancestry, profession or status.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Brit Actually: Nursery Rhymes of Reparations

“We cannot abolish systemic persecution without dismantling systemic privilege.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Iftar-e Insaniyat: The First Supper

“You know how the dinosaurs went extinct - they committed suicide when they saw the white man coming. They said to themselves, clearly white men are the apex predator of earth, so there's no point of us being!

Asteroids wiped out the dinosaurs, caucasteroids wiped out civilizations. Colonialism was a mass extinction event, yet no textbook has the spine to bear the burden.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Kral Fakir: When Calls The Kainat

“When Whiteness Collapses (Sonnet)

When the whites benefit from privilege,
it's part and parcel of colonial heritage,
but when a giant rises from the marginals,
it eclipses the shallow heights of whiteness.

I'm colored, I'm scientist,
I'm poet, I'm polyglot -
coming from zero money,
I won the world with words.

Try and get your puny white brains
around this existence enigma -
compile your white canons of a century,
and they turn bleak next to just one year
of multicultural, multidisciplinary Naskar.

I never grovelled to be included,
I let my vastness out,
and the world queues for my grace.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Kral Fakir: When Calls The Kainat

“I'm colored, I'm scientist, I'm poet, I'm polyglot - coming from zero money, I won the world with words. Try and get your puny white brains around this existence enigma.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Kral Fakir: When Calls The Kainat