The following article is an opinion piece, consisting of the reactions of two staff members on The Blueprint regarding the events that occurred at Montgomery Blair High School earlier this month.

Simon says… 

On November 4th, flyers that read “It’s Okay To Be White” were found taped to the doors of Montgomery Blair high school. Unfortunately, this was not an isolated incident, and flyers like these have appeared in many colleges and high schools across the nation. Some may perceive these to just be a practical joke, designed to spark controversy amidst an era of insensitivity to minority culture. However, it’s the quiet minority that is the real threat. Biased senators and representatives who reflect the opinions of their racist constituents in many southern states are a prime example. The concept of ‘white privilege’ is a hotly debated topic among many, and while to some, it may seem like a scathing insult, it isn’t necessarily something to be ashamed of. According to Wikipedia, White privilege is “A term for societal privileges that benefit people identified as white in some countries as opposed to their non-white counterparts under the same social, political, or economic circumstances.

White privilege is an unconscious bias towards white people that society has developed over time. While its origins can be found in the historical systemic oppression of minorities, specifically people of color, this bias has faded into the subconscious of many people. As a minority myself, I can agree that we are subjected to many humiliating and unnecessary tasks to reassure the fragile Caucasian psyche, and are victim to judgement based off of how we look. Being checked repeatedly, and unnecessarily at the airport for example. Unfortunately, these judgement can even put us in harm’s way through no fault of our own. Many victims of police

The statement, “It’s Okay To Be White” isn’t meant to be taken at face value. If this was so, no one would have a problem with the phrase and it’s somewhat elementary meaning. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case. It’s sort of a ‘call-to-arms’, sparked by plethora of so-called disadvantages that some white people claim to suffer from today. From allegations of reverse racism, to ‘white shaming’, many say that they are being oppressed in modern society, and often compare this to the oppression that black people face in America. This is where the line needs to be drawn. In no way are these insignificant, first-world-problems that white people complain about today comparable to the ruthless and inhumane oppression that African Americans have had to endure for hundreds of years – which, by the way, still have lasting effects on today’s society. The historical systemic oppression of African Americans in this country subsequently led to almost the entire race being put at an economic and social disadvantage. Because of this, many African Americans were forced to live in poor communities, using whatever means necessary to make money in order to provide for their families. To make matters worse, the lack of adequate funding for public schools in these communities made it even harder for African Americans to go to college and get good-paying jobs. Thus continuing the cycle of poverty. Black men resort to selling drugs to make money, and end up in jail because. The same children that the parents were struggling to support, have to grow up without parental guidance, and fall into the same cycle of poverty, therefore furthering this seemingly never-ending cycle. Because of this, many people regard African Americans as naturally less intelligent than “normal” people while, in actuality, it is a result of the lack of education that blacks have which stems from the poverty that they’ve been forced into. This is why “reverse racism” and white “oppression” don’t exist. African Americans have never been in a position of power in this country thus, they’ve never had the power to actually oppress whites. Any joke that is made on twitter at the expense of whites are nothing more than jokes, and while some may be offensive and not always right to say, they aren’t anywhere close to white oppression.

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Carlos says… 

The idea of trying to instigate arguments between ethnic groups by using a statement meant cause controversy is truly sickening. Obviously, it is ok to be white, and no one ever said it wasn’t. And truth of the matter is that white people are not being oppressed. At all. Yes, we may be subjected to jokes about our culture and tendencies here and there, but in no way does that qualify as oppression, nor is it comparable to the injustices that African Americans and other minority groups in this country still face today. It would be a different if story if the rights of white people were being restricted in some way, but they are not. The only minor inconvenience that we face is being joked about or made fun of, which, admittedly, has become a normality in social media and modern culture. Regardless, the fact that white people can get mad about jokes about them after what people have done in the past to other groups is astonishing. Compared to what other ethnic groups have suffered because of white people, this is nothing.

I am white. I don’t deny it. I’m not ashamed of it. I’m ashamed of what we have done in the past. I’m ashamed of all the white people who can’t seem to move past stereotypes and see what the minority of our country have done for us. When I was young and in elementary school I went into the Spanish Immersion program. Although I was learning Spanish I wasn’t surrounded by Spanish people; mainly white people. Looking back now I can see what my opinions on other people were, and how they’ve changed from now. Back then black people were the minority and I had made these stereotypes for black people as a whole off of 3 or 4 people. After
I left that school it all changed, I started to meet friends that were just like me but of other races. My opinions changed from  them being uncool and unknown, to them being the cool kids and who I aspired to be like. I’ve never had to go through the challenges of being a minority or being discriminated against, but I can see the impact that they have on the lives of some of my friends. I will never be able to relate to any of it but I would like to think that I have learned a great deal about discrimination in today’s day and age just through having conversations with friends about what they have to deal with on a daily basis. Watching viral videos of young black kids – who could easily be one of my own friends- being abused and murdered by police on a daily basis, never fails to put me in a state of shock. But these claims of “modern day oppression” are completely absurd, and white people like myself should be more aware of the magnitude of that word, and understand that it doesn’t apply to us.