White Privilege In 'White Like Me' By Thomas Wise

In “White Like Me,” Thomas Wise discusses the many ways White privilege influences other race’s, from a White male’s perspective. Three of the most interesting point relate to the of “white supremacy” and how the common white citizens unknowingly uses their powers. He expresses the belief that Whites should “guard their white privilege” because the United States, as a capitalist society, honors the majority. Another point he makes is that Whites are able to escape the blame for their unjust actions, whereas people of color would be slaughtered in the media for such things. An impactful example he uses is terrorism. In Oklahoma there were two white terrorists who bombed a government building, killing many. This horrific action was headlined
in the news and their race was not mentioned in anyway. Comparatively, when Muslim terrorists bombed the Pentagon, another federal building, their horrific acts were all associated with their race.
Like with the comparison of the impacts of race, Taylor Swift’s music video shows that, as a white female, she is able to get away with offensive material without her race being mentioned as a factor. In Swift’s popular music video “Shake It Off” she uses many urban trend references such as twerking, a dance move where the buttocks is glorified, and breakdancing, a staple dance style historically affiliated with urban expressionism. As this video gained popularity, it was accepted that Swift was trying to include culture into her music video and she was just using the performers to compare her “awkward” self to them. However, she went about this in a more shameful than appreciative way. Her ability to pass off ridiculing another culture can be solely credited to her white privilege. The media has already decided what race is able to cross which boundaries and not be caught.
Another argument to consider in terms of both case studies is Wise’s “guarding your White privilege” point. Taylor Swift seems to be oblivious to the shaming of Blacks in her music video and is wrongful for doing so. Just because she include performers of color in her video, does not mean that she is portraying them in a flattering way. Additionally, by including these “Black scenes” in her video, she shows her ignorance towards the actual appreciation of Black culture.