It's as predictable as the sun rising. Someone writes a diary about white privilege and the complaints and denials start flying. Of all of the ones I see the one that I'm the most tired of reading is, "But I don't get anything from white privilege!"
"Yes you do."
There is a cognitive problem in discussing privilege because it comes in two distinct forms -- group and individual. When talking about the privilege of the group people think their individual experience confirms or disproves that privilege. But that's not actually correct. Let's take a somewhat contrived example:
"I'm a poor, left-handed, one-legged, blind, transgendered, atheist woman who just immigrated from Estonia! I don't have any privilege!"
Actually you still have white privilege, you might not realize it but you do. Remember, it's not about you, it's about how blacks in this country are treated -- or more correctly -- how they are mistreated. Sure, you might not experience any obvious benefits from being white but you're not receiving the negatives of being black.
I know I'm still not getting thru to many of you so let me try explaining it with a sports metaphor.
A white player steps up to the plate in the baseball game of life, the pitch is thrown, and...
Swing and a miss!
"Strike one!" calls the umpire.
Next pitch.. foul tip
"Strike two!" calls the umpire.
And another pitch... swing and a miss!
"Strike three! You're out!"
Now a black man comes to the plate in our metaphorical game, the first pitch is thrown, and...
"Strike three! You're out!" calls the umpire.
That's white privilege in action. It's not so much that you get something it's that you don't have something taken away. The sense of basic fairness that you think everyone should have is take from blacks and other people of color everyday in hundreds of ways. Some subtle, some gross, but that taking is, and always has, been there.
No matter how many subgroups you belong to as long as you're white (or accepted as white) you won't have the disadvantage of being black. It's really that simple. Yeah, you don't get a free toaster, or a car, or a place to live. But while you may not get anything you don't have something taken away from you just by simply existing.
Now I'm sure someone will point out that being gay or severely disabled or a non-English speaker or whatever is actually worse than being black. That's missing the point entirely. It's not that being black is somehow the worst thing ever. It's that so much of our society imposes a cost for it that you as a white person will never have to pay that you do have an advantage, a privilege. And just because you don't see it doesn't mean that it somehow doesn't exist.