Experience of Racism and Cultural Privilege

This essay reflects upon the experience of racism, prejudice, and cultural privilege and how it has shaped and influenced the author's life. It discusses the Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of development, the effects of racism on victims, and the importance of speaking out against racism.

Running head: EXPERIENCE OF RACISM AND CULTURAL PRIVILEGE 1
Experience of racism and cultural privilege
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

EXPERIENCE OF RACISM AND CULTURAL PRIVILEGE 2
Experience of racism and cultural privilege
In this essay, I will be reflecting upon the experience I had on racial discrimination,
prejudice and cultural privilege and how it has shaped and influenced my life thereon. I have
come from a family of more than third generations of Australians. I am born and brought up in
Australia for the whole duration of my life. We have also slender ancestral link to German,
English and Irish heritage. On my father’s side, my great grandparents were from Germany and
my great, great grandparents on my mother’s side were from Ireland and England. My family
and I are all baptized Christians and we have been living in this country for more than a century.
My family and I are a believer in God but we don’t live our life in a strict religious
manner which means although being baptized Christians we are not regular to the church. I am a
strong believer of friends and family and my values revolve around my friends and family. I
have been in many difficult situations throughout my life and I have always had the loving
support of my friends and family in those difficult situations. I believe in destiny. To elaborate, I
believe that everyone has a purpose for their life and we all live through different experience
towards fulfilling that purpose. My family has always been very open about my cultural and
ancestral heritage and I have been aware of that from the very beginning of my life. I have
always got an answer to any questions I have about my culture or ancestry from my parents or
grandparents with a smile. My belief, values, and ethics are a clear consequence of my parents
and grandparents teaching. They have instilled the belief in me that every gender, race, culture,
religion, and creed has equal rights to live healthy prosperous lives. As a direct result of these, I
tend to live my life unbiased irrespective of race, culture, creed or religion.

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According to the Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of development, the psychological
tools and semiotic signs, which the individuals use to mediate development demonstrates their
social origins and cultural identities. Like the sign, systems use to structure the relationship
psychological mechanisms that reflect the values of the specific and unique culture and also the
ethos of the society, groups or community. For most of the indigenous groups and the
communities, the dance presentations or the traditional storytelling can become the priority in the
learning process and development rather than the symbolic representation. This is clear that the
informal forms of art and the oral presentations define and signify the values of the specific
culture and their related attributes. Thus, like the Bandura’s and the Bronfenbrenner’s theories,
Vygotsky also believes that the individual’s interpretation, perceptions and the view of the
external world can be transformed by the external influences (Phan, 2012). Considering the
theories this is found out that there exists a dialectic association between society and the
individuals. The interpretation places a weighing on the values, beliefs and the ideologies if the
culture and suggests that the situational placement of the individual in the communities and the
societies plays the great role in the internationalization process. In the classroom learning, the
student’s behavior, their thinking, their personal beliefs and the resources available, all combine
to motivate and enhance one’s learning regarding the acquisition of knowledge (Park, 2015).
To be completely honest, I did not face racism that was directed towards me nor had I
faced any significant barrier in my daily life or education. I went to a school with a mixed
cultural background. There were students of color as well as a student from various ethnicity
backgrounds such as native aboriginal Australian students. But, I did come to experience racism
in an indirect manner and I have experienced students from aboriginal or ethnic origin being
racially abused. For one instance, in high school, white students used to call names to the native

EXPERIENCE OF RACISM AND CULTURAL PRIVILEGE 4
aboriginal students or students from another ethnic background. I remember that white student
used to call ‘Abo’ to aboriginal students behind their back. Whenever heard that kind of
demeaning words being said, I used to protest and remind them that the behavior they are
showing is wrong. They tend to stop for the time being and started doing it again just for fun
even to the students they do not interact with based on their skin color. Outside of school,
aboriginal and other ethnic students have been singled out or denied to a particular establishment
just because they are aboriginal or belongs to the minority groups. I have faced experience where
aboriginal students denied a pub or nightclub amongst other students but were given vague
reasons like they were not dressed appropriately whereas other white Australian students were
allowed to enter without fuss.
I had an experience that changed my view of what being a minority like by walking to an
event along with my roommates. This event was planned to discuss many racially challenged
stories faced on our college campus and other campuses also. People present in that event shared
their stories about how they are discriminated against or they are looked up differently for their
race. I felt myself like an outsider over there during this. People shared their story one after
another of the situations where people had done something wrong to them or had said something,
which was hurtful to them. This was evident in this event that these things cannot be simply
forgotten about easily. The students those who have arranged these events, they wanted
everyone’s story to be heard so they gave the index cards for everybody to write down their
stories. During the event, they asked everyone to write down the story where you or your friends
have felt discriminated against for their race. After thinking hard about the question, I could not
come up with anything. When I look around the room I saw most of the people were busy in
writing except the white ones, they are doing the same thing like me that is scanning the room. I

EXPERIENCE OF RACISM AND CULTURAL PRIVILEGE 5
thought why everybody has something to write except me, this exercise showed me the
separation between what minorities has to go through and what the white people undergo. I and
the other white people, who have attended the event never, knew what was like to be
discriminated against. Every person of color had their story, where they are discriminated for
their race. This was a new experience for me and I felt a little weird in that situation. There was a
black student, who made a long funny speech on his experience and how he was fed up of the
white culture is the predominant culture in our college. He also described how all these becomes
a privilege for the white students. He made fun of how we listen to music, how we dance to
music at parties. He also poked fun of how we wear the clothing brands and at that point in his
speech, I suddenly realized that he was describing me. When I go out I listen to that music he
was talking about and even on that day I was wearing the same brand he was talking out. It
seemed to me that at every element what he was talking about and what he has considered as the
white culture, I took part in those. I understood that all he was doing to just vent out his
frustrations and also for a joke, then I also felt that he was targeting me personally. I felt
uncomfortable and felt attacked and also felt bad that he has associated me with all these stories
of racism. I felt like I would apologize then I thought it would be unfair to apologize for
something, which I have not done. He made all the judgments on my character based on my
looking’s but not on what I did. That is the time when I realized that black people face this issue
on campus all the time. This amazed me that being a part of the college, where I worked hard to
earn my spot; I felt that I did not belong. I began to ask myself that is this is the way the person
of color feels when they are discriminated against. For the time beings I felt awkward, attacked,
but I was very glad that I visited such event and this event made me realize that how it felt, to be
targeted by doing nothing. This event has opened my eyes to the effects of racism in our country.

EXPERIENCE OF RACISM AND CULTURAL PRIVILEGE 6
By experiencing these incidents, it became quite clear that racism is still very present in
modern Australia. Most of the non-white Australians have faced racism at some point in their
lives. Studies have shown that almost 70 percent of students have confronted racism in their
childhood, in school mostly (Priest et al., 2014). Studies also suggest that 1 out of 2 aboriginal
Australians have faced racism in sporting events ("Mental health impacts of racial discrimination
in Victorian Aboriginal communities", 2018). From this statistics, it can be inferred that racism
in Australia might not be very open but it is still present in a subtle way in both institutional and
systematic level. These experiences have made me much more conscious about the privileged
afforded to white Australians. To understand the privilege white people have been afforded
properly, researchers have discussed two terms elaborately: white privilege and white ignorance.
In general, privilege means opportunities and rights which have been extended to a certain group
of people. It also allows the notion that a particular group can be live life in a certain manner
while other groups are not extended the same allowance. In contrary, others academic have
argued that privilege can be defined that one group have all the advantages just because they
have born into that group, but did not earn their right. White people have these unjust privileges
to themselves even though they behave like they do not have these privileges. White ignorance
can be defined as a lack of knowledge of their perceived privilege. It does not matter whether it
is an innocent mistake or a deliberate act. Thus, it can be inferred that white privilege is a
socially constructed notion which benefitted a particular group but it did not perceive as a
privilege due to white ignorance (Torino, 2018). Racial discrimination has an adverse effect on
the victims. Research and studies have shown that racism has made the victim much more self-
conscious. To cite an example, we can provide the example of Australian actor and musician
Kamahl. Kamahl is a Malaysia born Australian with Sri Lankan heritage. According to his own

EXPERIENCE OF RACISM AND CULTURAL PRIVILEGE 7
words, racism has put him in a psychological trauma which he is still trying to escape. Racism
has made him feel inferior against other boys ("Five experiences with racism in Australia",
2018).
I had no such idea while growing up that my minority friends were experiencing the
unpleasant feeling all the time. I realized that my minority friends will continue to face this
racism throughout their lives so I decided that I had to make it the priority to change the way of
the people’s thinking. This was very important to call people out when they say something racist
even if it was not known to them it is very important. It is very unfair that the people have to go
through the life facing situations where they feel they do not belong there. I would like to join
and remain a part of the organization where the multiculturalism is practiced and shows respect
towards multiculturalism. This is important that the people speak out against the racism and need
to show the ignorant people about what the minorities are facing throughout their life.

EXPERIENCE OF RACISM AND CULTURAL PRIVILEGE 8
References
Five experiences with racism in Australia. (2018). Retrieved from
https://www.smh.com.au/national/five-experiences-with-racism-in-australia-20130530-
2neu9.html
Mental health impacts of racial discrimination in Victorian Aboriginal communities. (2018).
Retrieved from https://www.vichealth.vic.gov.au/media-and-resources/publications/
mental-health-impacts-of-racial-discrimination-in-victorian-aboriginal-communities
Park, H. (2015). Learning Identity A Sociocultural Perspective.
Phan, H. P. (2012). A Sociocultural Perspective of Learning: Developing a New Theoretical
Tenet. Australian Association for Research in Education (NJ1).
Priest, N., Perry, R., Ferdinand, A., Paradies, Y., & Kelaher, M. (2014). Experiences of racism,
racial/ethnic attitudes, motivated fairness and mental health outcomes among primary and
secondary school students. Journal of youth and adolescence, 43(10), 1672-1687.
Torino, G. C. (2018). Examining biases and white privilege: Classroom teaching strategies that
promote cultural competence. In Whiteness and White Privilege in Psychotherapy (pp.
129-141). Routledge.