White privilege is described by Johnson in detail as the process by which he used to acquire wealth. The British struggled to conquer Ireland and subjugate Irish people just because their skin was not white. The British felt that people in Ireland were inferior and savage people due to their nature as human beings. The British took the Irish as a separate species possessing common traits that were biologically inherited.
By not seeing the Irish as people like them, the British saw them as objects to be controlled by any means, not as humans with feelings and in need of empathy. Therefore, the British believed that it was reasonable and correct to assert control by using force to acquire any land they might choose to establish themselves. Such behavior was based on the idea of race and view of themselves as people worthy of dominating any land.
An example of white fragility experienced in America is whereby white Americans take black Americans as evil people. Black Americans are profiled as drug suspects, abusers, and perpetrators of crimes such as robbery in the United States. In the case of crime in America, the black Americans are key suspects thus first approached for interrogation. This causes fear, hence the reason behind staying in the group for their safety against mitigations.
The interesting thing in DiAngelo’s reading is that many people internalize racial belonging and they start taking it for granted. In a dominant society, interruption of racial belonging is rare and thus destabilizing and frightening to whites.
An example of structural racism was gender discrimination, whereby an Indian woman who married a non-Indian man was regarded as a non-status woman. Without legal status, women were not allowed to participate in ceremonies. This impacted Aboriginal women by making them feel rejected and discriminated against by their families. Another form of structural racism was compulsory residential schools going to children aged from 16 down to 7 years. This practice was disregarded in school locations and led to health problems for indigenous children. In addition, there were bans on religious ceremonies, which led to a diminishing of Indigenous spiritual practices.