U. of Arizona Prof: Replace Concept of 'White Privilege' with 'White Immunity'

A professor from the University of Arizona argued last week that the term “white privilege” should be replaced with the term “white immunity.”  The term was created to suggest that white Americans are “immune” to poor treatment by society.

According to a report by The College Fix, Professor Nolan Cabrera of the University of Arizona thinks that the term “white privilege” is outdated. Cabrera claims that his new term, “white immunity,” solves all of the issues academics have with the concept of “white privilege.”

Cabrera spoke on Thursday at Iowa State University about “white immunity.” Cabrera lectured about an academic journal article published in 2017 in which he introduced the concept of “white immunity.”

Thus, it is not as much that Whites are raised (or privileged) by racism, but rather, that People of Color are precluded from equitable treatment. It is for this reason that comedian Paul Mooney continually refers to Whiteness as “the complexion of protection for the collection.” Therefore, I argue that racial justice educators should start using “White immunity” to more accurately engage and describe what has been known as White privilege.

Cabrera argued that “white immunity” is a better term than “white privilege” because it accurately reflects the ways in which white Americans are allegedly shielded from disparate treatment.

White immunity means that People of Color have not historically, and are not contemporarily, guaranteed their rights, justice, and equitable social treatment; however, White people are because they have protection from this disparate treatment. While White immunity can be interpreted as an individual experience (e.g., “I have immunity”), I believe it is important to understand the history that has led to this contemporary reality. As Paulo Freire reminds, “Looking at the past must only be a means of understanding more clearly what and who [we] are so that [we] can more wisely build the future.”

Breitbart News reported in October 2017 that a teaching assistant at the University of Pennsylvania had bragged about calling on minority students first in the classroom. Cabrera defended the UPenn teaching assistant at the time, arguing that “it’s very common for people of privileged social identities to dominate conversations” in the classroom.

Stay tuned to Breitbart News for more updates on this story.