How many times have you felt degraded and thought less of because of your race, gender or anything else? Or maybe you have felt you were especially picked out and elevated among your equally competent peers or colleagues for the same reasons. These forms of oppression and privilege are now a daily demonstrated problem. Over the course of history, the human race has organized different types of people into groups based on race, gender, social class, physical ability, sexual preference, and age. Some people are privileged, some are oppressed. There are many different reasons and origins to why certain people are oppressed, and many ways they use or abuse their power. They can also use their power to liberate those who are oppressed. But what do these words mean? To be privileged means to have special rights, advantages and immunities. Oppression has been defined as an institutionalised power that is historically formed and perpetuated overtime. Oppression allows specific groups of people to assume a dominant position and possibly control other groups of people. There are some big questions; Why do some people have privilege, and why are some people oppressed? What are the different ways privileged people abuse their power? And how can they use their power to help the oppressed?
The most avoided question is the question of who has privilege and why. Oppression has been built into our society since the basic life of the human race, with people being grouped in how much production in agriculture or building they could accomplish. When the human race was developing as a species, a person only had value if they could help the community survive. As said in the article, The Nature and Origins of Oppression, “...all of the physically able members of such societies had to participate in securing the basic necessities of life. Whatever divisions occurred within these groups was mainly based upon sex, age, and individual physical and social abilities.” This developed the bias against age, ability, gender and sickness. This development of our society from the beginning is why young people are more ‘valued’ than older people, women are less included than men and healthy/able bodied people are respected while sick people are discarded. The beginning of oppression also dates back to ancient civilizations such as Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. Slavery was popular in ancient times, and there were many laws in the Code of Hammurabi, an ancient Babylonian law code. One law specifically states that a slave owner can give away a slave for forced labor, and the slave can be mistreated with no objections raised. Many laws like this have been used in the past in Ancient civilizations. Slavery has also continued into more modern times. As is well known, in 1619 until 1865 there was slavery in America. That violent discrimination continued without end for almost 250 years. Even though slavery was just the start of discrimination against races, it wasn’t the end. Even now, living in a modern-day democracy, with almost equal opportunities for men and women of different races and medicine to care for the sick, these biases should be discarded and everyone respected as if they were the same stature. However, this is not the case.

There are many privileged people in today's society that abuse their power. There are many different ways they use their privilege for their own benefit. It is often easier to focus on how people are oppressed, disadvantaged and discriminated against than it is to address how we as individuals may have privileges, and as a result are able to exercise our power at the expense of others. For example, white supremacy has been majorly disregarded in our lives, even though it is a deep-rooted problem in our country. This issue derives from the past due to European colonization and where slavery fully began to emerge. European slave-owners exercised this privilege over slaves, separating families and dehumanizing people just because they were not privileged. It is not very observed or called out in our society, but white people still have major dominance over ‘minorities’. One example is the ongoing police brutality controversy. Most of the unreasonable shootings of minors and oppressed people are done by privileged white police officers. This is not supporting the untruth that all white police officers are dangerous or more likely to shoot people, but this has been a repetitive problem, taking up the news stories almost every week. In the article, ...White Privilege Protects White People… the shocking truth is told of the horrific deaths, stating “Too many Black and Brown people are not safe with the police. Not even if you are child… Not even if you are seeking medical help… Not even if you [need] help with your mentally ill son… Not even if your back is turned… not even if you ‘can’t breathe’... not even if you have your hands up… not even if you are ‘safe’ (or plead for help) in custody” In the quote, some people that were oppressed and shot by police officers abusing their privilege were listed. The country has been seeing these people on the news, like Michael Brown and Freddie Gray, and not doing anything about it. This list circulates news sources, being touched upon and added to, and it continues to grow steadily. This list of people needn’t be so long if it weren’t for the fact of privileged people abusing their power.

There are ways that powerful and privileged people can assist and raise awareness to this horrible oppression happening in our country. For example, the William R. Butler Center for Service and Leadership Development sponsored a multimedia presentation called the Tunnel of Oppression which raises awareness for the problems of the environment, mental health, LGBTQ+, racism, misogyny, human trafficking, immigration and religion. Including different points on oppression and societal problems, this is a great example of how popular or privileged people can raise awareness and help the oppressed in our country get help. This form of awareness can also help privileged people realize that they are a key part in liberating people from all forms of oppression. An example of accepting your privilege instead of ignoring it is in the article Towards a Radical White Identity. In the article, Susan B. Goldberg and Cameron Levin observe that to eradicate oppression and racism in our country, we, as a country, need to stop accepting it as a given part of our society. They specifically note that white and privileged people need to work to be accepting of the oppressed, and to help them to make our country united. There are many ways people can help notify the public about this issue. Like an intelligent student-run website that observes, “While 79 percent of the white men in Baltimore are working, only 59 percent of black men are in the workforce.” However, not many of these examples are highly publicized. In the major news sources like the New York Times, they only cover the news story, but don’t really delve that much deeper into the subject to educate people about oppression in the United States. However, there are some sources that educate people about oppression and privilege. Things like protests, special news coverage, articles and documentaries can help aware people to this massive problem in the subconscious of our society.

The oppression of certain groups of people and natural privilege is a very problematic issue in our country. It has been a problem for an unsettling amount of time that has come from the depths of history. There are many different ways people are oppressed and many ways others are privileged. Nonetheless, this problem can be stopped by a simple solution. Everyone must be educated on who has power, privilege and oppression, how some abuse it. If we do this, it is inevitable that everyone can help to build a better and safer environment for all races, genders, ethnicities, abilities and sexual preferences. Overall, to be accepting and empathetic, everyone needs to be regarded as equals, all made from the same mold, all with the same color blood in our veins, not separate or divided but equal and united.