When Taylor is by herself, she isn't followed in stores, refused service or hassled. She's welcomed by white people. It's their exclusive American Express to preferential treatment. Alisa Lange, a black woman, says some of that invisible privilege washes onto her when she's with her white husband. It's an ease and comfort in conversations and kindness that she's not afforded when she's alone or when she was married to her first husband, who was black.
White privilege is the mother of all affirmative action.
That preference supersedes today's endangered programs, which try to level the playing field for minorities. David K. Shipler, in his book A Country of Strangers, includes an exercise from Queens College political science Professor Andrew Hacker. Hacker tells white students that at midnight they'll become black and remain that way for 50 years. Taylor feels white privilege when she uses her checkbook or her husband's on purchases. It would be unthinkable for him to use my checkbook.