White Privilege
It is not necessarily a privilege to be white, but it certainly has its benefits. That’s why so many families gave up their unique histories, primary languages, accents, distinctive dress, family names, and cultural expressions. Sometimes, giving these up was enforced by immigration officials in Canada, Britain, or the U.S. For some white people, giving these up seemed like a small price to pay for acceptance in the circle of whiteness. Even with these sacrifices, it wasn’t easy to pass as white if we were Italian, Greek, Irish, Jewish, Spanish, Hungarian or Polish. Sometimes it took generations before our families were fully accepted as white, and then it was usually because white society had an even greater fear of darker-skinned people.
Privileges - Privileges are the economic extras that those of us who are middle-class and wealthy gain at the expense of poor and working class people of all races.
Benefits - Benefits, on the other hand, are the advantages that all white people gain at the expense of Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour, regardless of economic position. Talking about racial benefits can ring false to those who don’t have the economic privileges that others in this society are enjoying. But even without having substantial economic privileges, white people do enjoy many of the benefits of being white.
Examples:
Classic article by Peggy McIntosh on Unpacking the Knapsack of White Privilege
White people can generally count on police protection rather than harassment. White people can be expected to be depicted as deserving sympathy within the media, even when being perpetrators of a crime. Depending on financial situation, white people can choose where to live and choose "safer" neighbourhoods with better schools. White people have been able to settle in Canada from all over the world, and never confined to reserves. White people don’t have to represent all white people, and nothing that white people do is judged as a credit to the entire racial group or as confirmation of its shortcomings or inferiority.
Further reading: