n Boston University College Republicans and other supporters of their “whites-only” scholarship (“BU group offers white scholarship,” Nov. 21, p. 1) argue that they are helping to combat an unfair advantage given to nonwhites by affirmative action policies.

In fact, they are adding to a long list of unfair advantages that most white people don’t even realize they have.

Even if you control the fact that white people, on average, come from wealthier families, live in safer neighborhoods and get a better education from preschool through high school, there are numerous intangible benefits that white people earn simply by having the right skin color.

Such benefits include: 1) Having positive role models presented to you in newspapers, TV and movies; 2) Having teachers, police officers and employers assume you are a good person unless you have proven otherwise; 3) Having your race’s history taught in your kindergarten through 12th grade classes; 4) Knowing that, in almost any store, you can find products aimed at people of your culture, advertisements featuring people of your color and a manager of your color.

These are just a few examples of the array of benefits known as “white privileges.” Most white people do not think about them much, and many will actively deny their existence. But they are the reason why affirmative action programs are necessary. The white-only scholarship adds one more bead onto a scale that is already tilted heavily in the whites’ direction.

Don’t believe me? Take the Blue Line to East Boston High School and talk to some of the students about race. You will get some very interesting answers. How do I know? I taught there.

Ben Allen

Graduate Student ’10