With college application season upon us, students channel their frustration at the perceived roots of their strife. Recently, Affirmative Action has become one for some white students who feel cheated by the system because it grants students of color with below par scores entry while depriving a deserving white student the spot.

Only that’s not quite the case. Some white people need to recognize that because they are white, they benefit from white privilege; they do not suffer from white oppression.

While white people may face oppression, it is not because of their race. Instead, they may face oppression due to weight, sexual orientation, gender, socioeconomic class, religion or a host of other things, but there is not systematic oppression against white people due to their race.

Affirmative Action is not oppression of whites. It is an attempt to bridge the serious socioeconomic gaps that tend to fall on racial lines. Though students whose scores may not fall in the usual range are accepted by certain schools, SAT scores correlate strongly with socioeconomic class, and the decision to admit the student is not solely based on race. The Grutter v. Bollinger Supreme Court case ruled that race may be a factor in a university’s admissions process, but it cannot be the only factor.

Not all minorities are impoverished or underprivileged, and not all Caucasians are wealthy and over-privileged. However, members of racial and ethnic minorities are more likely than Caucasians to live in poverty, and attend high-poverty schools.

Not only that, but schools filled with impoverished students do not tend to give students the same opportunities that schools in wealthier areas offer, making it difficult for even high-achieving and ambitious students attending less affluent schools to compete. Even if they succeed, they are met with a significant income gap and social gap that holds them back.

The media presents white people as the standard of beauty and perfection in modern, western society. Meanwhile, they are much more eager to portray people of color as thugs and criminals because people of color do not fit their standard, and they crave any evidence that proves that people of color are inferior.

There are exceptions, of course. Professional athletes of color are excused all the time for misdemeanors and crimes. However, men of color are often seen as more threatening when walking on the street, and one of the only ways for them to reassure people that they mean no harm is for them to dress according to the demands of modern, western, white society.

We are taught to make judgments and assumptions of people based on their external appearance, and for many people of color, these judgments are harmful stereotypes that have become so integrated into our culture that they creep into our thoughts without our notice.

These stereotypes teach us about violent black men, sexy Latinas, nerdy Asians and so much more. Even those who deny believing these stereotypes and know that this is wrong can easily conjure up these images in their minds. Why? Because these images are so pervasive in our culture–in media, in literature, in daily conversations.

The media and society prefer stereotypes of people of color, especially when people of color refuse to assimilate completely into the white, western norm. The differences are exaggerated and reinforce a harmful ignorance of complicated cultures that limits people of color in ways that whites do not experience. People of color have identities. They do not exist to be white people’s caricatures.

As two Asian girls, when we first walk into the classroom, we’re seen as quiet, intense, high achieving and hard working. Though many see these as positive traits and compliments, they aren’t. They’re constraining and unjust.

We are pushed harder yet expected to stay unaffected by stress. “I know you can do better” has been pounded into our minds, but when our best meets the teacher’s standard, it’s dismissed by our peers because we’re Asian. When we stress about school, we’re ridiculed, yet “I know you can do better” still rings in our minds. Stereotypes don’t exist in vacuums; they exist in cycles, and the longer the cycle is allowed to exist, the more difficult it becomes to end.

That’s not to say that there aren’t stereotypes regarding white people. “White basic girl” and “cracker” are just some, and there are plenty of jokes about Starbucks and white athletic socks that poke fun at stereotypical aspects of western white culture, especially in America.

While stereotypical comments should not be made at all because of our diversity and complex nature, there are three things that separate these “white” comments from stereotypes against people of color.

Firstly, these jokes are not reinforcing years of racism and oppression because there is no such thing to reinforce for white people. Meanwhile, jokes about people of color point out how they are not white and do not fit into western, white culture, and they create a dangerous us versus them dichotomy that teaches hatred.

Secondly, while they are assuming, they are not limiting; a white person can still be anything he or she wants to be with a Starbucks drink in hand. A white person can wear whatever he or she desires without worrying about being viewed as dangerous. These jokes point out white privilege; they do not create white oppression.

Thirdly, these jokes can be aimed at people of color, and when they are, it means that an individual is acting like a modern, western white person, which is a societal norm. Just that white, western culture is the norm is another piece of evidence that white people are not being oppressed.

Whites may be becoming a minority, but being a minority does not equate to being oppressed. The dictionary definition of oppression is “prolonged cruel or unjust treatment or control.” While there is a very visible version of oppression that has been seen in the form of slavery, internment camps and genocide, whites misconstrue oppression of people of color as being gone in the modern world when it has simply evolved.

Today, racial oppression is the wage gap. It is the stigmas and the stereotypes and the under-representation and misrepresentation in media, literature, and wider society.

Stay conscious of stereotypes and avoid falling prey to them when interacting with others. Be aware and active because the sooner people can recognize privilege, the sooner society can make true steps towards egalitarianism.