Saying “white people are privileged” isn’t a judgement though, it is a perceived description of reality. And because of “racism” (the idea that humanity can be separated into different “races” based on characteristics such as skin color), if society places you in the “white people” category, you will be treated differently than if you are placed into the “non-white category”.

To name a specific and concrete example, if you happen to get classified as “white”, you will not be racially profiled and searched by police simply because of your racial classification. In this specific case, white people have the privilege of not having to deal with that issue.

Where the idea of white privilege falls short is that it implies that “white people” are always more privileged and/or better off than “black people” in every way, which is obviously not true. In reality, your perceived class identity is much more important when it comes to how you are probably going to be treated by society.

The issue is that oftentimes, race is used to judge someone’s class status. A black person is more likely to be classified as “poor”. However, when you are “white”, but you look like a homeless person, you will probably be treated in a similar way.