Whiteness

In the article "Constructing Race, Constructing White Privilege," the author talks about whites assuming "white" as a racial identity based on different benefits at the time. Is there a value of "whitness" today? Explain your position.

When the author talked about whites assuming "white" based on the benefits of the time there was a whole paragraph if not more of privileges whites had over blacks. For example; more pain could be inflicted on blacks than on whites, whites alone could bear arms, whites alone had the right to self-defense. At that time, there were many benefits to being white, so this made obviously non-superior whites have a false sense of superiority over blacks.
I don't think this exists in society today if at all it's situational and locational, maybe in the deep south or something like that but not around here. I think any advantages or disadvantages in society today are less race related and probably more geared to wealth and status. It seems to me if one hundred black people from a poor area tried "making it" in society they would have a hard time probably more often for being poor than being black. That's what I mean by situational because say one of those hundred black people go to get a job and the manager is racist, he's probably not going to get the job, but I don't think its because of an overall white advantage in society, just a situation where race was involved. I'm not entirely sure if I'm contradicting myself by saying racism exists but white advantage doesn't but I am definitely sure that if there is any advantage at all it certainly isn't as strong as it was in the past.