On privilege

[lightcastle]

A comment or two on white privilege came up during the Grand Anonymous Thread O'Doom back at the beginning of February, and provoked one of the better explanations of the concept I've read in a while. I had hoped the poster would identify themselves, but sadly they haven't, so I am simply reproducing it here.

Hopefully this will clear up what the concept is for many people, since I know it is one that provokes strong reactions.



It started with an all-too-typical response to the suggestion people think about their privilege.

this is going to sound horribly argumentative, but i'm going to say it anyway.

why should i? if i'm living my life purposefully, and treating people right, why should i spend my precious time and energy thinking about a mental construct dreamed up by people who have significant negative energy invested in trying to make me feel like an asshole and a prejudiced jerk -- just because i happened to be born white?

i understand that there *is* white privilege, but instead of spending my days angsting about it and perpetually apologizing to every non-white person i meet, how about i get on with the business of living my life purposefully and treating people humanely and well?

That produced a lot of angry replies, and then this gem.

>> just because i happened to be born white?

Just because you happened to be born white - which was not your choice, just your luck - you were given some extra power over others around here, even though you didn't ask for it. What you were not given, simply for being born white, is an awareness of what this power is, how it works, and all the different ways and places that you might see it. If you never expend mental energy trying to learn about it, it's invisible, and even if you do put some of your time and thought into learning about it, some of it will still be invisible or hard to see.

So, just because you happened to be born white - which was not your choice - you may innocently, accidentally, yet frequently, throw this power around in ways that hurt other people who you never intended to hurt. And you won't know it.

This has nothing to do with whether you're an asshole or not, or feel like one. It has little to do with how prejudiced you are or aren't. And it's not merely a "mental construct", it's part of the real world - though more if think of it as merely a "mental construct dreamed up by ..." that implies that you don't see it acting in the real world, and throwing obstacles in other people's way, and hurting people. Not seeing it doesn't make you a prejudiced jerk, and that's beside the point - it's still real and your not seeing it is still a problem, even if you have no bad intent.

One thing you *can* do is try to learn more about it, because the more you know about your own privilege, the more likely you are to avoid throwing your power (yes, yes, you didn't ask for that power, and it's not your fault you have it) around in ways that obstruct or hurt people without intending to. Often at no cost at all to yourself. Sometimes at a small cost to yourself - but enough of a cost that you'd never have changed the way you do something if you didn't know there was a possible cost to someone else from you not changing it.

Another thing you *can* do is realize that since you can't actually give up your privilege even if you learn a lot about it, and giving it up may not be the right thing to do even if it were possible, and that even if you learn about it you still can't always see it and still will occasionally hurt or obstruct people unintentionally in ways that you wouldn't have done if you weren't white... realizing all that, you can decide that you actually do have a responsibility to spend *some* of your money or time or words doing things to counteract all of that. That it's not about feeling angry or guilty or like an asshole, but simply an awareness that while you can't be perfect, you can balance things out in the positive direction.

>> if i'm living my life purposefully, and treating people right

How are you to know how to treat people right, or whether you are treating people right, if you don't want to learn about how you fit into society and how your influence and power affects the people around you? Everyone has some - some have more, some have less - and you can't just blithely assume that what you believe constitutes "treating people right" is actually right, or actually has the effects you think it has and no effects you don't think it has.

Each of us can always stand to learn some more about this, and that doesn't make us bad people.

>> i understand that there *is* white privilege

... but the rest of what you said suggests that you don't know much about what it is or how it works, though perhaps you think you have the general idea (and if so, it appears to be mistaken).

>> how about i get on with the business of living my life purposefully and treating people humanely and well?

Yup! Paying attention to privilege will help you do better at exactly that.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Matt says: Awesome! It always bewilders me how the standard reaction to the concept of privilege (on the part of the privileged) is "this is supposed to make me feel bad, right?" and not "This is a useful thing to bear in mind."

[lightcastle]

All too true.

I've never quite understood why that's so difficult to wrap one's head around, but it obviously is, and explaining it clearly and non-confrontationally is a very good approach.

[gashin.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this, LC. It's hard for me to see that kind of attitude ("I'm not racist, what more do you all want from me?!") and not feel disappointed, in part because it also comes up with men. Men are, on average (you aren't average, and I have no real concerns that you're going to take this personally!), wholly unwilling to agree that they have an unspoken privilege that corresponds to women's lack of power/equality, EVEN IF THEY AGREE WOMEN ARE DISCRIMINATED AGAINST. It blows my mind.

[lightcastle]

Me too. I often get downright angry. I'm really quite surprised this is from Cos, but good on him for producing it.

Also, I will point out that your need to caveat that critique is a sign of the kind of problem we're talking about. You're so used to people taking it as a personal attack that you feel you have to soothe my feelings up front.

[gashin.livejournal.com]

Ha! No, what's even more bizarre is that that caveat was inserted mostly to prevent OTHER PEOPLE from thinking that I was accusing you of such a thing. I was earnest about the whole 'I know you well enough to know that you won't take this personally'. :P How twisted.

But you're absolutely right in that that kind of kneejerk reaction exemplifies this mechanism of... fear of responsibility for actions not consciously pursued, I guess, as a way of putting it? Inelegant, but it's the crux of it-- "I didn't actually DO anything, so why do I have to pay for it?" etc etc etc.

[lightcastle]

Well, since even fewer people read this than my LJ, I wouldn't be too worried. ^__^

Inelegant, but it's the crux of it-- "I didn't actually DO anything, so why do I have to pay for it?" etc etc etc.

Indeed.

[(Anonymous)]

Jen says: I actually read all three cheri and this discussion has gotten me thinking....so I'm posting something on Facerack that may engender some discussion in a similar vein.