White Privilege? Check.
I came across a link to this essay, "White Privilege: Unpacking the invisible knapsack" while reading one of my favorite blogs (Uppercase Woman). Although it is written in an unfortunately academic style, which dilutes its understandability (I *hate* academic writing) it's quite illuminating to read. I'm white, and have clearly enjoyed the privileges listed in the essay for that reason. I've always tried to make this same argument about male privilege, while not looking at my own racial privilege with the same scrutiny.
I think what struck me about it most was, that it is in fact a privilege to decide you don't want to talk about racism, a topic that I, like a lot of white liberal types, generally avoid. I think the essay is really worth reading and thinking about.
I think what struck me about it most was, that it is in fact a privilege to decide you don't want to talk about racism, a topic that I, like a lot of white liberal types, generally avoid. I think the essay is really worth reading and thinking about.
posted by Strikethru at
11:13 AM
2 Comments:
...the thing is, I am a touch hesitant to leave a comment BECAUSE of the realities of my non-White life.
I don't have any concerns about you or your intended readership, but this will be on the Internet (i.e. public) and you have links to other blogs and there are photos of me on some of those other blogs...
I am a person "those people" love to point to and say that America no longer has a race problem. Well-educated, well-employed, well-traveled, homeowner -- The American Dream.
And those of you who know me know I have had "That Boss" -- who did the best he could to drive out the overweight, female, Mexican, Persian, Black, and Jewish employees and replace them with older white males who 'deserved' a chance -- but That Boss was such an outrageous abberation that once we escaped his persecution, he quickly became the punchline to an oft-told easy joke. It wasn't even black humor (pun intended).
However, I felt the most affected by my race when I got out of college. Outside of the halls of academia, my genius-level IQ and ability to learn didn't get me ahead.
It was who I knew. As in, the white boy I knew in the Biblical sense. His parents knew tons of people, and owned a business. One of their connections hired me, two of their connections hired him (he moved from job one to job two searching for the perfect fit), yet another of their connections provided him with a house to live in at less than half market value (with two roommates, everyone's share of the rent was not even in the triple digits)...and then there was the first car bought at wholesale...and so on.
My parents knew tons of people, but most all of them were Black. There were some business owners among them, but they couldn't afford to hire their friends' kids right out of school as a favor. They didn't have investment properties that they could rent out at ANY price. (Actually, my grandparents did have an investment property, but it was designated to be used for welfare recipients, and in an appropriate neighborhood for such, therefore I was not allowed to live there by the State or by my parents.)
Writing all of this down, I'm realizing that we were probably the richest and most-in possession-of-assets of the bunch.
And that what I could have used the most at that time wasn't more money or more education or a better work ethic or better parents and friends...
It was privilege.
Reading this essay, I definitely realize that my race has accorded me a certain anonymity and acceptance in the culture that is likely unique to white people in America, and that makes a lot of things possible and easier. When you are white, you have the luxury of thinking that you have no ethnic identity, because you are "the norm." You can, as the essay points out, criticize your country, or completely fall apart, or totally succeed without being seen as an "example of" or "credit to" of your race. You get to spend a lot less time thinking about race. You have the luxury of thinking racism is not your problem, even though you are participating in a sort of tacit racism by accepting the advantages/privileges. I am sure I haven't had to work as hard as a woman of a different race to be where I am.
I think a lot of white people think of racism as overt acts of hostility, and therefore think they are exempt. They are also terrified of being labeled racists, because we have made that an evil, and slanderous label in our culture instead of recognizing it as ignorance and weakness that basically, most people have in their hearts to some degree, and that it takes a lot of subtle forms.
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