White Privilege

EXCELLENT PIECE!!! Thanks for sharing.
I have only quite recently become aware of my white privilege too. I hate that it is a fact, but it is. And my beginnings were very, very humble. However, as a daughter of a Catholic holocaust survivor Dad (2.5 years POW in brutal conditions followed by a total of 3 years in 3 different concentration camps including Dachau at its worst), I have long been sickened by injustice of any kind. I had, naively, believed that much progress had been made in race relations since the civil rights movement of the 60s, but the sickening, appalling information about the police brutality and evidence that there is no such thing as equal justice for people of color in this country have brought me to my senses. And it's a very sad realization, knowing how much hatred and prejudice others experience in this country, and that our skin color shields me and my family from the same injustices...

It gives me perspective. When I am working with my students or dealing with people outside my socioeconomic reality, it gives me insight into their frustrations and perspective. 

If I have a student who comes from a background of parents who never graduated from high school, don't speak English, can't pay their rent, have mental illness, used drugs while pg or now... Or students who are born gay, non-white, in poverty, it helps me to realize that we don't always speak the same language. 

My dh and I are fairly similar in background(relatively speaking), but he had parents that never went to college nor ever thought of going to college. His mom started having babies at 19---back to back.  College was never discussed, pushed or even a glimmer of thought for him or his siblings.  I grew up with college educated parents. It was always part of our discussions and it was just assumed I'd go to college. I went to college and he did not. He currently makes more than I do through hard work and luck, but he works in a dying industry and we know that ultimately, his background likely limited his potential earning power and future marketability---and maybe even his level of happiness. He can and could still go to college as an adult.  However, we started with different vocabularies and expectations in our lives and it helps me to understand him better. 

Um, it give me empathy? It makes me a better teacher because I don't just assume all kids come with the same toolbox and motivation that I have or others have? It makes me less of a smug asshole?

lisacharlotte, I think this part:

"Recognizing Privilege simply means being aware that some people have to work much harder just to experience the things you take for granted"

Sums it up. There are little slights non-whites endure everyday (hailing a cab, watched in stores, etc) that whites don't factor into their day. Small actions that must add up to a larger burden over time.

Of course there are bigger issues too. And like the article says, it doesn't mean whites aren't working hard to earn a living.

well, I'm not being a smug asshole, I'm asking a legitimate question. I did not have to be told I have white privilege to be empathetic to others. I guess I don't see how this term doesn't further divide us into "us & them."

I know you said in your first post you weren't being facetious, but the more you post the harder it is to believe that.

It definitely seems that you are being purposely obtuse.

You truly can't see how it helps for people in positions of authority such as teachers, cops, policy makers to understand how different people experience the same thing in different ways?

But you never hear how being black in America gives certain privileges also. All you ever hear is how bad the whites are. I know I would be a lot better off in America than I would be in Africa. Blacks have a lot of privilege living in this great country but it is always about how bad they have it. Hearing that ALL the time wears greatly on some people.

I think the term "white privilege" is so presumptive.

My great grandparents on my fathers side immigrated to the U.S. with little more than the clothes they had on their backs, they were uneducated. My grandparents got little more than an 8th grade education, my dad and his cousins finished high school. Many in those generations from the early 1900's on served in the military and fought in a war. My dad met my mom during the Korean War, she had nothing and lived in a war torn country where people were starving.

My generation, born in the 50's was the first to have the opportunity to attend college.

I am the beneficiary of generations before me who labored long days, often 7 days a week in brass mills, all poor laborers. But they saved and worked hard so the next generation could move another rung up the ladder.

I don't remember my grandparents ever going on vacation. I know of hardships many in the family had, but the family gave a hand up. Family took care of family, no welfare, no food stamps.

Is that the white privilege of which you speak?

 I wanted to add that our family by marriage now includes Latino's who have had a similar but more recent immigration experience and each successive generation has done better and has moved into the middle class. 

I see Asian & Indian & Middle eastern families doing the same. 

So, I am going to throw the ball back into your court. Please articulate why African Americans cannot replicate the success other minority classes of Americans have? 

Yes, unfortunately I go twice a year to Djibouti. How bout you? Want me to load some pics of their houses under car hoods? Not just a few homeless I am speaking of entire neighborhoods.

Here we go again. Hold on to your hats. 

If the old board was any indication, this topic REALLY angers people. Seems like part of the problem is a misunderstanding of the word "privilege" when applied to specific attributes - instead, insisting on equating it to overall privilege/wealth/class/upbringing. Also problematic: the inability to be able discern, and then acknowledge, privilege of any type when you've always benefitted from it. It's easier to see from the outside than the inside - whether it's color, class, gender, religion, age, or nationality.

And yes, it can cut both ways. Doesn't mean that negates the basic concept of privilege.

Here is a recent editorial piece a Georgetown student wrote. He wants so badly to excuse a crime by blaming it on his "white privilege". I think this is a slippery slope.


I Was Mugged, and I Understand Why.

Last weekend, my housemate and I were mugged at gunpoint while walking home from Dupont Circle. The entire incident lasted under a minute, as I was forced to the floor, handed over my phone and was patted down.

And yet, when a reporter asked whether I was surprised that this happened in Georgetown, I immediately answered: “Not at all.” It was so clear to me that we live in the most privileged neighborhood within a city that has historically been, and continues to be, harshly unequal. While we aren’t often confronted by this stark reality west of Rock Creek Park, the economic inequality is very real.

Year after year, Washington, D.C., is ranked among the most unequal cities in the country, with the wealthiest 5 percent earning an estimated 54 times more than the poorest 20 percent. According to the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute, just under 20 percent of D.C. residents live below the poverty line.

What has been most startling to me, even more so than the incident itself, have been the reactions I’ve gotten. I kept hearing “thugs,” “criminals” and “bad people.” While I understand why one might jump to that conclusion, I don’t think this is fair.

Not once did I consider our attackers to be “bad people.” I trust that they weren’t trying to hurt me. In fact, if they knew me, I bet they’d think I was okay. They wanted my stuff, not me. While I don’t know what exactly they needed the money for, I do know that I’ve never once had to think about going out on a Saturday night to mug people. I had never before seen a gun, let alone known where to get one. The fact that these two kids, who appeared younger than I, have even had to entertain these questions suggests their universes are light years away from mine.

I come from a solidly middle-class family, and, with relatives in Mexico City, certainly don’t consider myself entirely shielded from poverty. And yet I’d venture to guess that our attackers have had to experience things I’ve never dreamed of. When I struggled in school, I had parents who willingly sat down with me and helped me work through it. When I have a problem, I have countless people who I can turn to for solid advice.

When I walk around at 2 a.m., nobody looks at me suspiciously, and police don’t ask me any questions. I wonder if our attackers could say the same.

Who am I to stand from my perch of privilege, surrounded by million-dollar homes and paying for a $60,000 education, to condemn these young men as “thugs?” It’s precisely this kind of “otherization” that fuels the problem.

Young people who willingly or unwillingly go down this road have been dealt a bad hand. While speaking with a D.C. police officer after the incident, he explained that he too had come from difficult circumstances, and yet had made the decision not to get involved in crime. This is a very fair point — we all make decisions. Yet I’ve never had to decide whether or not to steal from people. We’re all capable of good and bad, but it’s a whole lot easier for me to choose good than it may be for them to.

If we ever want opportunistic crime to end, we should look at ourselves first. Simply amplifying police presence will not solve the issue. Police protect us by keeping those “bad people” out of our neighborhood, and I’m grateful for it. And yet, I realize it’s self-serving and doesn’t actually fix anything.

When we play along with a system that fuels this kind of desperation, we can’t be surprised when we’re touched by it. Maybe these two kids are caught, and this recent crime wave dies down, but it will return because the demand is still there, and the supply is still here. We have a lot, and plenty of opportunities to make even more. They have very little, and few opportunities to make ends meet.

The millennial generation is taking over the reins of the world, and thus we are presented with a wonderful opportunity to right some of the wrongs of the past. As young people, we need to devote real energy to solving what are collective challenges. Until we do so, we should get comfortable with sporadic muggings and break-ins. I can hardly blame them. The cards are all in our hands, and we’re not playing them.

Oliver Friedfeld is a senior in the School of Foreign Service.

Maybe when white students start being disciplined as harshly as black students for the same infraction...

Maybe when the racial disparities in incarceration and drug sentencing change..

Maybe when minorities are given better access to healthcare...

Maybe when supermarkets decide to open more stores in black neighborhoods and fast food chains stop targeting those neighborhoods...

Maybe when police are held accountable for killing a "suspect"...

Maybe then we might say how good we have it.

Certainly being an AMERICAN is privileged, I don't think many people would dispute that. But exactly what privilege do you believe blacks have over whites in America?