The Idea of Privilege

My Assessment

I've spent a great deal of time contemplating the idea of privilege.  As a white person, I'm often told I have always had privilege.  As an American I'm often told I have always had privilege.  I've been exploring this, wanting to give the idea of my privilege the attention it deserves, and assess how it affects my view of things.

First, I do absolutely agree that the idea of "white privilege" exists.  I also agree that sometimes, especially when dealing with racists, I hold a great deal of white privilege.  It ends there, however.  I've never been given anything because I am white.  No doors or opportunities have opened because I am white.  No economic benefits have been mine because of my race.  That said, I do know that sometimes happens.  It just hasn't happened in my world.

Growing up white and poor isn't really all that different from growing up black and poor.  You simply don't have what others have; not because of your race but because of your circumstance and in this case color does not directly affect my circumstance.  In fact, when race is factored in, I have had certain DISadvantages. 

First, there is the idea of giving opportunity as part of quotas and "affirmative action".  I believe that programs like this have run their course of usefulness.  It's time that we are all treated equally.  If a person of color is more qualified (or more needy, depending on the award) then by all means that person should be chosen over me.  I come from an era where persons of color were given priority in college placement and financial aid.  I wasn't privileged beyond having the guts to try college anyway.  That is not racial, that is environmental.  My upbringing, and to a certain extent my culture, made me tough and curious.  That isn't racial.

I'm told, in argument, that my culture is what gave me privilege.   If poor West Virginia is privilege in any color, I will eat my hat.  There are, of course, pockets of privilege culturally--some because of being white, some because of not being white, but generally, my "culture" gave me no privilege.  There are a great many black West Virginians my age who are far more successful and accepted than I am.

Some argue privilege in expectations.  They say white persons are expected to be successful and black persons are not.  To an extent, that might be true, but there are other sides of that.  Because I was a smart white teenager with a great deal of "drive" it was expected that I would attend college, graduate (probably with honors) and go on the have a financially successful life. There's a lot of pressure there, and I wasn't up to it.  That was 40 years ago, and right now, being a smart, driven black person has a better chance than I ever did with a bit less expectation because we are conditioned to believe that person is somehow disadvantaged.   Combined with quotas, this person of color *may* actually have more privilege than I did; and far less pressure to succeed.  When a person of color doesn't succeed as expected, they (and many others) can play the race card-"I was destined to fail because of my color".  No, the truth is we all fail at some point.  I failed college quite grandly, regardless of race.  I also watched persons of color with lesser academic credentials be accepted into universities I couldn't get into; because of color.  I watched persons of color be handed financial supports I wasn't entitled to; because of color.

Fast forward to adulthood, and when things went south in my marriage nobody ever said it was because either of us were black.  When I moved with my two small children to a trailer outside of town, I wasn't allowed to live there because I was white.  I didn't get welfare because I was white.  What I got was massive amounts of disappointment and judgement.  Thirty years ago even an abused white woman was expected to succeed-because she was white.

Twenty years ago, with a new husband and lots more experience and maturity, I started a new life in Toronto, Ontario.  It quickly became apparent that there were vast numbers of people of color and not quite so many white, at least in my environment.  Less than ten percent of the families in my high rise apartment building are white.  My son has never been in the majority in school or in play.  Being white has not afforded him any privilege.  In fact, because he is white, some persons of color have targeted him for theft or bullying because they have been taught that white people have things that black/brown people don't.

Citizenship is also an issue.  Because I am an American, and right now that's not very popular thanks to the sitting president, I am sometimes bullied.  My daughter, who is white as snow and 110% southern american, has had it far worse than I have because she was a teenager here.  I have never seen a person of color bullied because of their immigration status or citizenship.  Here in the GTA, the group with the greatest amount of "privilege" would have to be Asians.  Overall, Chinese and Indian and Pakistani and Korean  have a much better life than the rest.  I don't hold that against them--they have families and others who give direct support because of their culture, not their race.  They work hard, invest well, and take care of others.  I can certainly see, however, why they are thought of as privileged; they own most of the business and property in the GTA.

It is that culture of support that I believe gives success. Everyone who has needs that aren't being met is likely to see the "haves" as having some kind of privilege.  Because we have a comfortable income (because we don't own property, primarily) I can see how people would think we are privilege. That's jealousy.  That's a fairly normal reaction, give the circumstance.  Those on the outside haven't seen our struggles to get where we are and the challenges we face every day to maintain that standard.

I have a friend who is extremely successful.  He is mid 30's and mixed race, but definitely considered a person of color.  He already has a six figure income, has traveled the world and excelled in his academics.  He may have had more privilege than my daughter of the same age, but not because of race.  He had it because his parents, a white woman from the Canadian prairies and a black man who immigrated from South Africa during Apartheid, worked hard to give him the things they didn't have.  Likewise, that same daughter of mine, has a house, is expecting a second child, and does not have to work because her husband has a great job.  She may be viewed as privileged because of all that; so many others don't have the opportunities she has had.  Those opportunities, however, were not because she is white.  To claim she has "white privilege" takes away validation for rising above her failures, meeting challenges head on, and being successful in the face of almost assured failure.

I think it's past time for us to stop throwing accusations of racial

privilege.  If we want to be treated equally, we have to present ourselves as equals.  When you devalue yourself because you think others have had more opportunity than you have, you fail from the outset.  When you devalue others the same way, you alienate them from every being supportive of you, regardless of color.

If we want to be treated equally, we need to truly treat (and perceive) others as equals.  I don't argue that white privilege doesn't exist.  Certainly in some circumstances, especially in law enforcement and bigots, it most certainly does.  My objection is to  a sort of "reverse racism" where all white persons are viewed as having privilege over all persons of color.  Just as bigots need to learn a better way, persons of color who are feeling disenfranchised need to truly assess what causes them to feel that way.  We need to start talking about "isms" that don't involve color.

This is privilege.

This is not.