As Simple as I Can Make It
I will first give a
bit of a disclaimer that I am not trying to “mansplain” the below items and
even more so I am not claiming to be an expert in race relations or racism. What
I am, is a white, cisgender, hetero male who has a bit of valuable perspective
(Of course, we all think that don’t we?) and much like everyone else, an
opinion.
A (white) co-worker of mine asked me a few days ago to define white privilege. Certainly not an easy task, but one as a social worker I do take seriously. My response was pretty murky; “Depends on who you ask and what their experience is, some would say there’s no such thing, others would say it’s changed their life for the better… or the worse”. She asked that I write something outlining my thoughts (namely a research article) on the topic, but I don’t feel academic scholars are necessarily going to define this in a way that helps any of us. However, now that I have had time to think about the topic, I would say the first step is to define privilege in a social context on its own. Therefore, according to lil’ ole’ me; privilege is any advantage(s) bestowed upon a person through personal characteristics they are born into or come into via lifestyle decisions, spoken or unspoken that places them in a better position to secure opportunities over others. It bears mentioning that privilege can drop into one’s life in many forms (religion, socioeconomic, geographic etc). For me, that may mean these basic demographics (white, cisgender, hetero male) equate to me winning the biopsychosocial lottery.
Admittedly, even without all that academia defining privilege can still be a mouthful, right? So let’s break it down while focusing just on specifically white privilege.
Being White- Advantage
Some people may say; “How is being white an advantage? My life isn’t easy. I have had to work and scrape my whole life just to get by”. Well, boo-boo it’s called “white privilege”, not “white guaranteed free ride with no resistance 100% of the time”. Frankly, people (I’d argue most people) are more comfortable with those like them. You may have gotten into that doctor that was all booked up for someone else because the scheduler thought your name sounded “more white”.
Born Into- Advantage
You may have gotten mental health treatment at a young age simply because your parents could afford to live in an affluent zip code that had a clinic you could visit. Somebody somewhere else wasn’t so lucky and their mental health might’ve worsened into their adulthood as a result. See how both lives could be changed dramatically just based on that one seemingly minor occurrence?
Spoken or Unspoken- Advantage
The potential what-ifs are astounding, more on that later though. The focal point currently in these first two examples is you may not even know you benefitted (hence unspoken).
On the other hand, have you ever been told you got a job or a promotion because your boss wasn’t willing to hire that “Indian dot-not-feather lady” or that “Oriental”? Ideally, all bigots would operate overtly and at least we’d know where we stand*. However, the question becomes if you were told such a thing, or even suspected it, would you still take the position? Would you even question your boss?
Better Positioning for Opportunities- Advantage
All of the above scenarios, while hypothetical, work together to give a leg up to you based on the amount of melanin, or lack thereof, you might have.
Again, some might ask, “David, if there are more people of color in power positions today, how is it that white privilege can still exist?” Simple, boo-boo, for generations those in power (namely the white and the rich) have done such a great job of indoctrinating people, they’ve managed to convince most people of color that white people are “better” in some form or fashion. There is reporting to back this up in several forms; one such example is how police officers of color are forced to conform to the ways of their white peers and utilize police practices that target people of color over whites.
Simple as Can Be
The culprit for any type of privilege is bias. The problem is this bias can often be subconscious. Meaning, on a given day, if you are asked if you are racist, you may answer honestly by saying, “No”. On the contrary, if a driver later cuts you off in traffic and the first thing you use to describe them while you’re cursing them is a racial slur, you might want to do some self-examination.
Look, I realize that this less than 1,000-word essay isn’t going to result in the elimination of privilege or racism. Yet, all of us, people that are impacted by privilege on both sides need to be honest about its benefits and existence so that we can do our best to reduce its impact.
Image found at: https://www.sbs.com
*Most whites I know (myself included) have been subjected to casual racism in the form of a joke that is in poor taste. I feel this is one way for racists to “test the waters” with their white acquaintances to see if they need to call their hood supplier and schedule you a fitting. My advice is, awkwardness be damned, you call those people out immediately. If it’s a work setting and you are afraid of risking your job, then find a new one, that’s no excuse. My hope would be that if a room full of Islamic guys were trashing WASPs, someone would have the scruples to speak up on your behalf. Even if the answer is no, hold yourself to a higher standard and do the right thing.
