In class on Tuesday, when Dr. J asked the ways that white
people are privileged, it was a lot quieter than one would think. The examples given were examples of how
non-white people are discriminated against.
Yet, as much as Dr. J pointed this out, it kept happening. This was interesting to me because it showed
that the overarching privilege the privileged people have is that they don’t
realize their privilege. Growing up, a
privileged person is not aware of their privileged status because they do not
know any better. Exposure to the outside
world and outside the world of people like you is the only way to recognize
your advantages. Whether your social
class makes you privileged, your skin color, and so on, the harsh reality is
that we just don’t know until we see something different and even then, we may
not consciously acknowledge the differences.
This same way of thinking can be applied to the unprivileged group. They too may not recognize how they aren’t
privileged in comparison until they step outside and see. Chances are, the group without the privileges
will notice much faster but the same initial thinking is somewhat
applicable. There are many examples of
how people are privileged based on different things but the harder part is how
does this automatic privilege stop when the people with the advantage do not
realize and the other people do not have the power to instigate much change
because they lack the advantage. It
seems like awareness is the best shot we have but this is much easier said then
done. The exercise in class showed how
even though we may recognize differences in the way different people are
treated, we see them as subtle differences that are isolated when really they
are huge factors all contributing to a system.
It was interesting to see how much easier it was for me to think of examples of oppression that examples of my own privilege. I think like you are saying, the world makes it really easy for us not to know, which is just another piece of privilege. It's sort of amazing how racism (and sexism, classism, etc.) is so ingrained into our culture that we can't even recognize a huge piece of it, the privilege. I was thinking last week as I was watching tv about how many shows have people of color as main characters that are also substantial characters. It's easy to think of shows with tokenism or even multiple, but largely undeveloped, people of color as characters, but it was not so easy to think of examples of truly diverse things on tv. So, to phrase it as privilege: I never have to worry about finding something on tv that has characters that look like me or that the show will use characters with my skin color as tokens.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely with Sara: the problem is the fish cannot recognize the water. Privilege is so expansive, so engrained, it's difficult to recognize. Especially for the folk who don't actively oppress others. The blatant racist has a goal, but those around him who simply benefit from his oppressive ways have a harder time recognizing his goals.
ReplyDeleteThe problem, too, is privilege is so incredibly subtle. Band-aids and deodorant, for example. I, as a white person, don't really have to struggle with this so much. I am not *reminded* of my color every time I buy them. Neither am I segregated out when looking for shampoo (it's great that many places have an 'ethnic hair care' aisle/section, but the naming and placement is problematic).