Having walked the world as someone who “passes”, I grew up in the fairly unique position of being treated 100% as a white person even though I am not, yet very aware of how my fellow Mexicans were being treated; standing up for them every opportunity I got, shocked, hurt, and appalled at the things that would be said right to my face, shamed by the fact that I wasn’t treated the same. Accepting the existence of white privilege was no stretch for me and so, perhaps I can shed some light on it for you.
(photo by Logan Weaver)
We, as a nation, have made progress: laws and policies established, discriminatory one’s abolished, examples of people of color “making it” materially, etc. But that isn’t the issue. White privilege has to do with the ordinary. Living life day-to-day, observed, criticized, and judged. People bullying you because they know no one will come to your rescue, crossing the street to avoid you, following you around a store because they are sure you will steal, pulling their women close because – in their minds – you want to rape them, or just plain ignoring you; that kind of ordinary. It’s about the actions white people take every single day, consciously or not, rooted in assumptions about those around them, based solely on color. And this “ordinary” is ground zero for decisions about who to befriend, who to dismiss, who to shoot.
You say white privilege doesn’t exist? Pay attention! Notice the little things – every day, all around you, and maybe you’ll see. Remember the French Revolution, caused by the oppression of the masses? Remember the quote attributed to Queen Marie Antoinette, as her councilors told her the people were starving as she sat at a sumptuous table, “Let them eat cake”? Don’t be so blinded by the banquet spread before you that you don’t see what others suffer. This puts you in the position of being out of tune with your fellow children of God – YOUR brothers and sisters – and why they are protesting (thankfully, without guillotines). I pray you will allow yourself to take the brave step of questioning your reluctance to see what is so obvious.
As a next step, consider being at the short end of the stick of white privilege – consider how that gets to a person, a life-time of it. As a human being, you surely understand trauma, and have suffered your own, at the hands of perhaps a parent or teacher or friend or stranger. Take that trauma and multiply it – and then multiply it again, and again. A person of color has experience after experience, day after day, from untold numbers of people, conveying the falsehood that they are deemed less-than. Does that seem just to you? Of course not. Here’s your white privilege: you can move away, divorce, leave your family, whatever; you can heal your wounds and get on with life. A person of color doesn’t have that privilege – THEY CANNOT GET AWAY.
Once you see that, once you recognize that we were not created to have such disparity in our daily experiences, that a nation of “Liberty and Justice for All” has yet to be born, at that moment, you make the world a better place.
Once you see it, you, too, will want change in this world. Enlightenment. Equality. Justice. Once you see it, you will know it’s not going to happen until and unless everyone has a place at the round table – black, white, red, yellow, brown.
I would not have given the topic of white privilege a second thought, if I had not worked on the south side of Chicago, in schools where students were 100% free lunch, due to low income levels. The injustices I witnessed first hand, ate away at my whole being because I was powerless the change the course of my students’ lives. Many of my students were from generations of extreme poverty, neglect and most likely some level of substance abuse as well. If students didn’t come to school, many of them didn’t get fed either.
I would have class conversations about books I read, books about topics I thought were important which included abuse (children’s books of course). What transpired out of those conversations, shocked me to the core. I heard real life scenarios of students who couldn’t sit by their front windows because it wasn’t safe. Almost every single one of my students had a story about someone in their family that was shot and killed. They spoke of these things as if they were a matter of fact.
I saw bias when co-workers just assumed the students would amount to nothing. I never thought that, but always had a glimmer of hope that I might be the influence that helped a child believe in her/himself.
It was during these years of teaching, that I became clear that I, as a white female who grew up in a middle class suburb, had privilege. Was my childhood perfect? Certainly not. However, the color of my skin was not the cause of any of my struggles, not even once.
If you do not think White Privilege exists, it may be because you have not left your safe nest. I encourage you to talk to people of all different backgrounds in all different neighborhoods and really hear their stories. Truth is perspective and Black Lives Matter has a perspective that is the truth.
You are so right. Leaving “your safety nest” is so important. Travel! Chat with that fellow shopper with an accent! Smile at folks of color!
Kaaren, that is such a great & easy to understand description. You are such a good writer & I really appreciate getting your emails! We moved to South Carolina in February, but I am grateful for being able to still hear what you have to say! Marina
It was so good to hear from you; and I deeply appreciate your compliments. Enjoy SC!
Kaaren, this is such a great & easy to understand description. You are such a good writer & I really appreciate getting your emails! We moved to South Carolina in February, but I am grateful for being able to still hear what you have to say! Marina
Beautifully said. Gives me much to think about.
Open heart, insert understanding? Would that be the opposite of open mouth, insert foot? Bad joke. Truly, though, it makes me so happy that people have heard what I was trying to say.
Kaaren, that is such a great & easy to understand description. You are such a good writer & I really appreciate getting your emails! We moved to South Carolina in February, but I am grateful for being able to still hear what you have to say!
Marinaš
I believe that those who actually acknowledge that you have this privilege, should be the Pioneers for change! ā¤
Hand-in-hand with those that don’t have it, hopefully. There is so much pain and trauma all-round, and we need to work together!
Very touching and humbling! Thank you so much Kaaren. You are a brilliantly bright beacon in so many ways!
Much love,
Cindy
Cindy, as always, you are so kind. Your heart is such an example for the world.