White Privilege White Privilege White Privilege White Privilege White Privilege

[WilliamPitt]

1. I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time.

2. I can avoid spending time with people whom I was trained to mistrust and who have learned to mistrust my kind or me.

3. If I should need to move, I can be pretty sure of renting or purchasing housing in an area which I can afford and in which I would want to live.

4. I can be pretty sure that my neighbors in such a location will be neutral or pleasant to me.

5. I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed.

6. I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented.

7. When I am told about our national heritage or about "civilization," I am shown that people of my color made it what it is.

8. I can be sure that my children will be given curricular materials that testify to the existence of their race.

9. If I want to, I can be pretty sure of finding a publisher for this piece on white privilege.

10. I can be pretty sure of having my voice heard in a group in which I am the only member of my race.

11. I can be casual about whether or not to listen to another person's voice in a group in which s/he is the only member of his/her race.

12. I can go into a music shop and count on finding the music of my race represented, into a supermarket and find the staple foods which fit with my cultural traditions, into a hairdresser's shop and find someone who can cut my hair.

13. Whether I use checks, credit cards or cash, I can count on my skin color not to work against the appearance of financial reliability.

14. I can arrange to protect my children most of the time from people who might not like them.

15. I do not have to educate my children to be aware of systemic racism for their own daily physical protection.

16. I can be pretty sure that my children's teachers and employers will tolerate them if they fit school and workplace norms; my chief worries about them do not concern others' attitudes toward their race.

17. I can talk with my mouth full and not have people put this down to my color.

18. I can swear, or dress in second hand clothes, or not answer letters, without having people attribute these choices to the bad morals, the poverty or the illiteracy of my race.

19. I can speak in public to a powerful male group without putting my race on trial.

20. I can do well in a challenging situation without being called a credit to my race.

21. I am never asked to speak for all the people of my racial group.

22. I can remain oblivious of the language and customs of persons of color who constitute the world's majority without feeling in my culture any penalty for such oblivion.

23. I can criticize our government and talk about how much I fear its policies and behavior without being seen as a cultural outsider.

24. I can be pretty sure that if I ask to talk to the "person in charge", I will be facing a person of my race.

25. If a traffic cop pulls me over or if the IRS audits my tax return, I can be sure I haven't been singled out because of my race.

26. I can easily buy posters, post-cards, picture books, greeting cards, dolls, toys and children's magazines featuring people of my race.

27. I can go home from most meetings of organizations I belong to feeling somewhat tied in, rather than isolated, out-of-place, outnumbered, unheard, held at a distance or feared.

28. I can be pretty sure that an argument with a colleague of another race is more likely to jeopardize her/his chances for advancement than to jeopardize mine.

29. I can be pretty sure that if I argue for the promotion of a person of another race, or a program centering on race, this is not likely to cost me heavily within my present setting, even if my colleagues disagree with me.

30. If I declare there is a racial issue at hand, or there isn't a racial issue at hand, my race will lend me more credibility for either position than a person of color will have.

31. I can choose to ignore developments in minority writing and minority activist programs, or disparage them, or learn from them, but in any case, I can find ways to be more or less protected from negative consequences of any of these choices.

32. My culture gives me little fear about ignoring the perspectives and powers of people of other races.

33. I am not made acutely aware that my shape, bearing or body odor will be taken as a reflection on my race.

34. I can worry about racism without being seen as self-interested or self-seeking.

35. I can take a job with an affirmative action employer without having my co-workers on the job suspect that I got it because of my race.

36. If my day, week or year is going badly, I need not ask of each negative episode or situation whether it had racial overtones.

37. I can be pretty sure of finding people who would be willing to talk with me and advise me about my next steps, professionally.

38. I can think over many options, social, political, imaginative or professional, without asking whether a person of my race would be accepted or allowed to do what I want to do.

39. I can be late to a meeting without having the lateness reflect on my race.

40. I can choose public accommodation without fearing that people of my race cannot get in or will be mistreated in the places I have chosen.

41. I can be sure that if I need legal or medical help, my race will not work against me.

42. I can arrange my activities so that I will never have to experience feelings of rejection owing to my race.

43. If I have low credibility as a leader I can be sure that my race is not the problem.

44. I can easily find academic courses and institutions which give attention only to people of my race.

45. I can expect figurative language and imagery in all of the arts to testify to experiences of my race.

46. I can chose blemish cover or bandages in "flesh" color and have them more or less match my skin.

47. I can travel alone or with my spouse without expecting embarrassment or hostility in those who deal with us.

48. I have no difficulty finding neighborhoods where people approve of our household.

49. My children are given texts and classes which implicitly support our kind of family unit and do not turn them against my choice of domestic partnership.

50. I will feel welcomed and "normal" in the usual walks of public life, institutional and social.

White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack
http://amptoons.com/blog/files/mcintosh.html

[lumberjack_jeff]

1. With that out of the way, we can now wash our hands of all this unpleasantness.

That I acknowledge everything your wrote absolves me of doing anything to mitigate the flipside realities... until all other white people have reached what I would judge as a universally uniform and perfect state of enlightenment.

Only then should we talk about anything tangibly remedial, which is nice, because that would be hard, and I prefer obtaining my smug superiority with as little effort on my part as possible.

[Damansarajaya]

4. Dude, well put.

Sometimes I have that same feeling. Are we talking about ways to solve institutionalized, ingrained racism, or are we content to simply "raise consciousness" and be one of the cool kids with a lot of theoretical knowledge?

[1StrongBlackMan]

6. The first step in solving a problem ...

Is the unqualified acceptance that there is a problem ... A point that we, even on this " liberal" message board, has yet to reach ... so, yes, we are still in the consciousness raising stage. And will continue to be there until people recognize that the racial status quo is a marked by privilege.

[Damansarajaya]

7. Read my sig line. King made the case against racism

in 1963:

From "Letter from Birmingham Jail"

"Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, 'Wait.' But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six year old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five year old son who is asking: 'Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?'; when you take a cross county drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading "white" and "colored"; when your first name becomes 'n****r,' your middle name becomes 'boy' (however old you are) and your last name becomes 'John,' and your wife and mother are never given the respected title 'Mrs.'; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of 'nobodiness'--then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait."

*****

I think we need more than just "education" after fifty years of education. We need to win elections. It wouldn't solve all our problems, but it'd be a helluva good start.

[kwassa]

12. If you are going to quote MLK, give him credit.

Blockquotes and links would help.

[Damansarajaya]

13. Okay, edited as you suggested.

"Letter from Birmingham Jail" and the "I Have A Dream" speech are so famous that I didn't think anybody would need a citation, but I don't mind making the edits.

[1StrongBlackMan]

16. Agreed ...

We, as in PoC and others that accept that the racial status quo is unacceptable, are beyond education time; but even a cursory peek at any thread that contains the word "privilege" proves that there are those "liberal" and "progressives, who are not.

And, it is that cohort of liberals and progressives that we are talking to on this topic.

[lumberjack_jeff]

9. It's demonstrably easier to grok disadvantage and racism than privilege.

I guess it has to do with defining the problem. Is the problem the fact that you're unfavorably profiled by the cops or the fact that I'm not?

If the former, it will be easier to gain allies, and is an easier problem to solve.

[1StrongBlackMan]

19. Actually it's both ...

I, as a Black man, can do something about my racially disparate treatment; but, I can do nothing to change the racial status quo and/or racism ... except point it out to non-PoC.

[lumberjack_jeff]

26. Okay, accepting your view of the privilege/injustice status quo, what should I do?

Let's stick with the example of police profiling for the moment. If the problem is injustice, this suggests I should intervene and advocate for better training by the cops and demand fair treatment on your behalf. If the problem is privilege, this suggests... what? That I should flag down the police? That I should demand to be patted down?

Privilege is a useless framework for action for this reason, despite being true. It's fundamentally not actionable.

[1StrongBlackMan]

34. How about when you see/hear of ....

Someone racially profiled, you object using these words, "why have you stopped that person rather than the 10 white people you passed/let pass to get to that PoC?"

[JI7]

20. one isn't an ally if they threaten to not be an ally because they don't like terms being used

and more upset over than than what happened.

[1StrongBlackMan]

35. +1000 eom.

[Scootaloo]

37. And that's it, right there

"Talk the way i want you to talk or I won't have your back" isn't alliance, it's an attempt to dominate.

[Nye Bevan]

2. Why does "arrange to be in the company of people of my own race" always appear on these lists?

Other than the worst kind of unredeemed racist piece of shit, who would ever perceive that as an advantage? And it's the number one entry on this list! This makes me wonder about the thought process of whoever compiled it.

Oh, and how I wish the thing about being guaranteed "pleasant neighbors" were true.

And #48 clearly shows that the author of the list is heterosexual. And obliviously so.

[AverageJoe90]

3. I don't think there were any bad intentions in mind with that, TBH.

But yeah, it is indeed a bit problematic.....not to mention untrue.

[Scootaloo]

27. "who would ever perceive that as an advantage"

Someone who might not want to field requests to touch their hair, perhaps. Or among whom they can speak in a comfortable dialect without the other people giving odd looks. Or maybe where they can discuss current events without their variety of Nye Brevan barging in to "explain to them"?

It's not a major advantage for white people, as we define the prevalent culture. But it is a disadvantage to people of color who have to carry around that prevailing culture without having much say in it.

That's why.

[Nye Bevan]

33. The list is written from the persepective of a white person

so I think your reply kind of misses the point.

[Scootaloo]

36. Not at all missing the point

The perspective is advantages white people have that people of color tend to not have, or have in reduced form. And yes, for most minorities, the ability to associate with like individuals is an advantage, for the reason I mentioned, among others - an advantage that is often in reduced form due to that minority status. It provides an escape from a prevalent culture that doesn't represent your group well, or sometimes at all.

White people do have this privilege - but since we're culturally dominant, it's moot, thus your assumption that a white person who pursues it must be a racist... probably not an inaccurate statement, becuase someone who consciously decides racial over-representation and eurocentristic culture just isn't good enough probably has some other things going on in their heads.

[IronLionZion]

39. I've had a white woman actually complain that other races have this and she doesn't

as in you can have a default party of people of a particular ethnic or religious background come together and celebrate a holiday, but no occasion for white people or her in particular to get together.

I had to point out that for most all of her family gatherings, friends/neighbors gatherings, social/political group meetings, spiritual stuff and most everything else where she chooses her company, almost all of them are white, if not all. Her women's group meetings are all white, every week. She knows several black and latina and asian women to invite if she wanted but for some reason chooses not to and claims they probably wouldn't come. And she's a raging liberal feminist hippie woman.

So yes, the ability to be in the company of people of my own race can be very important to some folks, depending on their culture or homesickness or whatever, even if they are white. In consulting/contracting, I have had nonwhite colleagues lament about the loneliness and isolation of going to some rural midwestern small town where everyone is white. That doesn't bother me since I grew up with that, but it bothers quite a few people who grew up elsewhere.

[cherokeeprogressive]

5. WRT your #17...

I can guarantee if you talk with your mouth full I will increase the distance between us to a point where I can be assured you can't spit it on me.

No matter what color you are.

[JI7]

18. the point is that people will see it as him being disgusting and gross and not because of his race

race .

[Fumesucker]

8. Why don't you email that to this woman?

She could use something uplifting about now..

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024954063

[Nye Bevan]

10. She kind of puts the lie to #3 (nt)

[JI7]

17. it says "which they can afford" because minorities who can afford to rent or buy are often

prevented from doing so because of their race.

[JI7]

15. and what if someone posted stories baout people even worse off than her

and had horrible things done to her in response to that thread ?

[Fumesucker]

23. My point is this

It's one thing for a relatively well off white to admit privilege, it's rather another for someone whose life has taken a bad turn for whatever reason.

All else being equal whites play life on the easy setting, it's actually true, I agree with that. And white males most of all.

Getting people to admit that when they've lost at the only game that counts is another story. I'm perplexed at the attitude I see which seems to ignore wealth and power to concentrate entirely on Y chromosomes and melanin deficit disorder.

There's two basic ways to get rid of an enemy, one way is to destroy them and the other is to make them your ally.

[JI7]

24. did someone go into that thread and demand she admit to being privileged because she is white ?

if making someone your ally means you have accept certain things because there are white people who may have it worse i don't think they are your ally.

[Fumesucker]

25. I thought the idea was that all whites have to admit privilege?

Do I have that wrong somehow?

[JI7]

29. no, people don't have to admit to anything but if they come on a discussion board

issues will be discussed . just because there might be a white person who isn't well off doesn't mean it's ok to discriminate against someone because of their race . even if that person may be better off financially.

you seem to think people should put up with certain things because there might be a white person who is worse off.

[Fumesucker]

38. I've read comments that sure lead me to believe that every white person has to admit privilege

Not your comments I think but that's certainly the impression I have gotten from some others.

[Scootaloo]

32. Think she'd have it better or worse if she were black or hispanic?

That's the part your angle of argument always, and very intentionally, misses. Where all else is equal, a white person has an advantage over people of color in American society.

Sure it's not champagne dreams and caviar wishes just 'cause you're white - that pretension is made-up, a straw man by racists - and fuck it, yes, they are racists - who struggle so mightily against this concept. But this lady isn't likely to have a police cruiser pull up and demand ID if she parks her butt on the sidewalk after a bad day - if she does, she's less likely to be cited.

Society looks at her as a tragic figure, a hardworking woman whom the system has failed. were she a different color, she would be reviled as a "welfare queen."

She does have disadvantages - she's poor, shes a woman, she's an older person, these things all work against her just as her skin and hair color work for her. They don't cancel out, a person can have multiple tiers of advantage and disadvantage. But if we were tp find a woman identical in all ways save race, Mrs Ramos has an advantage, small as it may be. And it's no "fault" of hers, it's a societal issue.

[uppityperson]

11. Macro, not micro. Institutionalized rather an one individual's personal experience.

[Bluenorthwest]

14. Some of this is so deeply heterocentric that is sounds like it is from 1958.

but that's ok Straight Folks, we know you own the world and usually don't even consider that you share it with us.

[1StrongBlackMan]

21. No ..

The people who accept the concept of privilege, accept it for all "minority" groupings.

BTS, help me to see what is hetero - centric about the post (I'll admit I just scanned it and nothing stood out.)

[dsc]

30. you might start here

47. I can travel alone or with my spouse without expecting embarrassment or hostility in those who deal with us.

48. I have no difficulty finding neighborhoods where people approve of our household.

49. My children are given texts and classes which implicitly support our kind of family unit and do not turn them against my choice of domestic partnership.

50. I will feel welcomed and "normal" in the usual walks of public life, institutional and social.

[1StrongBlackMan]

31. Okay ...

Good point. I hadn't read that far down the list, but yeah ... that is hetero - centric. Thanks.

[uponit7771]

22. This post is so liberating

[MattBaggins]

28. Are you certain about number 4