It seems I successfully struck a nerve with a few of my readers in my last post. I think my words were misunderstood by a few as “white people have done bad things. You are white, therefore you are bad.” I understand why my words may have been read that way, but it is not what I was trying to say. (However, if this post goes the other way, and I say something that is marginalizing or racist, I want to open the door to say that I am open to receiving feedback.)
White privilege is something that is difficult to explain to white people, because unless we learn a bunch about it, it is something that is very difficult to see. In my last post, I linked to a list of things that exemplify white privilege, but I don’t know how many people read it.
I think my using the term “white privilege” likely brought on some defensiveness because some may read an implication into it that if you benefit from white privilege, that you should feel “white guilt.” That was never my intention: you shouldn’t feel guilty about something you can’t control.
Here goes my attempt to clarify the intention of my last post:
Institutionalized racism exists. For racism to end, we must all actively fight it, especially those of us who unfairly benefit from it. If you are white, I am not asking you to feel guilty about white privilege; I am asking you to actively fight it. And I am writing this as a way of giving you some suggestions of how to do that, since it can seem very abstract.
1. If a person of color tells you that something you, or anyone, said or did offended them, stop and listen instead of becoming defensive. (In fact, that’s pretty much just a good social/life skill no matter the person’s heritage.) Please don’t ever use the phrase “pulling the race card”. You lose nothing by considering the other person’s point of view.
2. Avoid identifying people by their race. Describe someone by saying “Bob is that tall guy with the big smile. He usually wears a Cowboys jacket,” rather than “Bob is that Latino guy.” This may seem like more work (and until you get used to it, it will be), but what it does is force you to think about the person in terms of how they are similar to you rather than point out how he or she is different. It’s a subtle difference but over time it shifts how you and those around you view people who look different from you in certain ways.
3. Read over the link I posted in my last blog post. In fact, I am just going to copy and paste the content at the end of this blog post so you don’t have to go to all the work. This list is 50 concrete examples of white privilege in everyday life.
4. Read this list for more ideas of how to be an ally in the fight against racism. Some of them are challenging. #7 is that way for me. I’m always worried about doing more harm than good, but the worst harm I can do is to not speak up:
5. Take a deep breath, and realize that while I may be asking you to consider a different point of view, I don’t think you are a bad person for being white! In fact, the likelihood is that if you are reading this, you are someone who is on my list of facebook friends, so in at least 3 or more ways I probably consider you to be a pretty great person. Flash that smile, be yourself, and just show a little friendliness to someone around you, someone you see in everyday life, who may be a person of color. Take the initiative, offer some hospitality, get to know people who don’t look like you!
Addendum: 50 examples of white privilege:
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.
Thanks for your writings, Meg!
ReplyDeleteI didn't comment on your last post, but thought I'd just put a few of my thoughts in here. I didn't find anything offensive from your last post. Actually, in my experience of living in Malaysia- where I am in fact usually the only white person in town- I have come to some interesting conclusions. There is racism everywhere, and the US is probably not the worst place!
I will say that it is true, in America as a white American, it is sometimes hard to understand what it feels like to be minority or to be treated differently because of your skin color. I feel that it's something that every person should experience a little in their lifetime, in order to understand others better and to have compassion. But, I've also learned that Americans are WAY more PC and sensitive to the issue than a lot of other cultures.
It's also true that as a 'white' person you pretty much enjoy privileges wherever you go because of your skin color- they usually think you are rich and have a fairly high respect for you. But that right there also gives an alienation feeling!
I was shocked in my first months here at how openly racist this country is (Malaysia that is!). There are 3 main ethnic groups- not including whites. The people can be pretty open about it, the government is open about it... kind of a sad state. Sometimes the first question I get on our BUSINESS line is, 'are you Chinese?'
But, I do think us 'whites' can sometimes put the blinders on too much, and want to say and think everyone is the same. In fact, different cultures are different. And that is the way it should be and the way it is. It means the people of that culture are different- unless of course they are westernized or choose to be other than their culture. That can also be said of religious cultures, Catholic culture for example. Of course I am biased about Catholicism :) but Catholics are different from the rest of the world, and that is the way it should be. I guess it comes down to living peacefully with others who may be different from you- different color, culture, religion, opinion about which soda they like. We still have to learn to get along. Call that the 'fighting' needed to end discrimination. That is the challenge, and that is where people don't want to work. We are told all over in American society that various people and groups are 'tolerant'... when in fact the very ones who call themselves tolerant seem to be the most intolerant of all. Case in point- Christians are the most discriminated against and persecuted people in the world. I won't get into too much of that here ;) I see the challenge in this country, and yes, I see it in the US. It is our human challenge and what our Lord calls us to do as well- love one another.
I LOVE the 10 Ways to be an Ally piece (http://whitepriv.blogspot.com/2010/02/10-ways-to-be-and-ally.html) and i don't think it only applies to white heterosexual men either. numbers three and four especially sounded like a great way to just improve ones self.
ReplyDeleteAlso when Peggy McIntosh wrote "Disapproving of the systems won’t be enough to change them." and "...The silences and denials surrounding privilege are the key political tool here. They keep the thinking about equality or equity incomplete, protecting unearned advantage and conferred dominance by making these taboo subjects. Most talk by whites about equal opportunity seems to me now to be about equal opportunity to try to get into a position of dominance while denying that systems of dominance exist."
Meg your second suggestion was spot on. how many times have i heard people describing others with characteristics about their clothes and hair and eyes and even what kind of car they drive, then they try to describe someone else and the first thing they say is what country their from, or worse, their color. i always make an effort to use ethnicity as little as possible when describing a physical characteristic. i wonder how i have been described by my peers to others. are my good characteristics and accomplishments used or is the first thing they say is, 'he is black'?