Lately I have been seeing an increasing number of posts regarding racial equality. While it has been heartening to see people stating they believe in equality-all human beings deserve respect and equal treatment-and that things such as race, ethnicity, color of skin among other things should not matter, it has been equally disheartening to see the focus of many of those same posts drift to (or become just outright about) the author’s issue with people making them feel “guilty of being white”. I cannot post a reply to every one of these posts I come across (frankly I get too frustrated to finish reading most). I simply want to say, we cannot profess to believe in and work for equality and equal treatment while largely ignoring or just plain denying one of the main, if not the main, causes of the very inequality we claim to fight against. White privilege is real. It is a hidden and transparent preference that is often difficult to address. Only upon earnest closer inspection do we see how it creates a sense of entitlement, generates perks and advantages for white people and elevates our status in the world. As white people, if we are feeling bad about racism- or “guilty of being white” - we need to ask ourselves: Does our guilt lead to change or is it simply self-absorption? Theologian Letty Russell writes “The poor do not ask us to feel guilty, for they can’t eat guilt. What they ask is that we act to address the causes of injustice so they can obtain food.” White skin privilege is not something that we as white people necessarily do, create or enjoy on purpose. White skin privilege is a transparent preference for whiteness that saturates our society. As a white person, I get certain perks that people of color do not; I get the bandages and the pantyhose and the shampoo at the hotel that works with my hair. And in a new grocery store, I will not have to scan the aisles for my hair care products. They will be in the section called “hair care.” This is how I experience the world.” As a white person my skin color does not work against me in terms of how people perceive my financial responsibility, style of dress, public speaking skills, or job performance. People do not assume that I got where I am professionally because of my race (or because of affirmative action programs). Store security personnel or law enforcement officers do not harass me, pull me over or follow me because of my race. As a white person, when I am told about our national heritage or “civilization,” I am shown that people of my color made it what it is. The schools that I attend or have attended use standard textbooks, which widely reflect people of my color and their contributions to the world. When I look at the national currency or see photographs of monuments on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., I see people of my race widely represented and celebrated. I see myself as a white person represented in all of these places. Many would say “Well, if people of color had done their part, they too would see themselves represented.” There is an old saying that the victors of war get to write the history of the world. White privilege works this way, too. Since white folks have been in control for so long, we have determined what is valuable or interesting or useful in terms of education. Greek and Roman mythology, Chaucer, and other canonized works have been selected and revered through the ages as critical components of any “solid liberal arts education.” The validity of these selections is rarely questioned — they are, after all, what is valuable and considered “the real stuff.” And I am entitled to a good education, aren’t I? I never question how or why some things are valued and others are not — why some things are important to “us” and other things are not. When people begin talking about diversifying a curriculum, one of the main things that opponents say is: “I am not willing to lower standards for the sake of minority representation.” For some of us white people, our primary concern becomes how we feel about the issue of race and racism not the injustices of a racist system. Some of us will not engage in discussion or action about race because we don’t want to feel bad. We say that people who are working for or talking about racial justice are trying to make us feel guilty. What happens in this instance is that the focus becomes how we feel as white people and not on racism. If we focus simply on our feelings then it becomes about us and our feelings and not about the injustices of a racist society. And so we don’t deal with racism. It is another dynamic that stands in the way of our making change. And that’s all I’m gonna say about that. -adapted from tolerance.org and racialequalitytools.org
Posted on: Wed, 10 Sep 2014 17:45:55 +0000
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