“For those of us called white, whiteness simply is. Whiteness becomes, for us, the unspoken, uninterrogated norm, taken for granted, much as water can be taken for granted by a fish.”
― Tim Wise, White Like Me
How do you explain what the air around you feels like on a still day? How might a fish explain what wet is? For many people, these questions might prompt the response, it just is and feels normal. In some ways, this is unearned advantage. It feels like nothing because it’s our everyday experience – it’s the air we breathe. Said in another way, unearned disadvantage is clear to those who experience it because its harm, disruption, and impediment is present and obvious every day in big and small ways. The reason we talk about this as unearned advantage is because it’s given and presumed for everyone in a particular group without having to do something. It assumes that people can walk up a flight of stairs to get to class, that our grandparents had the ability to own their home if only they worked hard enough, that everyone can share about their family without fear, and more. Another way we can talk about unearned advantage is the term privilege.
Privilege is the unearned social, political, economic, and psychological benefits of membership in a group. That group is uniquely positioned with certain influence and decision-making about what is good, normal, and natural. There are many types of privilege that different groups have. We commonly hear about privilege because of race or gender, but privilege also exists for different groups based on religion, sexuality, ability, class, and education level.
To be clear, having privilege does not mean your life is easy. It means that your identity/ies that afford you privilege don’t make your life harder.
Image Source: https://www.ywcaofcleveland.org/blog/2019/03/04/what-is-privilege/
Image Description: [Six blue boxes contain icons corresponding to examples of privilege]
Today’s Challenge
Read
- What privilege is and how it impacts you: https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/why-its-important-to-think-about-privilege-and-why/
Watch
- Robin DiAngelo, author of White Fragility, talks about how racism is not only individual acts of discrimination; it is a deeply embedded system that impacts all of our lives. (20:01) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7mzj0cVL0Q
Engage
- Take this privilege self-assessment by Buzzfeed to discover where you are on the spectrum. https://www.buzzfeed.com/regajha/how-privileged-are-you?bfsource=bfocompareon
