I’ve been thinking a lot about the concept of privilege lately and how it relates to me, the society that we live in, and others. Especially now, I think that it’s time we all think about the connotation that "privilege" has, and what it really should mean.
Privilege’s denotation (definition according to the dictionary, not by how it is used) as “a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group of people.” Now that sounds somewhat like how it is used today.
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Today, the connotation can be described as wealth "because the word 'privilege' carries a negative connotation, when we call someone 'privileged,' we are communicating, even if unintentionally, that this person came by his money dishonestly.”
Even more so today, people are relating privilege to white privilege, meaning that people get these unfair advantages solely because of their race.
This idea of “white privilege” most recently stems from the Jim Crow laws, but can historically be traced even further to slavery and the immigration problems our country has had (and technically, still does). In the Jim Crow laws, post-civil war, people created laws that made it nearly impossible for African-Americans to be independent and equal to the white man, despite the Union winning the civil war, and ending slavery. Now it is seen through everything that we see in the news and recent events.
When I first wrote this article, I wanted so badly to focus on other forms of privilege mentioned later on that I didn't talk enough about white privilege. My friend helped me to see that because I didn't check my own white privilege, the issue of white privilege was played down, as if it wasn't as big of a deal. I spoke about how I grew up in a pretty wealthy New Jersey town. I worked hard for my money, and Mommy and Daddy were never the ones putting money in my bank account for me to spend. I originally spoke about how I didn't get the special treatment that kids whose parent's are police officers, councilmen or even the mayor got. But that focuses more so on my monetary privilege, rather than my own white privilege.
Society might have made progress in combatting racism over the years, but a form of privilege can almost always be bound to the color of one's skin.
Rather than talk about whats going on in the news lately, here's a hypothetical situation. Let's say, you see a white kid walking down the street and a wife beater tank and basketball shorts. You would probably think nothing of it and disregard it. It's not a big deal, right?
Now let's change the scenario. That kid is now Black or Hispanic but wearing the same outfit, same wife beater tank, same basketball shorts. Chances are your heart starts to race a little bit, you get a pit in your stomach, maybe even a little anxious or nervous.
This is the roots of racism rearing its ugly horns. Chances are that kid probably isn't going to do anything to you. Neither of the kids would. But regardless, you look away as you walk by, or even cross the street to avoid them.
You see a person wearing a headscarf, maybe the person is Muslim, you might feel, even unconsciously, scared that they are related to ISIS. It's why muslims are more likely to be patted down when going through airport security, or asked to stop so security can go through their carry-on before getting on board the plane. In reality, only a very, very, minuscule percent of Muslims support or are members of ISIS.
If someone saw me walking down the street, they'd think absolutely nothing of it. That's an example of white privilege.
In reality, that switch that goes off in someone's head that makes them snap and do crazy things, does not know color. The need for self defense and need to feel safe, does not know color. The lack of serotonin production in ones brain, which causes the need to "sensation seek" does not know color.
Yet for some reason, people still think that all of these factors are dependent upon race and unconsciously (or sometimes consciously) believe that those who are not white are more likely to do these things.
Now let's branch away from the idea of white privilege, and talk about education privilege. There is idea of college — people think that if one goes to a private school, they automatically have money and are privileged. People think that because people have money, they don't need to worry about expensive schools. But what about the rich donors who are alumni that make getting a scholarship super easy? That make the amount of scholarships given to students a fair amount of the tuition they owe? Then most people get loans to pay for the rest.
On the flip-side of private school, think of the kids that go to public colleges of any rank. A public university located in the state in which you reside is half the price it would be than it you went there despite living out of state. That’s because of the tax payer dollars going to work. So these people living in-state, get to go to school for a cheaper cost, because people they do not know are forced to pay the taxes that go toward education. These people pay these education taxes even if they don’t have kids. Even if their kids won’t go to college or go to private school.Even if their kids already have children, they’re still paying those taxes. They go to school because of other people, too. That seems like it belongs on the spectrum of privilege to me.
On the complete other side of the idea of education, all of us who get the opportunity to go to college, despite what school we go to, can be considered privileged, because there are people who can't afford a community college.
There are people in this world who cannot show affection to their partner or loved one without fear. After what happened recently in that Orlando night club, how can people expect to feel safe, knowing that the very same thing can happen to them because there is still so much hatred toward something that people cannot seem to understand. People who are attracted to their own gender, who identify as a different gender than that of which they were born, or people who simply want to become gender neutral, are ostracized when they show what they believe in or who they are. People are so afraid of showing their affection toward their partner that they are now becoming the oppressed. If someone can kiss their spouse or show PDA in public without fear of harrassment, they are privileged.
The Canadian branch of the Huffington Post posted a video on how we should look at privilege, and further more how we should define it. They explain things like:
“Privilege is when some people have things, and other people don’t.”
“Privilege is something you don’t normally have control over.”
Those people you think are privileged may have parents who work nonstop to make sure there was always money.
Someone that you see as privileged simply because they seem to have more money than you may not be able to go show affection for their partner in public without doing so in fear for their well-being.
Those who can go through life without fear of sexual assault — whether it already happened or you fear it happening to you, you can be considered privilege.
I don’t think that we can ever get rid of the idea of privilege because we will always have the class hierarchy economically. However, I think it’s time that we begin to think of everyone as equals, like we should've a long time ago to avoid anymore privilege disputes. In doing this, we’ll also then become one step closer to true equality.
