I had to look this up - I'm not kidding - as the concept is used everywhere, but is not really ever explained. I went to good ol' Wikipedia and got this:
"White privilege denotes both obvious and less obvious passive advantages that white people may not recognize they have, which distinguishes it from overt bias or prejudice. These include cultural affirmations of one's own worth; presumed greater social status; and freedom to move, buy, work, play, and speak freely. The effects can be seen in professional, educational, and personal contexts. The concept of white privilege also implies the right to assume the universality of one's own experiences, marking others as different or exceptional while perceiving oneself as normal."First off, let me ask if the use of the term "white people" is not, in and of itself, prejudiced? As defined by Merriam-Webster, this would mean "an irrational attitude of hostility directed against an individual, a group, a race, or their supposed characteristics". And what I hear from the Left is nothing, if it is not hostile.
After all, is everyone who is "white" a member of the same homogeneous group? (In this, I assume that "white" equals, roughly, Europeans and Slavs.) Aren't we different by nationality, from Russians on the east, to Greeks, Italians and Spaniards on the south, to Finns, Swedes and Norwegians on the north to Irish on the west? Aren't we Catholic, Baptist, Lutheran, Buddhist and no religion whatsoever? Don't we hail from very different parts of this country?
Take Chicago, where I come from. There were Germans, Poles and Italians in various neighborhoods. Being Czech, was my father, for example, welcomed with open arms into each enclave simply because he was white? Hardly. Mount Prospect tried to keep Catholics out in the early 1950s (so my dad said). And while some are liberal, some are conservative, and some are Liberal while others are Conservative, and everywhere in-between. Does this seem like whites are a single group? I think not.
I can tell you, from the little bit of traveling I've done, that I was not readily accepted into certain places. At our plant in Kirksville, MO, for example, I had to work with people for quite some time before I felt accepted. In Stuarts Draft, VA this was not the case. When traveling in West Virginia, I got the feeling that my every move was being watched, and I never felt comfortable there. And, in all these cases, I was among only "white people".
So let's not pretend that "white people" are some nameless, faceless group. That's simply wrong, with a capital "W".
Next, let's look at the rest of the Wikipedia entry. Where would I possibly get a "cultural affirmation" of my own worth? Where does that even come from? I may get a shot of self-worth from a job well done, or a song or poem I've written, or something I've fixed at home or in my car, or one of my children's achievements, or the love of my wife, or even possibly from a co-worker, neighbor or church member, but culturally? No, the culture I see tells me that all white people are evil, at the worst, or simply wrong. And I also get the dual-whammy of being white and male, so I'm doubly wrong.
"Presumed greater social status?" Not hardly. Social status comes from the car you drive, the neighborhood you live in, the places you're seen, the way you spread your cash. And being a conservative person, I am not "flashy", so have little in the way of "social status". I am fully middle-of-the road . . . middle class I suppose. Is this greater than the social status I should have? Hardly. I know where I'm accepted and where I'm not. I don't go to Barrington, for example, or to the North Shore and experience anything more than being looked down on by those who are in the upper class. I get no bonus points for being a white guy.
Do I have full freedom to move, buy, work, play, and speak freely? Yes, and no. I can only move where I can afford to move, though my conservatism keeps me from spending all of the money I otherwise could on housing. In this, though, I must admit to the historical presence of red-lining and "steering", and various other forms of housing discrimination. But I believe that a family of any race, creed or national origin would be welcome to move into the neighborhood I live in. I know that my wife and I would welcome anyone. And if the respect we would show to everyone was returned in kind, there would be no issue. (More on that later.)
Freedom to work anywhere? Yes, I think so, though, again, I choose to work near to home (and my working years are running down). The company I work for is populated with people of all "races, creeds and national origins". The unit I work in includes "white people", a Sri Lankan, East Indians, a Russian, a German and a Wisconsinite (that's a joke). My department is run by a female vice-president, includes Hispanics, an African American, a Greek, Danes, British, Irish, people of various religions (or none at all) and of differing sexual orientations. What we are, though, is a team, both at the unit and departmental level. We don't see differences when we work together. We are simply working together.
The last point, "speak freely", is the biggest joke - since when have people not been able to, at a minimum, speak freely, or, more recently, protest? They protest all the time! There are protests everywhere, by people all across the spectrum of races, religions, national origins, sexual orientations and political affiliations. And this includes black folk - certainly in parts of Chicago, in St Louis, in Baltimore and in other locations.
Finally, "The concept of white privilege also implies the right to assume the universality of one's own experiences, marking others as different or exceptional while perceiving oneself as normal."
Really? Personally, I knew that my life was my own. After all, I was adopted. I was always different. But let's look at this more closely. Why wouldn't one perceive "oneself as normal"? Or as other than normal? There are only two choices, after all. Or normal is some things and other than normal in others? It is with this point that I think the argument completely falls apart. We all compared ourselves to each other in school - no matter that we were all Caucasian - with some few exceptions - and, in grade and middle school (1-8), were all Catholic.
The girls knew who was pretty and who was not. Who had the best hair. Who had which boy's eye. Who was in what clique. The boys knew who was the fastest. The strongest. Who was the funniest. Who had which girl's eye. Everyone knew who was smart. Or the best singer. Or musician. Or actor. Who the teacher's pet was.
None of us was "normal" - we were all different - for good or ill - and some of us were exceptional in one thing or another (or in none, as was in my case).
To be perfectly honest, the nuns and teachers told us that others had it worse than we did, and that was the reason for the societal changes going on (with the Great Society programs) and for certain other monetary drives in church. But, to a person, I believe, we hoped that everyone had it as good as we did - though we were not children of privilege - but we knew that was not the case. We saw the news, heard about the city slums. We were lucky, not privileged.
So, to the idea of "white privilege" I say - it's a load of hooey!
Let me think back to my own life. Yes, I grew up in the Chicago suburbs, adopted at six weeks of age into a loving family. We were a fully middle-class family, though we were probably middle middle-class at best. We didn't take expensive vacations. We didn't have the best of everything, or the most of everything. We didn't have extra of anything, really. My parents had to save to buy the things they wanted. They could pay their basic bills, but extras weren't in that budget. So my mom saved a dollar here for this, and two dollars there for that. And when they had the money, they waited for a sale, then bought the thing they had saved for.
I went to a good high school, but studied hard to get good grades and get into college. I did nothing other than what kids today (of any category) can still do, if they choose to. And colleges have special programs to accept kids from the worst parts of Chicago (for example), regardless of their level of achievement, so everyone has a chance. The difference is, as I see it, that they need to take that chance.
Anyway, I went to two years of college and dropped out. (And since I got into computer programming, I have never stopped going to school to learn about new programming languages, tools and techniques.) What kind of job did I get? One at or just above minimum wage. I made very little money. But I worked hard, stayed late, learned everything I could about the job I was doing and made myself valuable to the company. And to each and every boss I had while I worked in these entry-level jobs. Nothing that anyone else could not also do.
I met my wife Nancy in 1978 and got a chance to work for one of her father's friends as a representative for Met Life. Again, at a fairly low salary. Now, here is where someone might say, "See! His white privilege got him that job." To which I reply - baloney! Anyone in the same position - daughter's new boyfriend needs a job, and one of your friends can hire him - would do the same thing. Talk to that friend and see if he'd help your daughter's boyfriend out (if the boyfriend actually wanted the help). This is not a white thing - this is a family thing.
But what did I do once I got the job? I got the highest grade on the first week's exam at "Met Life Career Success School". I worked to get the skills I would need. I came out of that school and promptly failed at being an insurance salesman. Why? I had the technical knowledge, but not the sales skills. So after nine months I switched jobs to another low-paying position, but with Fireman's Fund Insurance Company.
Fireman's had offices in Chicago and Rolling Meadows, and I know that their Chicago office, especially, was an integrated one. Ours in the suburbs? Not so much, as it reflected the composition of the general area - Chicago suburbs. But most of the supervisors were female, as was the personal lines manager, the claim department manager and, eventually, the administrative manager.
Again, I worked hard, learned everything I could, made sure the boss's boss knew I had career aspirations and got a promotion after three months - my immediate boss left and they decided I was good candidate for the job. I did nothing that anyone else could not have done. Anyone else.
From there is was continued hard work, continued education and a couple of opportunities to move up - yes, by getting an opportunity to interview, provided by friends - but I was the one in the interview room, not the friends who had taken my resumes in to the HR department. In point of fact, I was told more than once that it was my hard work and determination that opened further doors to me.
Fortunately, my wife Nancy supported me all along the way.
Having four children, there was a time when Nancy and I worked five jobs between us. I worked at Kemper Insurance, as a computer operator Tuesday and Thursday nights and on Saturday afternoon, and did some programming work on the side, as well. Nancy worked at the local preschool and local grocery at night (other than Tue or Thu) and on Sunday. Why do I bring this up? Just to show that "white privilege" has had nothing to do with our current success. Nobody gave us anything. It was only through hard work that we have now gotten to a place where we are relatively comfortable.
I shan't further belabor this point.
People can think what they want to think, and they do. That's my assumption. But let me boil this down to one point, one which, if everyone applied it, would get us past this mess we're in. And that point is respect.
Personally, everyone I meet, from the start, gets a certain level of respect. This should be true of all people, I believe, to everyone else they meet. We are all human beings, and so should be treated with this minimum level of respect until such time as we do something to earn less, or, as relationships deepen, earn more.
Think about the police. If an officer started from this point there might be fewer instances of police brutality (up to and including police shootings). I know that policing in various parts of the country is difficult, and officers take their lives in their own hands on a daily basis. But when things spiral out of control bad decisions can be made, and lives can be lost.
It works from the other side, though, too. Last time I was pulled over (for a burned-out headlight), I had my wife and a disabled friend in the car. But, when the lights went on and I pulled over, I quickly rolled all of the windows down, turned the inside lights on, got out my driver's license, registration and insurance card and laid them on the dash. Then I put my hands up on the wheel (ten and two) so to give the officer no reason to expect trouble. (Not that he was going to have trouble with a 60-year old, gray-haired, fat guy.)
He walked up to the car from behind, on the driver's side, shined his flashlight into the mirror in order to see who I was, then looked at my wife and my wife's disabled friend, then asked for my license and other documents. I asked if I could reach up to get them from the dash. He agreed I could do so, and I handed the documents to him. Basically, I said "yes, sir", "no, sir", "please" and "thank you". I gave him respect.
The rest of the stop went out without a hitch. I got a warning. (In Chicago, I would have gotten a ticket, I know.) I replaced the bulb that night, though I passed by the same cop on the way back home!
I would hope that this minimum of respect, which appears to be lacking in our society, could change some of the failed meetings (re: police misbehavior) into successful ones. Some of them. And then we'd all have human privilege.
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