What is White Privilege/Advantage Anyway?
And Why Does It Matter?
Presented to the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Huntington
January 15, 2006
Rev. Paul Ratzlaff
There’s a joke about President Bush. He was born on third base, but he thinks he hit a triple. Now I get that joke about economic privilege, the advantages of an upper class family, private elite education, etc., but I have found the concept of “white privilege,” alternately known as “unearned white advantage,” hard to really take in. The analysis that just by virtue of having “white” skin and acting “white” much is given to me automatically that people of color don’t get is not an analysis that I immediately comprehend.
Through much of my life, I’ve thought of myself as an outsider. I have assumed that I didn’t really belong. That has made it puzzling for me to grasp that my white skin makes me an insider. Early elementary school, I was the only white child in my classes in the missionary school in Jamaica. My parents did not encourage me to become friends with my classmates, who were often several years older than I was, and native Jamaican. My mother said that one of the reasons they decided to return to the States from the mission field was because I lamented, “I wished I was black.” When we moved to Portland, Oregon, I was still an oddity, with my British accent and my love of soccer and cricket. I knew nothing of American football or baseball. This was long before anyone ever thought of “soccer moms.” My fifth grade teacher would ask me to talk in front of the class about anything, so that she could enjoy my accent. I quickly shed the accent. But I didn’t fit in. I sat on the side of the gym while my classmates learned to dance ballroom. Prohibited from dancing by my parents’ religion also meant that I was left out of the junior high and high school dating scene. Again an outsider. On top of that, I rejected the fundamentalist teachings of the church culture that our family’s life revolved around, so I didn’t feel like I belonged there either.
Coming to Unitarian Universalism I was painfully self-conscious about whether I fit in or not. There was never a problem with the religious beliefs. Instead I was worried that I stood out like a sore thumb because of my lower class ways. Extra forks and spoons on the table setting threw me. I knew tuna casseroles with chips and American cheese melted on top. I knew nothing of Chicken Francaise. My exposure to high culture was spotty. The clothes I wore were from Sears. What was this store called “Brooks Brothers”? I feared that someone would see through me and expose my pretending to belong “above myself.” So I suffered all the agony of the social climber. Even today I’m caught off guard when remnants of that fear of not belonging pop into my awareness.
Because my self image was so shaped by my assumption of being the outsider, it took me some time to recognize that, even so, my white skin conferred on me privileges and advantages over people of color. It didn’t sit right with me. How could I enjoy the privileges of belonging – of being an insider by virtue of the color of my skin – when I felt for so much of my life like an outsider?
I suspect I’m not alone in this puzzle. Many women are painfully aware of the disadvantage of gender in a social system that gives advantages to men. Likewise with lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgendered people in a homophobic culture. Immigrants, and others, may feel like outsiders. Many different experiences lead us to question what is called “white privilege,” since many of us experience ourselves at a disadvantage.
In addition to the feeling that I can’t be a white-skin-privilege-insider since I feel like such an outsider, there is the illusion that we have achieved “equal opportunity,” that race no longer matters. The Morris School District, which educated our two children Kindergarten through high school, was a district that merged three towns, two predominantly white, and one much more diverse, to form a truly diverse district. The district graduated students headed for the ivy leagues, and had its share of Merit finalists and semi-finalists. However, if you looked at all closely, you noticed that practically none of the gifted and talented kids were minority, while most of the special education kids were minority. I remember talking with one middle-class black family who chose to send its kids to private school rather than Morristown High School. Why? They feared that their kids would fall under the influence of the black kids who “dissed” academic success. I remember thinking to myself, “Here’s a system that would welcome black success, yet most black kids don’t choose to strive for that success. Here’s a system that’s opened its door wide, but kids aren’t choosing to walk through it! What’s wrong with those kids?” (There’s white skin privilege for you – defining the problem as “their problem.”)
Any number of politicians see the same thing. From their point of view, the struggle is over because the doors are open. They don’t go to the next level of analysis, which asks, why do so few choose to walk through these supposedly “open” doors? If the doors are open, and folks don’t choose to take advantage of those opportunities, then tough. All we can do is open the doors. We’ve done enough.
Overt racism is indeed largely absent. African Americans are seen in places unimaginable two generations ago. All over the athletic fields (even becoming quarterbacks and coaches) as well as entertainment, but also in government, Secretary of State, Supreme Court Justice – and so on. Doors are open where once they were closed. That is an enormous accomplishment in itself. But we have not overcome! Exceptions give us hope, yes indeed. But may they not lead us into complacency! The struggle now is to dismantle the inequity of unearned advantage that has accrued over centuries to people who are white.
Still “white unearned advantage” is hard to grasp because it’s not often talked about. If you’re white skinned, when did you learn that you are white? Most of us would answer by pointing to an experience with a person of different skin color. In fact, our “learning” about what it means to be white begins the moment we’re born. Remember all the images that establish white skin as the normal, and by extension, that to have dark skin was not normal. Growing up in the 50’s, the images on the TV and radio all showed white people as smarter, and more successful than blacks, who might be funny, but who were clearly inferior. That’s a first example of white skin advantage – fitting in with what the culture presents as “normal” or “typical.”
Because you (if you’re white) look like you belong, others make assumptions about you, simply because you’re typical. Usually they give you the benefit of the doubt, until proven otherwise. You’re assumed to be trustworthy and friendly. Even if I don’t know you, I assume that you will want to help me, if I need it, because we belong to the same group – white. However, if you’re not “one of us” because of your skin color (or another feature) you’re not given the benefit of the doubt. In fact, most often you’re suspect, until you can prove yourself to be trusted. If I get lost in Kansas, or Smithtown, I assume that walking up to a stranger’s house, I will be greeted and given directions to help me find my way. Dare I assume that if I have black skin? It gets dicey.
I can’t begin to imagine the worry of parents of black males, who fear for the very lives of their children. Too many news accounts tell of nervous police, when confronted with a suspected black male, shooting first, and asking questions later. Many black parents, as I understand it, drill into their sons that they must be extra polite and subordinate when confronting white people in power.
Tim Wise, author of “White Like Me” tells of an incident in grade school where he and a black kid got into the trouble for the same thing. The principal didn’t use corporal punishment on Tim, because his mother had sent the school a note denying the principal that means of punishment. But the black family had not sent such a request. Tim, in training sessions on racism, asks why not. Most white people assume that the black family had different theories of punishment. Actually, Tim learned, it’s not that black families believe in using the rod, it’s that they know their black male child must learn to endure punishment without showing any defiance, because any hint of defiance could be life-threatening at some later point in life.
I assume that most of us who are white parents want our kids to show a little defiance. That spark, within certain limits, we welcome as a sign of our kid’s self assertion. I also assume that the consequences of a little defiance will probably not turn out to be catastrophic for a white kid. Whereas with a black young male, you never know.
Here’s yet another example of white privilege. As a white I presume that I can access anything I want to. I remember how annoyed I felt when I visited the Acoma Pueblo in New Mexico. Reading about its stunning location on the top of a mesa, with panoramic views, I had looked forward to our visit. But, we whites could only visit under strict surveillance. The Indian guide kept tight reins on our group, and refused to allow us to roam. We were prohibited from going into the Kiva, and questions about Acoma religion were met with stony silence. “These people just want our money,” I thought to myself angrily. I judged them as unwelcoming. I thought I deserved to be treated better. I now suspect that my anger came from my assumption of white privilege. Not often am I denied access because of the color of my skin. I take that access for granted.
There’s yet another reason why it is difficult for some of us whites to recognize our unearned advantages. Some of us think, “It’s no longer really about race. It’s about class. The problem for most black people is not the color of their skin, but that they are poor. A professional black person has just as much access to good neighborhoods, schools, clubs, etc. as does a white skinned person. In fact, many places would bend over backwards to count professional blacks among their members.”
Two mistakes: 1. professional blacks have much more access, but hardly equal access. Were I to drive a Mercedes around Northport, I wouldn’t give a thought to worrying about proving to the cops that I belong in Northport, driving a Mercedes. But I’ve heard too many stories of people of color being stopped randomly in white neighborhoods to prove that they are where they belong. What happens to your soul when you constantly have to demonstrate that you belong?
2. Class disadvantage compounds racial disadvantage. It’s hard enough for teachers to recognize intelligence in their students who speak “ungrammatically” and dress “poorly.” I suspect it’s almost impossible if the student is also black, because the teacher expects the kid to fail. There’s an enormous advantage in the expectation that teachers have for white students versus the typical expectation for black students. In the worst cases of teachers’ self-fulfilling prophesies, they expect the black kids to come from generations of failing adults, dysfunctional and chaotic homes, where there will be no support for learning. Expectations determine treatment. How rare the teacher to see the reality of the child before him or her, and not the expectation that the teacher has because of the color of the child’s skin, way of talking and clothes. I fear that skin color exacerbates class disadvantage.
The examples of white unearned advantage go on and on. Tomorrow, Martin Luther King Day, there will be an all day workshop with Peggy McIntosh who authored “Unpacking the knapsack of white privilege.” She will give a much more comprehensive list of the advantages of white skin that I have in this shorter amount of time.
As UUs we value the inherent worth and dignity of each and every person, so advantages that are unearned strike us as unfair – unless, of course, they are advantages that we have that we “don’t know we have.”
I submit that if we are to really accomplish a level playing field in this country – if we are to realize Martin Luther King’s dream that his children will be judged on the content of their character, not the color of their skin - then we who are white skinned will have to be willing to give up our unearned advantages.
There’s a temptation to wish that another Martin Luther King, Jr., would emerge to galvanize us. That wish defers responsibility. We sit by, excusing our inaction, by waiting for black leadership, when we could be leading the charge to dismantle racism. (I would note that part of white privilege is that we can choose to get involved in the struggle, or choose to withdraw. If you’re a person of color you’re in it everyday, whether you want to be or not.)
How do we who are white contribute to “leveling the playing field?”
Become more aware. Grapple with this analysis of unearned advantage. Read about it, study it, mull it, talk about it until it becomes part of your vocabulary.
Question, question, question. Would California Governor Schwartzenegger have commuted Stanley “Tookie” William’s death sentence had Tookie been white? I can imagine the story line. “Man turns his life around. From gang leader to savior from gangs.” But Schwartzenegger didn’t take that tack. He refused because “Tookie” didn’t show any remorse for the murder victims. What a catch-22 since Williams protested his innocence. How could he show remorse for a crime he claims he didn’t commit? Is this an old paradigm? Can’t let a black man live who doesn’t show remorse?
Would the black folks of the 9th ward in New Orleans be left to die, had they been white? It’s complicated. Had they been considered “white trash” possibly, but otherwise I think you would have seen much quicker action on FEMA’s part.
There is a deep spiritual question here – who is my neighbor? How wide do I draw my circle? Where do I draw the line between “my people” and “other?” If we, white-skinned Americans, considered the people of Darfur “our people” would we stand by while they are being slaughtered? Did our country not finally intervene in Bosnia because at some fundamental level we couldn’t stand watching “our people” slaughter each other? But, if black Africans do that to one another, so what?
Much of this is speculation, of course. But it reveals the insidiousness of white advantage that I cannot answer these questions, and many, many others, by saying that skin color has nothing to do with it.
In addition to enlarging your understanding about how white privilege operates, both internally and in the world, I would urge you to “Work locally.” On Sunday, February 19th, I will present to you a Board-sponsored project to partner with the Boys and Girls Club in Huntington Station. That club serves the children of the poorest in our community, almost entirely minority, African-American and Latino/Latina. Can we provide some enrichment opportunities that begin to redress the disadvantages of being non-white and poor? Can we give children who are starting the race way back some of the advantages that white-skinned parents take for granted for their kids?
Learn and act; act and learn – that’s how we make a difference.
In conclusion, I feel that I have much to learn about this issue of white privilege. I know that I am still early on in truly appreciating the many ways it works to give unearned advantages to white folks. I have the beginning of an intellectual concept of it, but I don’t yet grasp it fully in my bones. Consequently, I’m excited as I anticipate ongoing exploration of the issue with you, and as I anticipate our working to overcome some of the disadvantage in our neighborhood. And I am so grateful for our Journey to Wholeness team that keeps these issues before us.
I’m also deeply aware that my heart has a long way to go, as I aspire to broaden my compassion to include the whole of humanity as “our people.” I hope that you will join me in this exploration and in my aspiration that my “we” includes all people - that all people are us. Our Fellowship mission says that we embrace our diversity and our essential oneness. May we live that truly, in Huntington, in our nation, and in our world. |
