From: "Vukoni Lupa-Lasaga" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, April 05, 2005 9:50 PM Subject: [Ugnet] White Privilege Shapes The U.S.
> > > *White Privilege Shapes The U.S. > by Robert Jensen* > > > Here's what white privilege sounds like: > > I am sitting in my University of Texas office, talking to a very bright > and very conservative white student about affirmative action in college > admissions, which he opposes and I support. > > The student says he wants a level playing field with no unearned > advantages for anyone. I ask him whether he thinks that in the United > States being white has advantages. Have either of us, I ask, ever > benefited from being white in a world run mostly by white people? Yes, he > concedes, there is something real and tangible we could call white > privilege. > > So, if we live in a world of white privilege--unearned white > privilege--how does that affect your notion of a level playing field? I > ask. > > He paused for a moment and said, "That really doesn't matter." > > That statement, I suggested to him, reveals the ultimate white privilege: > the privilege to acknowledge you have unearned privilege but ignore what > it means. > > That exchange led me to rethink the way I talk about race and racism with > students. It drove home to me the importance of confronting the dirty > secret that we white people carry around with us everyday: In a world of > white privilege, some of what we have is unearned. I think much of both > the fear and anger that comes up around discussions of affirmative action > has its roots in that secret. So these days, my goal is to talk openly and > honestly about white supremacy and white privilege. > > White privilege, like any social phenomenon, is complex. In a white > supremacist culture, all white people have privilege, whether or not they > are overtly racist themselves. There are general patterns, but such > privilege plays out differently depending on context and other aspects of > one's identity (in my case, being male gives me other kinds of privilege). > Rather than try to tell others how white privilege has played out in their > lives, I talk about how it has affected me. > > I am as white as white gets in this country. I am of northern European > heritage and I was raised in North Dakota, one of the whitest states in > the country. I grew up in a virtually all-white world surrounded by > racism, both personal and institutional. Because I didn't live near a > reservation, I didn't even have exposure to the state's only numerically > significant non-white population, American Indians. > > I have struggled to resist that racist training and the ongoing racism of > my culture. I like to think I have changed, even though I routinely trip > over the lingering effects of that internalized racism and the > institutional racism around me. But no matter how much I "fix" myself, one > thing never changes--I walk through the world with white privilege. > > What does that mean? Perhaps most importantly, when I seek admission to a > university, apply for a job, or hunt for an apartment, I don't look > threatening. Almost all of the people evaluating me for those things look > like me--they are white. They see in me a reflection of themselves, and in > a racist world that is an advantage. I smile. I am white. I am one of them > I am not dangerous. Even when I voice critical opinions, I am cut some > slack. After all, I'm white. > > My flaws also are more easily forgiven because I am white. Some complain > that affirmative action has meant the university is saddled with mediocre > minority professors. I have no doubt there are minority faculty who are > mediocre, though I don't know very many. As Henry Louis Gates Jr. once > pointed out, if affirmative action policies were in place for the next > hundred years, it's possible that at the end of that time the university > could have as many mediocre minority professors as it has mediocre white > professors. That isn't meant as an insult to anyone, but is a simple > observation that white privilege has meant that scores of second-rate > white professors have slid through the system because their flaws were > overlooked out of solidarity based on race, as well as on gender, class > and ideology. > > Some people resist the assertions that the United States is still a > bitterly racist society and that the racism has real effects on real > people. But white folks have long cut other white folks a break. I know, > because I am one of them. > > I am not a genius--as I like to say, I'm not the sharpest knife in the > drawer. I have been teaching full-time for six years, and I've published a > reasonable amount of scholarship. Some of it is the unexceptional stuff > one churns out to get tenure, and some of it, I would argue, actually is > worth reading. I work hard, and I like to think that I'm a fairly decent > teacher. Every once in awhile, I leave my office at the end of the day > feeling like I really accomplished something. When I cash my paycheck, I > don't feel guilty. > > But, all that said, I know I did not get where I am by merit alone. I > benefited from, among other things, white privilege. That doesn't mean > that I don't deserve my job, or that if I weren't white I would never have > gotten the job. It means simply that all through my life, I have soaked up > benefits for being white. I grew up in fertile farm country taken by force > from non-white indigenous people. I was educated in a well-funded, > virtually all-white public school system in which I learned that white > people like me made this country great. There I also was taught a variety > of skills, including how to take standardized tests written by and for > white people. > > All my life I have been hired for jobs by white people. I was accepted for > graduate school by white people. And I was hired for a teaching position > at the predominantly white University of Texas, which had a white > president, in a college headed by a white dean and in a department with a > white chairman that at the time had one non-white tenured professor. > > There certainly is individual variation in experience. Some white people > have had it easier than me, probably because they came from wealthy > families that gave them even more privilege. Some white people have had it > tougher than me because they came from poorer families. White women face > discrimination I will never know. But, in the end, white people all have > drawn on white privilege somewhere in their lives. > > Like anyone, I have overcome certain hardships in my life. I have worked > hard to get where I am, and I work hard to stay there. But to feel good > about myself and my work, I do not have to believe that "merit," as > defined by white people in a white country, alone got me here. I can > acknowledge that in addition to all that hard work, I got a significant > boost from white privilege, which continues to protect me every day of my > life from certain hardships. > > At one time in my life, I would not have been able to say that, because I > needed to believe that my success in life was due solely to my individual > talent and effort. I saw myself as the heroic American, the rugged > individualist. I was so deeply seduced by the culture's mythology that I > couldn't see the fear that was binding me to those myths. Like all white > Americans, I was living with the fear that maybe I didn't really deserve > my success, that maybe luck and privilege had more to do with it than > brains and hard work. I was afraid I wasn't heroic or rugged, that I > wasn't special. > > I let go of some of that fear when I realized that, indeed, I wasn't > special, but that I was still me. What I do well, I still can take pride > in, even when I know that the rules under which I work in are stacked in > my benefit. I believe that until we let go of the fiction that people have > complete control over their fate--that we can will ourselves to be > anything we choose--then we will live with that fear. Yes, we should all > dream big and pursue our dreams and not let anyone or anything stop us. > But we all are the product both of what we will ourselves to be and what > the society > in which we live lets us be. > > White privilege is not something I get to decide whether or not I want to > keep. Every time I walk into a store at the same time as a black man and > the security guard follows him and leaves me alone to shop, I am > benefiting from white privilege. There is not space here to list all the > ways in which white privilege plays out in our daily lives, but it is > clear that I will carry this privilege with me until the day white > supremacy is erased from this society. > > Frankly, I don't think I will live to see that day; I am realistic about > the scope of the task. However, I continue to have hope, to believe in the > creative power of human beings to engage the world honestly and act > morally. A first step for white people, I think, is to not be afraid to > admit that we have benefited from white privilege. It doesn't mean we are > frauds who have no claim to our success. It means we face a choice about > what we do with our success. > > Jensen is a professor in the Department of Journalism in the University of > Texas at Austin. He can be reached at [EMAIL PROTECTED] > <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. > > Robert Jensen Department of Journalism University of Texas Austin, TX > 78712 > work: (512) 471-1990 [EMAIL PROTECTED] > <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > copyright Robert William Jensen 1998 first appeared in the Baltimore Sun, > July 19, 1998 > > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> DonorsChoose. A simple way to provide underprivileged children resources often lacking in public schools. Fund a student project in NYC/NC today! http://us.click.yahoo.com/EHLuJD/.WnJAA/cUmLAA/TTwplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> ********** Share a Smile!!!************* ++++++++++++++ "Share at Least a Smile with someone new this Season of Love!!" -- PJAdamz **********Keep Hope Alive!!!************* ****Internet Solution**** Learning Yoruba can register with Gotrain247 at www.gotrain247.com for a comprehensive lesson. From AfricaService. Let's Meet there, January!!! PJ Adamz Abuja Nigeria. Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/abujaNig/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ _______________________________________________ Ugandanet mailing list [email protected] http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/ugandanet % UGANDANET is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/
